Class 6 Social Science Notes Chapter 14 Exploring Society India and Beyond

Economic Activities Around Us

Introduction

Economic and Non-Economic Activities:

• Economic Activities: Activities that create monetary value and contribute to prosperity (e.g., agriculture, manufacturing, services).
• Non-Economic Activities: Activities that do not directly generate monetary value but are still important (e.g., household chores, charity).

Historical Context:

• Earlier, most people were involved in agriculture, livestock rearing, tool-making, pottery, and weaving.
• As societies progressed, the variety of economic activities expanded.

Modern Economic Activities:

• Today, economic activities include diverse fields such as:
  • Manufacturing (e.g., computers, mobile phones, drones)
  • Service sectors (e.g., banking, education, hospitality)
  • Transportation (e.g., driving vehicles)
  • Skilled labor (e.g., tailoring, software development, repairs)

Classification of Economic Activities:

• Classifying economic activities helps in understanding how they function and their interconnections.

The Classification of Economic Activities into Economic Sectors

• Economic activities are grouped into economic sectors based on shared characteristics.
• Three Main Economic Sectors:
  1. Primary Sector: Directly dependent on nature to produce goods.
  2. Secondary Sector: Involves manufacturing and processing.
  3. Tertiary Sector: Provides services and support to other sectors.

A. Primary activities (Primary Sector):

• Involve direct interaction with nature.
• Examples:
  • Agriculture: Cultivation of grains, vegetables.
  • Forestry: Collecting wood.
  • Mining: Extracting coal and other resources.
  • Fisheries: Harvesting fish.
  • Livestock Rearing: Eggs from poultry, raising animals.

Common Primary Activities:

• Agriculture
• Mining
• Fishing
• Livestock raising
• Forestry

B. Secondary Activities (Secondary Sector):

• Definition: Economic activities that depend on outputs from the primary sector and transform them into goods.
• Role: Involves manufacturing and construction.

Key Activities in the Secondary Sector:

• Construction: Buildings, roads, utilities (water, electricity, gas).
• Manufacturing: Converting raw materials from the primary sector into finished products.

Examples of Secondary Activities:

• Processing grains into flour.
• Extracting oil from groundnuts.
• Processing tea leaves to make tea.
• Converting wood into furniture and paper.
• Using cotton to make clothes.
• Producing steel from iron ore for automobiles.

C. Tertiary Activities (Tertiary Sector/Service Sector):

• Definition: Economic activities that provide support to the primary and secondary sectors.
• Nature: Involves services rather than tangible goods.

Key Functions of the Tertiary Sector:

• Provides services such as transportation, communication, healthcare, education, and banking.

Examples of Tertiary Activities:

• Transporting goods (e.g., truck drivers moving grains).
• Selling farm produce (e.g., vendors selling fruits and vegetables).
• Professional services (e.g., doctors, nurses, teachers, lawyers, pilots).
• Technical services (e.g., technicians repairing electronics, mechanics fixing vehicles, electricians ensuring power supply).
• Communication services (e.g., mobile, internet).
• Other services (e.g., hotels, restaurants, banks, schools, hospitals, shops, airports).

Interdependence Among Sectors

Economic Sectors: Primary, secondary, and tertiary sectors are interconnected and support each other in the process of converting raw materials into finished products.

Dairy cooperative: from farm to plate

• Primary Sector: Farmers in Gujarat raise cows and buffaloes for milk, a product directly derived from nature. This is a primary sector economic activity.
• Historical Context:
  • Before AMUL, farmers had to sell milk to middlemen at low prices, making it difficult to earn a reasonable income.
  • With guidance from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, farmers formed a cooperative in 1946 under the leadership of Tribhuvandas Patel and Dr. Varghese Kurien.
  • The cooperative allowed farmers to collectively manage milk production, processing, and distribution, eliminating the need for middlemen.

Expansion and Growth of the Cooperative:

• Secondary Sector:
  • As the cooperative grew, farmers processed milk into other products like butter, cheese, ghee, and milk powder.
  • These activities, which involve transforming raw milk into other products, belong to the secondary sector.

Tertiary Sector:

• Transportation and Sales:
  • AMUL uses trucks, railways, and air services to transport milk and milk products to different parts of India and other countries.
  • Selling these products in retail stores across towns, cities, and villages is a tertiary sector economic activity.

Interconnectedness of Sectors:

• The primary, secondary, and tertiary sectors work together to make products like milk and its derivatives available to consumers.
• Example of Book Production:
  • Primary sector: Trees (raw materials) are cut to produce wood pulp.
  • Secondary sector: The wood pulp is processed into paper.
  • Tertiary sector: The final product (books) is sold in stores.

Recycling:

• Recycling one tonne of paper saves 17 trees and 2.5 cubic meters of landfill space.
• Recycling paper uses 70% less energy and water compared to producing new paper from wood pulp.

Conclusion:

• The three sectors — primary, secondary, and tertiary — are interdependent, and each plays a critical role in the economy.