B. Secondary Activities
Economic activities in which people depend on the outputs of the primary sector and transform them to produce goods are known as Secondary Activities or the Secondary Sector.
This sector is often associated with factories and industries.
Key Characteristics
- Process: Adds value to raw materials by changing their form.
- Dependency: Relies on the Primary Sector for inputs (raw materials).
- Location: Often happens in factories, workshops, or construction sites.
Tip
Definition: The Secondary Sector involves the processing of raw materials derived from the primary sector into products for sale or consumption.
Types of Secondary Activities
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Manufacturing:
- Creating new products using machines and labor.
- Examples: Automobile factories (making cars), Textile factories (making clothes from cotton), Electronics (making mobile phones).
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Processing:
- Converting raw food items into consumable forms.
- Examples: Milling wheat into flour, extracting oil from groundnuts, processing tea leaves into tea powder.
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Construction:
- Building infrastructure.
- Examples: Building houses, roads, bridges, and dams.
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Utilities:
- Providing essential supplies.
- Examples: Water supply, electricity generation, and gas distribution.
Flow of Transformation
The secondary sector acts as a bridge between raw nature and the final consumer product.
Industrial Data (India 2022)
To understand the scale of the secondary sector, look at the automobile production numbers in India for the year 2022:
- Passenger Vehicles (Cars): 45 Lakhs
- Commercial Vehicles (Trucks): 10.3 Lakhs
- Three Wheelers: 8.6 Lakhs
- Two Wheelers: 2 Crores
This huge volume of production creates jobs and goods for the economy.