Chapter 14: Economic Activities Around Us (Economics)
Answers to all "Questions, activities and projects" of Chapter 14, Economic Activities Around Us (NCERT Class 6 Social Science, Exploring Society: India and Beyond, 2026-27): the primary, secondary and tertiary sectors and their interdependence, with a flow diagram. All 3 questions are answered, with the key answer highlighted.
What is the primary sector? How is it different from the secondary sector? Give two examples.
Solution
The primary sector includes activities that take goods directly from nature: farming, fishing, forestry, animal husbandry and mining.
The secondary sector includes activities that change raw materials from the primary sector into new products, usually by manufacturing in factories or workshops.
Primary sector
Secondary sector
Uses natural resources directly
Processes raw materials into finished goods
Example 1: a farmer growing sugarcane
Example 1: a sugar mill making sugar from sugarcane
Example 2: mining iron ore
Example 2: a steel plant making steel from iron ore
The primary sector takes things directly from nature (farming sugarcane, mining iron ore); the secondary sector turns them into products (a sugar mill, a steel plant).
How does the secondary sector depend on the tertiary sector? Illustrate with a few examples.
Solution
The tertiary sector provides services, and factories cannot work without them:
Transport: a textile factory needs trucks and trains to bring cotton and to send cloth to markets.
Banking: factories take loans from banks to buy machines and pay workers.
Electricity and communication: machines need power; phones and the internet are needed to take orders.
Trade and advertising: shops, wholesalers and advertisements help sell the factory's goods.
Warehousing, insurance and repairs: goods are stored, insured and machines are repaired by service providers.
Factories depend on services: transport for raw materials and goods, bank loans, electricity and communication, shops and advertising to sell, and storage, insurance and repairs.
Give an example of interdependence between primary, secondary and tertiary sectors. Show it using a flow diagram.
Solution
From cotton to a shirt:
Primary: a farmer grows cotton.
Tertiary: trucks carry the cotton to the mill; banks lend money; electricity runs the machines.
Secondary: the mill spins the cotton into yarn, a textile factory weaves cloth, and a garment factory or tailor makes shirts.
Tertiary: shops sell the shirts, helped by advertising and transport.
The money earned goes back to the farmer, who uses it to buy seeds, fertilisers and tools (made in the secondary sector), and services like schooling and transport.
Interdependence of the three sectors: from cotton to a shirt
Each sector depends on the others: without the farmer there is no cotton; without factories the cotton cannot become cloth; without transport, banks and shops the products cannot reach people.
E.g. cotton (primary) → transport and banking (tertiary) → spinning, weaving and tailoring (secondary) → shops selling shirts (tertiary) → money back to the farmer.
