Class 8 Geography Chapter 4 Notes - Industries

Facts that Matter

• Secondary activities are those that involve processing of natural resources. Manufacturing is a secondary activity. Manufacturing refers to changing raw materials to a product, i.e. to a usable form, which can be more valuable to people.
• Industry refers to an economic activity that is concerned with production of goods, extraction of minerals or provision of services.
• We classify industries on the basis of raw materials, size and ownership.
• On basis of raw materials, industries are agro-based, mineral-based, marine-based or forest-based.
• The raw material used in mineral-based industries consists of mineral ores. The products of mineral-based industries are used in other industries as well. We can understand it better with an example: heavy machinery made of iron, which is used in most industries, actually comes after processing of iron ore in a mineral-based industry.
• Marine-based industries use products obtained from the sea and oceans as raw materials. Sea food industry is one such industry.
• A forest-based industry uses forest produce as raw material. Examples are paper industry and furniture.
• Based on size, industries can be classified into small-scale and large-scale industries. Cottage or household industries are examples of small-scale industries. The products here are manufactured by hands, with less use of capital and technology. Investment of capital and use of technology is huge in large-scale industries.
• On the basis of ownership, industries are classified into private sector, state owned (public sector), joint sector and cooperative sector. Private sector industries are owned by individuals or a group of individuals. Public sector industries are owned by the government. Joint sector industries are owned and operated by the state and individuals. Maruti Udyog is an example of such an industry. Cooperative sector industries are owned and operated by the producers or suppliers of raw materials, workers or both. AMUL is one such industry.
• The location of industries is affected by the availability of raw material, land, water, labour, power, capital, transport and market.
• An industrial system, like farming process, consists of inputs, processes and outputs. Raw materials, labour and cost of land, transport, power and other infrastructure constitute the inputs. Processes include all activities involved in converting the raw material to finished products. The finish products along with the income earned by its trade are outputs.
• Major industrial regions of the world are eastern North America, western and central Europe, eastern Europe and eastern Asia. Such areas are usually located in temperate areas, near sea ports and coal fields.
• The iron and steel industry is a mineral-based industry whose products are used as raw material for other industries.
• Inputs in iron and steel industry: iron ore, coal, limestone, human labour, capital, and infrastructure. Processes involved: smelting, refining. Outputs obtained: steel.
• Steel is called the backbone of modern industry. Most common objects are made of steel. In India most important steel producing centres are spread over the states of West Bengal, Jharkhand, Orissa and Chhattisgarh.
• Tata Iron and Steel Company Limited (TISCO) was the only one iron and steel plant in India till independence. It is located in Jamshedpur. Several iron and steel industries were set up after independence. This led to rapid industrial development in India.
• Pittsburgh is an important steel city of USA.
• Ahmedabad is the second largest textile city in India after Mumbai. It is referred to as the “Manchester of India”. In recent years textile mills here have started getting closed down due to several problems.
• Osaka is the “Manchester of Japan”.
• The Information Technology (IT) sector deals in the storage, processing and distribution of information. The major hubs of IT industry are Silicon Valley in USA and Bangalore in India.

Flow Learning

Words that Matter 

• Manufacturing. Manufacturing refers to changing raw materials to a usable form, which can be more valuable to people.
• Product. A product is something obtained from raw materials by certain processes, so that it is something usable and of importance.
• Industry. Industry refers to an economic activity that is concerned with production of goods, extraction of minerals or provision of services.
• Agro-based Industries. These are industries that use plant and animal based products as raw material.
• Mineral-based Industries. These are industries that use mineral ores as their raw material.
• Marine-based Industries. These are industries that use sea and ocean products as their raw material.
• Forest-based Industries. These are industries that use forest produce as raw material.
• Small-Scale Industries. These are industries that run on little capital and infrastructure.
• Large-Scale Industries. These are industries that run on large amount of capital and have a big infrastructure.
• Private-Sector Industries. These are industries owned and run by an individual or group of individuals.
• Public-Sector Industries. These are industries owned and run by the government.
• Joint-Sector Industries. These are industries owned and run by the state as well as individuals.
• Cooperative Sector Industries. These are industries owned and operated by producers or suppliers of raw materials.
• Smelting. Smelting is the process of extracting the minerals from their ores by heating beyond their melting point.
• Refining. Refining is the process of yielding the highest possible purity of metal obtained from mineral.
• Steel. Steel is an alloy of iron obtained from the iron ore.
• Information Technology Industry. The IT industry deals in the storage, processing and distribution of information.