BANKING TRADE AND COMMERCE

WEEKLY MARKETS

The weekly market is a meeting together of people at a stated time and place for the purpose of exchange (as in cattle provisions, were etc.) by way of sale and purchase, and only rarely by auction. The details of the weekly markets as given in the old Bhandara District Gazetteer published in 1908 are reproduced below—

"There are over a hundred weekly markets in the District or one for every 40 square miles and 18 villages. Amgaon is a very important cattle-market, at which a large number of head of buffaloes are sold, and many worn-out animals are disposed of to the butchers. In 1904, 35,000 head were sold at Amgaon, of which 16,000 were cow and 10,000 male buffaloes. The income from registration fees was Rs. 5,000. Lakhandur and Kitari in Sakoli tahsil are also important cattle-markets, and a few animals are brought to several of the larger village bazars. Gondia and Katni on the Satpura railway are the largest markets in Tirora tahsil; Tumsar, Mohali and Bhandara in the Bhandara tahsil; and Lakhandur, Kitari, Pohra and Lakhani in Sakoli tahsil Lakhandur is an important timber market, as is Mundhri in Tirora. The best rice is sold at Tirora bazar. Mohali is a large cloth market."

The 1931 Census Report of Central Provinces and Berar vividly describes the market village in the following words: —

"The bazar village corresponded and still corresponds in many respects, though on a smaller and more primitive scale, with the small market town in rural areas in England. A large village with a weekly or bi-weekly bazar (will be found all over the province at distances of 5 to 10 miles, serving the surrounding villages. Go through any of those surrounding villages in the afternoon of the bazar day, and you will find it practically deserted. But if you proceed on to the bazar village, you find all the countryside collected. Many of these village bazars are now under the management of the district council, who arrange for the sanitation and have often constructed chabutras or raised platforms for stalls, sometimes covered in to keep off the sun and rain and make charges in return for the use of these sites for stalls. Here will sit, with their wares spread out before them, the purveyors of all those commodities required in rural life. The local Kachis or market gardeners will be there with their onions, pumpkin's melons, vegetables, etc. There will be the grocers with their salt, condiments, haldi (turmeric), etc., and the oil-sellers with sweet oil and the coarse red kerosene oil which is now used for lighting and which is purchased by the bottle. There will be the weavers with the home-made saries and dhotis, etc., while now a days there may be some mill-made cloth imported from outside. There will be stalls for the sale of glass bangles, cheap anklets and bracelets of silver alloy, combs and cheap hand looking-glasses, etc., so popular now a days. There will be some leather workers with the gaily decorated country shoes; and some sellers of country tobacco and pan, etc., Cartwheels, carved doors, whips, leather thongs, rope, etc., and numerous other articles will be for sale here, all of local manufacture. To many of these bazars the small cultivators still take small quantities of grain which they sell retail and with the proceeds make their petty purchases. The larger bazars may also have risen to the rank of cattle markets and here cattle, young and old, will be brought for sale to cultivators who require them, or in some tracts, to the Kasai (butcher) for slaughter, although in many tracts Hindu sentiment is proving too strong for this latter class. Sometimes the local bazar is also a grain market, where dealers come for purchase and wholesale export to the rail head. Sometimes ghee also may be purchased for export in the same way. To the bazar nearly every one will go, sometimes from considerable distances, in their country carts or damnis. The women-folk particularly will be there in large numbers, often decked out in their best clothes. They do not always to make purchases, but here they meet their friends, wander about and hear the latest gossip of the countryside, and enjoy the weekly outing. In fact with the exception of occasional visits to the large religious fairs the weekly visit to the bazar village is one of the few outings which occur to break the monotony of village life. In the tracts more cut off from the towns grain is still the chief medium of exchange and the supply of money required for implementing the exchange of commodities at some of these bazars is sometimes surprisingly small. But the money changer, who changes silver into copper coins for a small charge, will still usually be found. Some of these petty tradesmen reside in the bazar village if it is a big one, but now a days, with improved communications, there are numerous petty grocers or hawkers who travel round to the various small bazars selling their wares and often purchasing small quantities of ghee and grain in exchange. Thus the needs of the villager, foodgrain, clothing, cattle, etc., were, and still can be, met in or near his village in the countryside."

The above description of a village market given more than forty years ago holds good even now.

The bulk of the petty trade is carried on in the periodical village bazars and permanent market centres in big villages and towns. Bhandara, Gondia and Sakoli have permanent market centres. In certain villages and urban areas periodical markets are held. " The other important market where the producer sells his produce is the bazar held on fixed days in a convenient village for the benefit of the surrounding villages. These bazars as well as the street markets in the villages provide as easy access to the agriculturists for contracting the prospective buyers. It is estimated that approximately a third of the total agricultural output is sold in these markets [Report of Expert Committee on the Review of the Bombay Agricultural Produce Markets Act, 1939, para. 80.]."

Besides local traders, agents of outside merchants especially from Nagpur and Madhya Pradesh as also pedlars put up their temporary booths. Agricultural produce, cattle and articles of domestic requirements, such as, cloth, bangles, etc., are brought for sale.

The important commodities transacted in these markets are mainly agricultural goods produced in the localities concerned, the turnover depending upon and varying with the season. In addition to foodgrains, oil-seeds, pulses, gur (unrefined sugar), tobacco, vegetables, fruits, etc., are also sold. Besides these, livestock and live-stock products like ghee, butter, eggs, poultry, hides and skins are also handled in some of the periodical markets. Apart from agricultural produce other articles, such as, cloth, salt, spices, oils, metallic vessels, bangles, saries and khans, brooms, ropes, shoes, fodder are also sold. Business in these markets is mostly transacted between sellers and buyers directly without any intermediaries.

Attendance in various weekly markets varies from a hundred persons to several thousands depending upon the importance of the market. As a general rule attendance in the periodical markets is said to be the maximum during winter, medium during summer and minimum during the rainy season. Agriculturists attending the periodical markets are from the locality or from the neighbouring villages or towns.

Every village, where a bazar is held, has its separate market place. The local authorities collect market cess and stall fee from the traders and provide, in return, facilities for the upkeep of the bazar including the arrangement of water-supply, provision of otas for stocking goods and so on. With all these the weekly markets offer a lively sight. Besides the sale and purchase activities of various goods of daily use, the entertainment corner with merry-go-rounds and magic shows and eatables and other refreshments constitute an added attraction.

The largest number of village weekly bazars numbering 84 is found in Gondia taluka. Transport and communication facilities as also the geographical location of the tahsil have contributed to this fact. The following statement gives the total number of markets and cattle-markets in each tahsil in Bhandara district: —

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