Industries Chapter Notes | Geography Class 7 ICSE PDF Download

Introduction

Industries play a vital role in utilizing Earth's resources to create products and services that enhance human life. They involve large-scale manufacturing units that use advanced technology and specialization to convert raw materials into useful goods. Industries are crucial for a nation's economic growth, improving living standards, and providing employment opportunities. This chapter explores the types, classifications, advantages, location factors, major industries worldwide, and the environmental challenges caused by industrial activities.

Industries

• Industries are groups of companies engaged in similar business activities, converting raw materials into useful products or services.
• They involve activities like raising, processing, producing, and selling goods.
• Example: The apparel industry produces clothing by cutting, sewing, or knitting materials like textiles, leather, or plastics, which are then sold in markets.
• Industries drive economic growth, and their productivity reflects a nation's wealth and living standards.

Advantages of Industries

• Boost economic growth by increasing national income through large-scale production and modern technology.
• Create diverse employment opportunities, reducing unemployment and underemployment.
• Support agriculture by providing machinery, fertilizers, pesticides, storage, and transport facilities.
• Balance the economy by supporting agriculture and service sectors.
• Enable better use of natural resources like minerals, forests, and fisheries.
• Increase people's income and purchasing power, making a variety of goods available.
• Essential for national defense by producing necessary equipment and materials.

Levels of Industries

Primary Industries

• Extract raw materials from the Earth, such as through mining, forestry, fishing, and agriculture.
• Agriculture is a primary industry as it provides raw materials needing further processing.

Secondary Industries

• Transform raw materials into usable products through manufacturing and processing.
• Examples: Bakeries turning flour into bread, factories making vehicles from metals and plastics.
• Add value to raw materials, known as "value-added" products.

Tertiary Industries

• Provide services to support primary and secondary industries, such as transportation, finance, education, retail, and medical services.
• Also called service industries or "spin-off" industries, as other industries depend on them.

Classification of Industries

Classification on the Basis of Raw Material

• Agro-based industries: Use agricultural products as raw materials (e.g., cotton, jute, vegetable oil, tea).
• Mineral-based industries: Use mineral ores as raw materials (e.g., iron and steel, cement, copper).
• Forest-based industries: Use forest products as raw materials (e.g., paper, furniture, pharmaceuticals).
• Marine-based industries: Use sea or ocean products as raw materials (e.g., fish oil, seafood processing).

Classification on the Basis of Size

• Industries are divided into types based on three things: the amount of money invested, the number of workers, and the amount of products made.
• Based on these factors, industries are grouped into small-scale, large-scale, and cottage industries.

Small-scale Industry

• Run by individuals with a small number of workers.
• Use a small amount of money and basic technology.
• Rely on traditional skills available locally.
• Provide jobs to rural people without making them move to cities.
• Products are mostly sold in nearby markets.
• Skills are passed down from parents to children across generations.
• Examples include leather work, bangle making, sugar, and vegetable oil industries.

Large-scale Industry

• Need a lot of money to start and use advanced technology.
• Produce a huge amount of products for national and international markets.
• Use big, power-driven machines that need a lot of electricity.
• Pay special attention to the quality of products.
• Get raw materials from faraway places.
• Examples include cotton textile, iron and steel, and automobile industries.

Cottage Industry

• A type of small-scale industry usually run from home, not in a factory.
• Needs very little money to start and employs a small number of people.
• Focuses on making products that need a lot of handwork.
• Important in developing countries, especially for rural jobs.
• Helps show and sell local traditional products to bigger markets.
• Example: A Naga woman weaving at home.

Classification on the Basis of Ownership

• Private sector industries: Owned and operated by individuals or groups (e.g., Bajaj Auto, Tata Steel).
• Public sector industries: Owned and operated by the government (e.g., Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd, Steel Authority of India Ltd).
• Joint sector industries: Owned by both public and private sectors (e.g., Cochin Refineries Ltd, Maruti Udyog Ltd).
• Cooperative sector industries: Owned by producers or suppliers of raw materials (e.g., sugar mills, Amul).

Factors Affecting the Location of Industries

Geographical Factors

• Accessibility: Industries need to be in places where raw materials and finished products can be easily brought in and sent out.
• Climate: Weather plays a big role in where industries are set up, as some need specific conditions, like warm or humid weather for certain manufacturing.
• Land: Flat and large areas are best for industries because they need space to grow and build factories.
• Power: In the past, industries had to be near water or coal for power; now they can use the national grid, so power location is less important.
• Transport: Industries need good transport like roads, railways, or water routes to move raw materials and products; railway junctions and sea ports are great spots.
• Markets: Industries making items that spoil quickly or are heavy are set up near markets to save on transport costs.
• Raw materials: Industries that need heavy raw materials are built near those resources to save money on transport, like jute industries in West Bengal, sugar in Uttar Pradesh, and iron and steel in Jharkhand, Odisha, and Chhattisgarh.
• Footloose industries: Some modern industries can be set up anywhere because they don’t depend heavily on raw materials or transport.

Socioeconomic Factors

• Capital: Industries need a lot of money to start, which can come from private people, the government, or banks; this affects where they can be set up.
• Communication: Very important for new industries because they need to connect with others using the internet, fax, and phones; this gives them more freedom to choose their location.
• Government policy: The government can influence where industries are set up by giving benefits like tax cuts, low rent, or other help in certain areas; they may also stop some industries from being built in big cities with over 10 lakh people or urban areas with over 5 lakh people to control growth.
• Labor supply: Industries need many workers, both skilled and unskilled; the availability of cheap labor in an area helps decide where to build; for example, industries like watch-making, electronics, and computers need skilled workers, while cotton textile, sugar, and jute industries use more unskilled workers; in India, plantations in Assam and cotton textiles in Maharashtra grew because of cheap and efficient labor.

Major Industries of the World

Iron and Steel Industry

• Key industry supplying raw materials for other sectors; located in Germany, USA, China, Japan, India, Brazil, Russia.
• Requires iron ore, coal, limestone, labor, capital, and infrastructure.
• India is the third-largest steel producer, with centers in Burnpur, Durgapur (West Bengal), Bokaro, Jamshedpur (Jharkhand), Bhilai (Chhattisgarh), Rourkela (Odisha).

Cotton Textile Industry

• One of the oldest industries, dating back to ancient civilizations like the Indus Valley and Ancient Egypt.
• Major hubs in India, China, USA; in India, started in 1818 near Kolkata, with modern mills in Mumbai (1854).
• Expanded in Maharashtra and Gujarat due to suitable climate, raw materials, skilled labor, and ports.
• Now spread to Coimbatore, Kanpur, Chennai, Kolkata, Ludhiana, Puducherry, Panipat; Osaka is Japan’s textile hub.

Information Technology Industry

• Focuses on storage, processing, and distribution of information; a global industry.
• Major hubs: Silicon Valley (California, USA) and Bengaluru (Silicon Valley of India).

Sugar Industry

• Uses sugarcane to produce sugar, ethanol, jaggery; by-products used as fodder.
• Major producers: USA, Indonesia, Colombia, Pakistan, Mexico, Brazil, India, China, Thailand.

Automobile Industry

• Involves manufacturing and selling vehicles like cars, vans, trucks, buses; supports other industries.
• Major producers: China, USA, Japan, Germany, South Korea, Spain, Brazil, Canada.

Shipbuilding Industry

• Constructs ships, ocean liners, tankers  located at harbors with large spaces.
• Leading countries: China, Japan, South Korea others include Germany, France, India, USA, Netherlands, Brazil, Ukraine, Sweden.
• In India, located in Visakhapatnam, Kolkata, Kochi, Mumbai.

Fishing Industry

• Involves gathering, processing, preserving, and selling fish and seafood products.
• Supports livelihoods of over 500 million people in developing countries.
• Key in island nations (Japan, Iceland, Caribbean) and countries with long coastlines (Chile, Peru).
• Major producers: China, Japan, Peru, Chile, USA, Thailand, India, Norway, Indonesia, Russia, Iceland.
• Overfishing threatens ecosystems, necessitating marine conservation.

Industrial Pollution

Causes of Industrial Pollution

• Toxic chemicals: Used in processing, these harm human health and the environment.
• Industrial consumer products: Electronics, car parts, plastics, and chemicals like petroleum and paints cause pollution.
• Hazardous waste streams: Contain reactive, ignitable, toxic, or corrosive substances; poor waste management worsens pollution.
• Greenhouse gas emissions: Carbon dioxide from fuel use in industries contributes to global warming and climate change.
• Small-scale industries: Rapid growth, often illegal, leads to toxic pollutant dumping.
• Degradation of natural resources: Extraction of metals, minerals, trees, and oils depletes resources and degrades land and water.
• Outdated technologies: Older methods produce more harmful waste compared to modern, cleaner technologies.

Points To Remember

• Economic development depends on industrial growth.
• Industries are classified by raw material, ownership, function, size, and products.
• Geographical factors: accessibility, climate, land, power, transport, markets, raw materials.
• Socioeconomic factors: capital, communication, government policy, labor supply.
• Major industries: iron and steel, cotton textile, IT, sugar, automobile, shipbuilding, fishing.
• Industrialization causes pollution, harming the environment and health.