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chap 14 Economic Activities Around Us

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Introductory Questions (Page 1)

  1. How are economic activities classified? Economic activities are classified into three main broad groups called economic sectors: the primary sector, the secondary sector, and the tertiary sector.
  2. What differentiates these activities to be grouped into sectors? These activities are grouped based on similar characteristics.
  • Primary Sector: Differentiated by being directly dependent on nature to produce goods (like farming or mining). 
  • Secondary Sector: Differentiated by processing raw materials from the primary sector into new products (like factories making cars or clothes). 
  • Tertiary Sector: Differentiated by providing support and services to the other sectors (like transport, banking, or selling goods). 
  1. How are the three sectors interconnected? The three sectors are connected because they support each other to turn raw materials into finished products for us to use. For example, the primary sector provides the raw material (like wood), the secondary sector turns it into a product (like paper), and the tertiary sector transports and sells the final product. If one sector stops working, the others cannot function properly.

 

Think About It (Page 4)

Question: Can you think of any primary activities that you may have seen in the past? What are the natural resources used in these activities? Name two of them and discuss your experiences with your classmates.

Answer:

  • Activity 1: Farming (Agriculture). 
    • Natural Resources used: Land, soil, water, and sunlight. 
  • Activity 2: Fishing.
    • Natural Resources used: Water bodies like rivers, lakes, or the sea, and fish.

Let’s Explore (Page 6)

Question: Now that we have seen some examples of secondary sector activities, can you name two more economic activities in the secondary sector?

Answer:

  1. Making Bread or Biscuits: Taking wheat flour (from the primary sector) and baking it in a factory or bakery to make food items.
  2. Making Shoes: Using leather or rubber to manufacture footwear in a factory.

Don’t Miss Out (Page 11)

Question: Just like AMUL, there are many other milk cooperatives… Can you name one cooperative around you that has helped groups like farmers, persons with disabilities, and women, to come together and has brought prosperity to their lives?

Answer: Examples of other cooperatives mentioned in the text that you might find in different parts of India include:

  • Mother Dairy (Delhi-NCR).
  • Nandini (Karnataka).
  • Verka (Punjab).
  • Sudha (Bihar).
  • Aavin (Tamil Nadu).

Think About It (Page 13)

Question: Observe the different stages of the process shown in Fig. 14.1 on page 206 and discuss them with your fellow classmates.

Answer: The image shows how a book is made through different steps involving all three sectors.

  1. Primary Step: A worker cuts down a tree in the forest. This uses a natural resource. 
  2. Tertiary Step: A vehicle carries the logs from the forest. This is transportation. 
  3. Secondary Step: In a factory, the wood is turned into pulp and then into paper. Another machine prints the book.
  4. Tertiary Step: A truck transports the finished paper or books.
  5. Tertiary Step: Finally, the books are sold in a shop to children and parents.

Let’s Explore (Page 13)

Activity Explanation: You need to look at the picture on page 12 (Fig 14.1) which shows the journey of making a book. You must identify which picture belongs to which economic sector.

Question: Label the pictures in the illustration shown in Fig. 14.1 on page 206 as: 1. Primary sector 2. Secondary sector 3. Tertiary sector

Answer:

  • Cutting the tree: Primary sector (Extracting raw material from nature). 
  • Loading and driving the truck: Tertiary sector (Transportation service). 
  • Factory making paper rolls: Secondary sector (Processing wood into paper). 
  • Printing press: Secondary sector (Manufacturing the book).
  • Bookstore selling books: Tertiary sector (Trade and retail service).

Don’t Miss Out (Page 13)

Question: What are the different ways through which we can judiciously use paper in the classrooms and offices of your school?

Answer:

  1. Recycle: Collect used paper to be recycled, as this saves trees, energy, and water.
  2. Use both sides: Always write on both sides of a sheet of paper before throwing it away.
  3. Reuse: Use leftover blank pages from old notebooks to make rough pads for calculations.

Let’s Explore (Page 14)

Activity Explanation: You are asked to look at the jobs people do in your own neighbourhood. You need to list them, say which sector they belong to, and draw arrows to show how they help each other.

Question: List the economic activities in your neighbourhood and label them appropriately as primary, secondary or tertiary. Draw arrows to show how they are connected to each other. In what ways are they dependent on each other? What would happen if one of the activities ceased to exist?

Answer (Sample): List of Activities:

  • Vegetable Vendor: Tertiary sector (Selling goods).
  • Tailor: Secondary sector (Making clothes from cloth).
  • Carpenter: Secondary sector (Making furniture from wood).
  • Auto-rickshaw Driver: Tertiary sector (Transportation).

Connections:

  • Auto-rickshaw Driver → carries cloth → Tailor.
  • Vegetable Vendor → buys clothes → Tailor.

Dependence: They depend on each other for services. The tailor needs the driver to bring materials. The driver needs the tailor to make his uniform.

If one ceased to exist: If the Auto-rickshaw driver (transport) stopped working, the Tailor would not get cloth to make clothes, and the Vegetable Vendor would not be able to travel to the market to buy fresh vegetables to sell. The whole chain would break.

Questions, Activities and Projects (Page 14)

  1. What is the primary sector? How is it different from the secondary sector? Give two examples.

Answer:

  • Definition: The primary sector is the group of economic activities where people are directly dependent on nature to produce goods. It involves extracting raw materials directly from the earth. 
  • Difference: The primary sector gathers natural resources (like cotton or iron ore). The secondary sector is different because it takes those resources and changes them into finished products (like cloth or cars) in factories. 
  • Examples of Primary Sector:
    1. Agriculture: Cultivating grains and vegetables.
    2. Mining: Extracting coal or iron from mines.
  1. How does the secondary sector depend on the tertiary sector? Illustrate with a few examples.

Answer: The secondary sector (factories) cannot work alone. It needs the tertiary sector for support services to buy raw materials and sell finished goods.

  • Example 1 (Transportation): Factories need trucks and trains (tertiary) to bring raw materials like cotton or wood to the factory. After the goods are made, transport is needed to send them to markets.
  • Example 2 (Banking): Factory owners need banks (tertiary) to keep their money safe or take loans to buy machines. 
  1. Give an example of interdependence between primary, secondary and tertiary sectors. Show it using a flow diagram.

Answer: Example: A Cotton Shirt

  • Primary: A farmer grows cotton in a field (Directly from nature).
  • Secondary: A factory takes the cotton and turns it into thread and then cloth to make a shirt (Processing raw material).
  • Tertiary: A truck transports the shirt to a shop, and a shopkeeper sells it to a customer (Service support).

Flow Diagram: Cotton Farmer (Primary) → Truck Transport (Tertiary) → Textile Factory (Secondary) → Retail Shop (Tertiary) → Consumer.

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