TRADE

VILLAGE SHOPKEEPERS

VILLAGE SHOPKEEPERS occupy an important place in the organization of retail trade in the villages of a district. Almost every village has one or more shopkeepers who provide the inhabitants with their day to day requirements.

Table No. 19 shows the estimated number of shops in villages and non-municipal towns of Kolhapur district. These shops deal in grocery, cloth, pan-bidi, tobacco, leather-works, stationery and other articles, medicines etc., but a majority of them are grocery shops. Included in them are also a few hotels.

There are twelve talukas and mahals in the district having a total of 1,078 villages and non-municipal towns. Taking the district as a whole, there were four shops per village on an average. It would be clear from the table that Shirol taluka had the highest average number of shops, viz., 28 compared to the number of villages, followed by Hatkanangale taluka where the average was 14 per village. Particular mention may be made of following places where there was a great concentration of shops. Udgaon (Shirol taluka)-373, Kagal (Kagal Taluka)-121, Gadhinglaj (Gadhinglaj taluka)-108, Gargoti (Bhudargad taluka)-100, Malkapur (Shahuwadi taluka)-96 and Kale Kasaba (Panhala Mahal)-85.

Except grain which he buys from local producers, the village shopkeeper brings his stock-in-trade from large towns with which he has established business relations and from where possibly he can get credit facilities.

His stock-in-trade includes grain, groceries, oils, gul, spices, cocoanuts, washing-soap, tea, tobacco, betelnut, chillies and other innumerable articles, though in small quantities, required by people for their daily use. Articles are purchased mostly on cash but in some cases customers are allowed a running account to be settled periodically. Thus the shop-keeper also in a way acts as a small money-lender. Shop-keepers have usually a place of business in the centre of the village or town. The smaller shop-keeper moves from one place to another within a radius of ten to fifteen miles of his shop to buy and sell his articles.

The following table shows the taluka-wise account of the dispersal of shops in Kolhapur district (1955-56):-

TABLE No. 20.

STATEMENT SHOWING THE DISPERSAL OF SHOPS IN KOLHAPUR DISTRICT.

Note.-Table prepared from the information furnished in the village Index Forms.

FAIRS.

THERE ARE A LARGE NUMBER OF FAIRS associated with important deities and festivals, where considerable quantity of agricultural produce and other articles of daily use are brought for sale.

They provide a temporary common market place for persons attending them and generally last for a day or two but in some places even longer. The number of persons attending them varies from 200 to 50,000 and an average sale ranges from Rs. 35 to Rs. 50,000.

According to the information submitted by the Marketing Inspector, Mamlatdars and Mahalkaris in the district, the number of fairs held annually in the district is about 120. Of these 35 are held in Panhala Mahal, followed by 28 in Hatkanangale taluka. The lowest number of fairs is held in Ajra, Gadhinglaj, Radhanagari and Chandgad, viz., 3, 2, 4 and 3 respectively. In Bavada there are 9 fairs, in Bhudargad 7, in Kagal 8, in Karvir and in Shirol 5 each and in Shahuwadi 11.

These fairs can be regarded as the chief distributing centres, for temporary periods, of articles varying from basic necessaries to luxuries. Besides, the local shop-keepers, itinerant merchants, cultivators and petty shop-keepers from the neighbourhood and pedlars constitute the bulk of sellers. Buyers are usually the residents of the village or town and its neighbourhood and pilgrims from even distant places. The sellers sell different varieties of articles and at the bigger places even luxury articles are sold. Cereals, pulses, vegetables, sugar, fruits, tobacco, betel-leaves, camphor, tea, coffee, cocoanuts, sweetmeats, salt, cold-drinks and farsan, etc. are available. In large fairs, usually attended by a large number of persons, luxury articles like ready-made clothes, artificial pearls, beads and an infinite variety of articles besides those mentioned above are offered for sale. Particular mention may be made of important fairs held at Padali (Khurd) in Karvir taluka where the fair is held for one month and at Kolhapur in the same taluka where larger number of persons assemble at one particular place, where a considerable amount of business is transacted which is mostly on cash basis and hardly on barter system.

The table below shows the particulars about fairs held in Kolhapur district (1956):-

TABLE No. 21.

The following table shows taluka-wise account of fairs held in Kolhapur district in 1956: -

TABLE No. 22.

STATEMENT SHOWING AN ACCOUNT OF FAIRS HELD IN KOLHAPUR DISTRICT.

TABLE No. 22-contd.

TABLE NO. 22-contd.

TABLE No. 22-contd.

TABLE No. 22-contd.

Note.-Table prepared on the basis of information supplied by the Marketing Inspector, Kolhapur and Mamlatdars in the district.

VILLAGE SHOPKEEPERS.

Pedlars.

NEXT TO VILLAGE SHOP-KEEPERS, pedlars play an important part in the trade organisation in the rural areas of a district since olden times. The old Gazetteer of Kolhapur narrates: " some of the pedlars are craftsmen, generally weavers and coppersmiths................ other pedlars sell groceries, perfumes, glass-bangles and hardware................ The pedlars sell most of their stock by barter specially exchanging brass and copper vessels for old clothes and laces".

Pedlars even now play quite a fairly important role in the organization of retail trade. There were 18 pedlars in Gadhinglaj taluka, 205 in Kagal taluka, 18 in Bhudargad taluka, 100 in Shahuwadi taluka, 150 in Shirol, 17 in Hatkanangale taluka and 30 in Chandgad taluka. The following four talukas viz. Panhala, Bavada, Ajra and Radhanagari were reported to have no pedlars largely due to inadequate transport facilities-and population being scattered over hilly forest regions. However, villagers who formerly used to patronise pedlars now show a preference for periodical markets or established shop-, keepers. Even in the days of the old Gazetter every village large or small had its shop-keeper, who dealt in groceries, spices, grain, salt, oil, sugar, molasses and other supplies. Villagers now obtain their daily necessities from the village shop-keepers or bring them from nearby towns or taluka headquarters as transport facilities have improved and progressed much in the post-war period.

Yet pedlars have not disappeared completely from the rural areas. The system has undergone a considerable change. The articles which are now hawked are perishable consumption goods like fruits, vegetables, fish, kurmuras, and confectioneries. Cheap ornaments, betel leaves and utensils of china clay are also sold. Cloth, cutlery, utensils, ornaments, glassware, grocery, etc. are generally obtained from established shop-keepers.

Pedlars usually move from village to village in fair weather and generally return to their respective places before monsoon. Their stock-in-trade varies in value from Rs. 10 to Rs. 500. Most of the pedlars belong to the district itself. They usually carry their goods on their own shoulders or engage a labourer. Some pedlars also use hand carts, bullock-carts or cycles, etc. They are usually known to their customers.

There are different types of pedlars handling particular types of commodities. The Kosthi, and the Sali generally deal in sarees, bedsheets, and other hand-loom goods, Mohammedan and lingayat pedlars in cloth, Teli in groundnut and cocoanut oil, Sonars in cheap ornaments, etc. Most of the transactions are done on cash basis though the system of barter prevails in the case of pedlars hawking utensils and glassware which are exchanged with used clothes.

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