Home › Free notes › Class 6 Social Science › Economic Activities Around Us

Economic Activities Around Us – Class 6 Social Science notes, important questions and MCQs

NCERT Class 6 Social Science, chapter 14. Notes, key terms, important questions with answers and MCQs.

Chapter overview

Economic activities are grouped into three sectors. The primary sector uses natural resources directly, the secondary sector turns raw materials into goods, and the tertiary sector provides services. The three sectors depend on one another, as the journey from cotton to a shirt shows.

Three sectors

Primary sector: agriculture, fishing, forestry, animal husbandry and mining.
Secondary sector: manufacturing and processing, such as making cloth, sugar, furniture or steel.
Tertiary sector: services such as transport, trade, banking, education, health care and communication.

Interdependence

A cotton farmer (primary) grows cotton; a mill (secondary) spins and weaves it into cloth and shirts; trucks, shops and banks (tertiary) help move, sell and pay for the shirt.
If farmers face drought, mills get less raw material and shops have fewer goods to sell.
Services such as transport and electricity are needed by both farms and factories.

Economic activities in society

In villages, primary activities dominate; in towns and cities, secondary and tertiary activities grow.
New services such as online shopping and digital payments are creating new jobs.

Key terms

Primary sector: activities that directly use natural resources, such as farming and fishing
Secondary sector: activities that change raw materials into finished goods through manufacturing
Tertiary sector: activities that provide services, such as transport, trade and education
Raw material: a basic material from which goods are made, such as cotton for cloth

Important questions with answers

Name the three sectors of economic activity with one example each.2 marks

The primary sector uses natural resources directly, for example farming. The secondary sector manufactures goods from raw materials, for example a sugar mill. The tertiary sector provides services, for example a bank or a school.

Why is mining included in the primary sector?3 marks

Mining takes minerals such as coal and iron ore directly from the earth, just as farming and fishing take resources from nature. It does not change the material into a new product; that is done later in the secondary sector, for example in a steel plant. So mining is a primary activity.

Explain the interdependence of the three sectors using the example of a cotton shirt.5 marks

The journey of a shirt begins in the primary sector, where a farmer grows cotton using land, water, seeds and labour. The cotton is then sent to the secondary sector: a ginning factory separates the seeds, a mill spins the cotton into yarn and weaves it into cloth, and a garment factory cuts and stitches the shirts. At every stage the tertiary sector helps: trucks and trains transport cotton and cloth, banks give loans to farmers and factories, electricity and telephone services support production, and wholesalers and shops sell the shirts to customers, often using advertisements and digital payments. If any one sector fails, for example if drought ruins the cotton crop or transport stops, the other sectors are affected too. This shows that the three sectors depend on one another.

Quick revision

Primary = nature; secondary = manufacturing; tertiary = services.
Cotton → mill → shop shows interdependence.
Villages: more primary; cities: more secondary and tertiary.
New services create new jobs.

Exam tips

Use one product chain (cotton → cloth → shop) to explain all three sectors in one answer.
Mining is primary even though it uses machines, because it takes resources directly from nature.

Practice MCQs

Fishing belongs to the
1. primary sector
2. secondary sector
3. tertiary sector
4. none
Show answer
Answer: (a) primary sector. It uses natural resources directly.
Making furniture from wood is a
1. primary activity
2. secondary activity
3. tertiary activity
4. non-economic activity
Show answer
Answer: (b) secondary activity. Raw wood is turned into a finished product.
A bus driver provides a
1. primary service
2. secondary product
3. tertiary service
4. mining activity
Show answer
Answer: (c) tertiary service. Transport is a service.
Mining coal is a
1. tertiary activity
2. secondary activity
3. primary activity
4. household activity
Show answer
Answer: (c) primary activity. It takes a resource directly from the earth.
In the chain cotton → cloth → shop, the cloth mill belongs to the
1. secondary sector
2. primary sector
3. tertiary sector
4. public sector only
Show answer
Answer: (a) secondary sector. It manufactures cloth.
Banking and teaching belong to the
1. primary sector
2. secondary sector
3. mining sector
4. tertiary sector
Show answer
Answer: (d) tertiary sector. They are services.
If a drought ruins the cotton crop, which is the most likely effect
1. mills get more cotton
2. teachers lose jobs immediately
3. banks stop working forever
4. mills get less raw material and shops have fewer goods
Show answer
Answer: (d) mills get less raw material and shops have fewer goods. Sectors depend on one another.
Why do towns and cities have more secondary and tertiary activities than villages
1. they have more farmland
2. there is no transport
3. factories, offices, markets and services are concentrated there
4. people do not work
Show answer
Answer: (c) factories, offices, markets and services are concentrated there. Industry and services grow where markets and infrastructure exist.

All chapters of Class 6 Social Science

Written by Kundali IQ from standard, well-established facts to help with revision. This is not an official NCERT publication; always read your textbook too.