chapter - ix - revenue and disaster management department, haryana

appearance. The smaller ones,managed bya singleperson ana servingonlytea, are generally shabby. The bigger ones,which also serve other hot andcold beweragesand some edibles,are more presentable inappearance and aremanaged by more than one person.In towns and big villages there areshops dealing ingeneral merchandise.The goods onsale comprise toilet articles(combs,hair brushes, mirrors,etc.), soaps, oils, tooth-pastes, tooth-brushes, shoe polishes, hosiery articles,readymade garments and sundries of daily use. They have a flourishingbusiness. With the riseinthe standard ofliving,there isan increasing demandfor consumer goods and in fact new shops keep cropping up.Every town and bigvillageofthe district hasanumber of halwai shops.In the old days their familiar sweetmeat preparations were laddus and julebisThe development ofcommunications, and anincreasing contact with the otherparts of the country, have introduced some new sweetmeat preparations likegulab jamans, rasgullas, barti and various kinds of halwas. In urban areas,sweetmeats prepared from milk are more popular. These shops are oftenone-man units but several do employ two or three or even more personsaccording to requirements. This business provides employment throughoutthe year..Pan-bidi stalls in urban areas are tiny booths which are a familiarsight throughout the district. These one-man units intowns, which usuallysell cigarettees, alsoserveaschopals invillages. Theybecome social centresforpeople whostop tolisten toradio broadcasts and recorded filmmusic andtalk about current events.In the lastfewyearsbottled softdrinks havebecome popular and it isfashionable to drink these with a straw put into the bottle. Such drinksare imported from Delhi. In fact soft drinks are freely offeredat all bigfunctions' and marriage celebrations. A few small local units at BhiwanijCharkhi Dadri also prepare aerated drinks for local consumption.A number of grocershopsaretobe found in every locality. Althoughthese are one-man establishments, generally ahelper is also engaged. Everytown has a number of shops sellingvegetables and fruit. Enterprising personswithsmall capital carry vegetablesand fruit ontheir rehariS (hand carts)and sell thesetocustomers at their doors.Itisnot unusual tocome acrossa bakery evenina small town. Thesehave gained popularity owingt9 the demand for their ready-made products.