Economy and Occupations Class 10 Geography Notes Maharashtra State Board
The economy of a country depends on the economic activities carried out in the country. You have learned that there are 3 types of economic activities in an economy.
Economic Activities in Brazil and India:
In the figure, the pie-charts show the contribution of each sector to the respective country’s GDP and the percentage of the population engaged in various activities.
In the figure, we see that India has a higher national income than Brazil. Brazil is one of the world’s giants of mining, agriculture, and manufacturing, and it has a strong and rapidly growing service sector. On the other hand, India is still dependent on agriculture, though the service sector is also increasing in India.
Like the Indian economy, the Brazilian economy is also a mixed economy. Both the Indian and the Brazilian economies are developing economies. Their per capita incomes are very low as compared to the developed countries like the USA. It is interesting to note that though India has a higher national income as compared to Brazil, the per capita income of India is lower than Brazil. Can you think of a season for the same? Use the following table and make a polyline graph with the help of a computer.
Per Capita Income from 1960 to 2016 ( in US $)
The United States is a developed country. The population of this country is well-educated. This country has the strength of many patents, modern technology, and mechanical strength. This country is far ahead of Brazil and India in terms of national per capita income India and Brazil are developing countries. These countries are progressing in the fields of technological advancement, education, and industry. The national per capita income of the countries is low. India’s per capita income seems to be even lower as India’s size is very large.
Agriculture:
In Brazil, agriculture is the main occupation of the people living in the highlands and coastal areas. Favorable climate and topography make it possible to grow a variety of crops. Rice and maize are the main cereal crops. Production of maize is largely concentrated in the central part. Commercial crops like coffee, cocoa, rubber, soybeans, and sugarcane are cultivated on a large scale. Brazil is the largest exporter of coffee and soybeans in the world. The major states growing coffee are Minas Gerais and Sao Paulo. Besides these crops, the production of fruits like bananas, pineapples, oranges, and other citrus fruits is also done. Cattle, sheep, and goats are also reared in the Savannah grasslands in the south. Consequently, meat and dairy products are produced on a large scale.
Mining:
The eastern part of Brazil is rich in various types of minerals. Iron ore, manganese, nickel, copper, bauxite, tungsten, diamonds, etc. Inaccessibility, lack of knowledge of potential reserves of resources, dense forests, etc are factors that have led to limitations in mining in the interior parts of the country. Nevertheless, because of increasing demand in the country, mining work has developed well in the highland region.
Fishing:
Brazil has a sea coast of around 7,400 km and excellent fishing grounds off the South Atlantic coast. The meeting of the warm Brazil Current and the cold Falkland current off the coast of southeast Brazil makes it a good fishing ground. Traditionally, fishing has been carried on by small groups of individual fishermen using primitive techniques and equipment. But now, large vessels are being used. Swordfish, shrimp, lobsters, and sardines are mainly caught. The fish resources of the Amazon River are not exploited much and fishing only takes place at a small scale.
Agriculture in India:
Unlike Brazil, India’s agriculture contributes more towards GDP and also engages a larger chunk of the population. Around 60% of land in India is under cultivation. Its enormous expanse of level plains, rich soils, high percentage of cultivable land, wide climatic variety, long growing season, etc provides a strong base for agriculture. In India, agriculture has been a long-standing activity.
Indian agriculture is mainly subsistence type. India produces rice, wheat, maize, sorghum, and millets as major food crops; plantations of tea, coffee, rubber, and cash crops like sugarcane, cotton, jute, etc are also produced. India is also a major producer of a variety of fruits and vegetables.
Fishing in India:
Fishing plays an important role in the economy of India. India is one of the largest producers of fish, both marine and inland. Fisheries help augment the food supply, generating employment, raising nutritional level,s and earning foreign exchange.
Fish forms an important part of the diet of many people living in the coastal areas of Kerala, West Bengal, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Goa, and Maharashtra. India has about 7500 kms of coastline. Marine fishing accounts for about 40 percent of the total annual production of fish and is confined to coastal waters in the west from Kachchh, Malabar coast to the Coromandel coast in the east Major fishes are sardines, mackerel, Bombay duck, and prawns. On the eastern coast, the important fish are horse mackerels, clupeids, and silver bellies.
Freshwater fishing is carried on in rivers, canals, irrigation channels, tanks, ponds, lakes, etc. Silver bellies carp (chopda) etc. are major freshwater varieties. About 60 percent of the country’s total fish production comes from inland fisheries.
Mining in India:
The Chhota Nagpur plateau in India is a big storehouse of different minerals. Mining is the main occupation of the people there. Coal is mined in Korba in Chattisgarh and eastern Maharashtra. Mineral oil wells are found in Digboi in Assam, Mumbai High in the Arabian Sea near Maharashtra, Kalol, and Koyali in Gujrat. Reserves of mineral oil and natural gas have been discovered at the mouth of river Godavari. Stones like marble are found in Rajasthan and Cuddapah in Andhra Pradesh.
Industries in Brazil:
Major industries include iron and steel production, automobile assembly, petroleum processing, chemicals production, and cement making; technologically based industries have been the most dynamic in recent years, but have not outpaced traditional industries. Similarly, food-processing like, sugar industries, cotton textiles, silk, and wooluen industries have developed well. Most large industry is concentrated in the south and southeast. The northeast is traditionally the poorest part of Brazil, but it is beginning to attract new investment.
Industries in India:
The distribution of industries in India is highly uneven. This is partly on account of the uneven distribution of the necessary raw materials and power resources and partly due to the concentration of enterprises, financial resources, and other necessary conditions in large towns.
Jharkhand, Orissa, adjoining Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, parts of Rajasthan, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu account for most of the reserves of metallic minerals. This area, therefore, particularly the northeastern part of the peninsula, has a very high concentration of heavy metallurgical industries with almost all the steel centers situated here. The availability of large quantities of coal and refractory materials, along with cheap power from the Damodar-Valley Corporation and several thermal power projects, has added to the advantages. Rajasthan has copper, lead, and zinc; Karnataka has steel, manganese, and aluminium; and Tamil Nadu has aluminium metal industries.
Agro-based industries including cotton, jute, and sugar are heavily concentrated in the raw material-producing areas. The Forest-based industries including paper, plywood, matches, resins, and lac are increasingly finding concentration in the forest areas of various states. The coastal belt of Kerala has a heavy concentration of coir, copra, and fish canning industries.
Koyali, Digboi, Noonmati, and Bongaigaon refineries are situated close to the petroleum-producing areas, and Mathura and Barauni refineries in the interior, away from the coast and oil-producing areas. The distribution of the cement industry is also highly conditioned by the availability of raw materials.
Gujarat, Rajasthan, and Tamil Nadu produce the bulk of salt in the country. Mechanical engineering, electricals, automobile, fertilizer, and numerous consumer industries, which show little bias for raw material, have come up all over the country with a heavier concentration near the big cities.
Trade:
Brazil mainly exports iron ore, coffee, cocoa, cotton, sugar, tobacco, oranges, and bananas while it imports machinery, chemical products, fertilizers, wheat, heavy vehicles, mineral oil, and lubricants. Major trading partners are Germany, the USA, Canada, Italy, Argentina Saudi Arabia, and India. Trade makes up about 25% of GDP. See the figure and compare it with India.
India mainly exports tea, mangoes, coffee, spices, leather and leather goods, iron ore, cotton, and silk textiles while it mainly imports petroleum, machines, pearls and precious stones, gold and silver, paper, medicines, etc. India’s major trading partners are the UK, the USA, Germany, Japan, China, Russia, etc.
Indo-Brazil Ties:
Indian companies set up industrial centers all over Brazil and invested a lot of capital. The Indian companies have invested in such sectors as IT, pharmaceuticals, energy, agri-business, mining, engineering and auto sectors. Brazil’s footprint in India is smaller but important. The Brazilian companies have invested in automobiles, IT, mining, energy, biofuels, and footwear sectors in India.
Brazil has been the largest producer of coffee for the last 150 years. The plant belongs originally to Ethiopia. It was first brought to Brazil by some French settlers who established in the state of Pará in the early 18th century. Coffee farms are called fazendas. Taxes are an important part of the economy and trade of any country. India has now switched to the GST (Goods and Service Tax) which aims towards one tax all over the country on various commodities and services. Brazil too has adopted the system since 1984. Like India, in Brazil too GST has various slabs.
Well-structured Maharashtra State Board Class 10 Geography Notes Economy and Occupations can reduce anxiety during exams.