Chapter 14 – Economic Activities Around Us Class 6th Social Science (Exploring Society: India & Beyond) NCERT Solution

Economic Activities Around Us | Solutions
Chapter 14 · Exploring Society: India and Beyond

Economic Activities Around Us

Complete, direct solutions to every in‑text activity (“Think About It”, “Let’s Explore”, “Don’t Miss Out”) and every end‑of‑chapter exercise — with the chapter’s own images, explained step by step.

“The root of prosperity is economic activity, the lack of it brings material distress. The absence of fruitful economic activity endangers both current prosperity and future growth.”Kauṭilya’s Arthaśhāstra

The Big Questions

  1. How are economic activities classified?
  2. What differentiates these activities to be grouped into sectors?
  3. How are the three sectors interconnected?
Classification of economic activities into economic sectors - primary, secondary and tertiary, with example photos for each
Classification of economic activities into economic sectors — as given in the chapter (page 197)

In‑Text Activities

Page 199–208
Think About It · (p.199)
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.
Primary sector activities: greenhouse farming, mining, fish farming, forestry, raising livestock
Primary sector activities, as shown in the chapter (page 198)
Answer

This is a personal, observation‑based question — but here are two clear model examples you can use, or replace with your own:

Primary activity I have seenNatural resource usedWhere I saw it
Farming — a farmer ploughing a field and sowing wheat/riceSoil, water, sunlightFields on the outskirts of my town / during a family visit to a village
Fishing — fishermen casting nets from a boatWater bodies (river/sea) and fish stockA riverbank or the seaside during a trip

Other examples you could use instead: collecting firewood from a forest (forestry), a goat/cattle herd grazing on grassland (raising livestock), or sand/stone being dug out at a mining or quarry site (mining).

Try it yourself: pick two primary activities you have personally seen, name the exact natural resource each one depends on, and share your experience with classmates — that completes the activity as intended.
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Let’s Explore · (p.200)
Now that we have seen some examples of secondary sector activities, can you name two more economic activities in the secondary sector?
Secondary sector activities: automobile factory, textile factory, pharmaceutical factory, furniture production unit
Secondary sector activities, as shown in the chapter (pages 199–200)
Answer

The chapter already gives automobile manufacturing, textile manufacturing, pharmaceutical production and furniture‑making as examples. Two more secondary sector activities are:

  1. Steel manufacturing — processing iron ore extracted from mines (a primary sector output) into finished steel used for construction and vehicles.
  2. Food processing / bakery production — converting wheat flour into bread, biscuits and other packaged food items in a factory.

A few more you could use instead: cement production, sugar milling, shipbuilding, or electronics assembly (e.g. assembling mobile phones) — all of these take a raw or semi‑processed material and transform it into a new, sellable product, which is exactly what defines the secondary sector.

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Don’t Miss Out · (p.205)
Just like AMUL, there are many other milk cooperatives (Nandini, Mother Dairy, Aavin, Vijaya, Kevi, Sudha, Verka, etc.). 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

This is a personal, local‑knowledge question — but here are well‑known Indian cooperatives (beyond dairy) you can mention if you don’t know a local one, or use as inspiration to find one near you:

CooperativeSector / who it helps
IFFCO (Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative)Farmers — supplies fertiliser at fair, collective rates
Lijjat PapadA women’s cooperative — thousands of women earn a livelihood making and selling papad
Uralungal Labour Contract Cooperative Society (Kerala)Construction workers — one of India’s oldest labour cooperatives
Handloom weavers’ cooperative societies (various states)Weavers — collective buying of yarn and collective selling of woven cloth
Try it yourself: ask family members or search locally for a cooperative (dairy, farming, weaving, fishing, or self‑help group) active in your own city or village, and note down how it has helped its members — that completes this activity fully.
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Let’s Explore · (p.207)
Label the pictures in the illustration shown in Fig. 14.1 on page 206 as: (1) Primary sector, (2) Secondary sector, (3) Tertiary sector.
Fig 14.1 - flow diagram showing a tree being cut, logs transported, converted to paper, printed, and sold as books
Fig. 14.1 — from tree to textbook, as given in the chapter (page 206)
Answer

Following the chapter’s own definitions (extraction from nature = primary; processing/manufacturing = secondary; services such as transport, storage and sale = tertiary), here is how each stage of “tree to textbook” is labelled:

Stage in Fig. 14.1SectorWhy
1. Cutting down the tree (chainsaw)PrimaryWood is extracted directly from nature (forestry)
2. Loading logs with a crane/loaderPrimaryStill part of extracting and gathering the raw material
3. Truck transporting logs to the millTertiaryTransportation is a service, not extraction or production
4. Paper mill machine converting logs to paper rollsSecondaryRaw wood is being processed/transformed into a new product (paper)
5. Forklift moving stacked paper reams in a warehouseTertiaryStorage and logistics is a support service (the chapter defines warehouses under the tertiary sector)
6. Printing press printing the pagesSecondaryPaper is being further processed/manufactured into printed sheets
7. Bookstore selling the finished textbook to a familyTertiaryRetail/trade — selling the finished good to the final consumer

This is exactly the point the chapter makes right after Fig. 14.1: none of these steps — from extracting pulp from the trees to finally producing the book you are holding — would be possible without all three sectors working together.

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Don’t Miss Out · (p.207)
What are the different ways through which we can judiciously use paper in the classrooms and offices of your school?
Answer
  • Print and write on both sides of the paper
  • Reuse the blank side of used sheets as scrap paper for rough work
  • Prefer digital notebooks or e‑submissions for homework where possible
  • Avoid unnecessary printouts — proofread on screen before printing
  • Use smaller fonts and margins when printing long documents, to fit more per page
  • Donate old notebooks and textbooks to juniors instead of discarding them
  • Keep a paper recycling bin in every classroom and office
  • Use a common notice board instead of printing individual handouts for every student
Why it matters: the chapter notes that recycling just one tonne of paper saves 17 trees and 2.5 cubic metres of landfill space, and uses 70% less energy and water than making new paper from wood pulp.
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Let’s Explore · (p.208)
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 — a model example (replace with what you actually observe)
1
Primary: A small vegetable farm at the edge of the neighbourhood grows tomatoes, spinach and onions.
2
Secondary: A local pickle/preserve‑making unit buys some of the vegetables and processes them into pickles and packaged sauces.
3
Tertiary: The neighbourhood grocery store and vegetable cart sell the fresh vegetables and the packaged pickles to households; an auto‑rickshaw/van service transports produce from the farm to the shops.

Flow of dependency: Farm (primary) → Pickle unit (secondary) → Grocery store / vendor (tertiary) → Households (final consumers). An arrow can be drawn from each box to the next, showing goods moving forward at every stage.

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How they depend on each other
  • The pickle unit cannot function without fresh vegetables from the farm — it depends entirely on the primary sector for raw material.
  • The grocery store depends on both the farm (for fresh vegetables) and the pickle unit (for packaged goods) to have anything to sell.
  • The farm, in turn, benefits from the store and the transport service, because without a way to sell its produce, growing vegetables would not earn any income.
What if one activity ceased to exist?

If the farm stopped growing vegetables, the pickle unit would run out of raw material and the store would have nothing fresh to sell — the whole chain would break down. Similarly, if the transport service disappeared, the vegetables might rot before reaching the shop, even though the farm and the store both still exist. This shows that all three sectors are interdependent — each one needs the others to function smoothly.

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Try it yourself: walk through your own neighbourhood, note down 4–5 real economic activities you see, label each as primary/secondary/tertiary, and sketch arrows connecting them the same way — that completes your personal version of this activity.
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Exercise Questions — “Questions, Activities and Projects”

Page 208
Question 1
What is the primary sector? How is it different from the secondary sector? Give two examples.
Answer

The primary sector consists of those economic activities in which people are directly dependent on nature to produce goods — it involves the extraction of raw materials straight from nature, such as farming, fishing, mining and forestry.

PointPrimary SectorSecondary Sector
What it doesExtracts raw materials directly from natureTakes the output of the primary sector and transforms/processes it into new goods
DependencyDepends directly on nature (soil, water, forests, mines)Depends on the primary sector for its raw material
Nature of activityExtraction/production of raw materialManufacturing, processing, construction
ExampleFarming (growing wheat), fishingFlour mill (processing wheat into flour), textile factory

Primary sector examples

1. Agriculture — growing crops such as rice or wheat
2. Fishing — catching fish from rivers or the sea

Secondary sector examples

1. A flour mill converting wheat into flour
2. A textile factory converting cotton into cloth

In short: the primary sector gets the raw material from nature, while the secondary sector transforms that raw material into a new, usable product.

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Question 2
How does the secondary sector depend on the tertiary sector? Illustrate with a few examples.
Tertiary sector activities: software development, restaurant service, airport services, retail stores
Tertiary (service) sector activities, as shown in the chapter (pages 201–202)
Answer

The secondary sector (manufacturing, construction, processing) cannot function on its own — it relies on several tertiary sector (service) activities to actually get its goods made, moved and sold:

Tertiary service the secondary sector needsExample
TransportationTrucks and railways carry steel and parts to an automobile factory, and carry finished cars to showrooms
Banking & financeA textile factory takes a bank loan to buy new machinery
Trade & retailFinished cloth or furniture is sold to customers through retail shops
CommunicationA factory uses phone/internet services to place orders with suppliers and coordinate with buyers
WarehousingFinished goods are stored in warehouses before they are distributed to shops

The chapter’s own AMUL example shows this clearly: milk is processed into butter, ghee and milk powder in AMUL’s factories (secondary sector), but those products only reach people because AMUL uses lorries, trucks, railway, air and shipping services to transport them, and sells them through retail stores (tertiary sector). Without transport and retail, the factory’s products would simply pile up with no way to reach customers.

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Question 3
Give an example of interdependence between primary, secondary and tertiary sectors. Show it using a flow diagram.
Answer — Example 1: AMUL’s dairy cooperative (as told in the chapter)
1
Primary sector: Farmers in Anand district milk their cows and buffaloes and sell the raw milk to the dairy — milk is a product derived directly from a natural source (livestock).
2
Secondary sector: The milk is processed and converted in AMUL’s factories into butter, ghee, cheese and milk powder.
3
Tertiary sector: The finished products are transported by lorries, trucks, railway, air and shipping, and sold through retail stores across India and exported abroad.
Answer — Example 2: from tree to textbook (Fig. 14.1)
1
Primary sector: Trees are cut and logs are collected from the forest (forestry).
2
Secondary sector: Logs are processed into paper at a paper mill, and the paper is printed into books.
3
Tertiary sector: The printed books are transported and sold to schools and families through bookstores.

Both examples show the same idea: the secondary sector cannot work without raw material from the primary sector, and neither the primary nor the secondary sector’s products would ever reach people without the services of the tertiary sector. The three sectors form one connected chain, each depending on the one before it.

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Spotlight: The AMUL Story

Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, and Varghese Kurien with Tribhuvandas Patel

In the early 1940s, farmers in Anand district, Gujarat, depended on middlemen who bought their milk cheaply and often cheated them. On Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel’s advice, the farmers formed a cooperative to take control of milk collection, processing and distribution themselves.

AMUL (Anand Milk Union Limited) was set up in 1946, led by Tribhuvandas Patel (lawyer and freedom fighter) and Dr. Varghese Kurien (an engineer). It grew from a small farmers’ collective into one of India’s largest dairy brands — a real, working example of the primary, secondary and tertiary sectors depending on each other, from farm to plate.

Cows in a dairy barn, and farmers pouring milk during processing
Milk collection and processing — the primary and secondary stages of the AMUL story (page 204)
Economic Activities Around Us · Chapter 14 · Complete question bank with step‑by‑step, direct solutions.

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