Class 12 Geography Chapter 8 Important Questions

Industries are classified on a number of ways. Like size, capital investment and Labour force. They are also classified on the basis of small, medium and large scale.
On the basis of ownership, industries are categorized as public sector, private sector and joint and cooperative sector.
Another method of classifying industries is on the basis of raw materials used by them. Accordingly, these can be:

• (i) agriculture-based industries,
• (ii) forest-based industries,
• (iii) mineral-based industries, and
• (iv) industrially processed raw material-based industries.

The service sector is the biggest sector of India with the Gross Value Added at current prices as 96.54 lakh crore in 2020-21. Today the service sector accounts for almost 54% of Indian GVA of 179.15 lakh crores. The services sector is not only the dominant sector in India’s GDP, but has also attracted significant foreign investment, has contributed significantly to export and has provided large-scale employment. India’s services sector covers a wide variety of activities such as trade, hotel and restaurants, transport, storage and communication, financing, insurance, real estate, business services, community, social and personal services, and services associated with construction.

Which state is the largest producer of sugarcane in India and why?
Maharashtra is the largest sugarcane producing state in India. After a five-year gap, Maharashtra has overtaken Uttar Pradesh (UP) to regain its position as India’s top sugar producer.
Below are the reasons behind massive cultivation of sugarcane in Maharashtra:
The first is the bountiful rainfall Maharashtra has been receiving since the 2019 southwest monsoon season (June-September).
The filling up of reservoirs and recharged groundwater aquifers has induced farmer to plant more area under sugarcane, which is a 12-18 months’ duration crop. The benefits of abundant water and expanded acreage resulted in vast production.

The cotton textile industry is one of the traditional industries of India. The Indian Textile industry has a rich history which is more than 5000-years-old. The industry has undergone significant developments starting from its modest beginnings as handlooms in villages to large scale modern-day textile mills.

India was famous worldwide for the production of muslin, a very fine variety of cotton cloth, calicos, chintz and other different varieties of fine cotton cloth. The development of this industry in India was due to several factors. One, it is a tropical country and cotton is the most comfortable fabric for a hot and humid climate. Second, large quantity of cotton was grown in India. Abundant skilled Labour required for this industry was available in this country.

The first cotton mill was established in Bombay. This city was very close to cotton producing areas of Gujarat and Maharashtra. International trade was easy as Bombay was a port. It was then the financial centre and hence the capital required to start an industry was available there. There was no shortage of labor due to good road and rail connectivity that also helped a lot in setting up the textile industry.

The knowledge based industry is a system of consumption and production that is based on intellectual capital. In particular, it refers to the ability to capitalize on scientific discoveries and applied research. The IT and IT enabled business process outsourcing (ITES-BPO) services continue to be on a robust growth path. Indian software industry has emerged as one of the fastest growing sectors in the economy. The software industry has surpassed electronic hardware production.
India’s software industry has achieved a remarkable distinction for providing quality products.

A large number of Indian software companies have acquired international quality certification. A majority of the multinational companies operating in the area of information technology have either software development centres or research development centres in India.