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:
- Primary Sector: Directly dependent on nature to produce goods.
- Secondary Sector: Involves manufacturing and processing.
- 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.
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