📘 Q.11 IAS Prelims 2024 — Economics (Sectors of Indian Economy)
🧷 Authentic Classroom Explanation by IAS Monk
📌 The Question:
With reference to the sectors of the Indian economy, consider the following pairs:
| Economic Activity | Sector |
|---|---|
| 1. Storage of agricultural produce | Secondary |
| 2. Dairy farm | Primary |
| 3. Mineral exploration | Tertiary |
| 4. Weaving cloth | Secondary |
How many of the pairs given above are correctly matched?
(a) Only one
(b) Only two
(c) Only three
(d) All four
✅ Correct Answer: (c) Only three
🧠 Curiosity Raiser
Why does UPSC confuse storage, exploration, and processing across sectors?
👉 Because sector classification depends on the nature of activity, not on where it happens or how modern it looks.
📘 Enrichment Notes (Concept Precision)
🔹 Understanding the Three Sectors (UPSC Lens)
🟢 Primary Sector
- Directly exploits natural resources
- Examples:
- Agriculture
- Dairy farming
- Fishing
- Mining (extraction)
✔ Pair 2: Dairy farm — Correctly matched
🟠 Secondary Sector
- Converts raw materials into finished or semi-finished goods
- Manufacturing & processing
- Examples:
- Spinning
- Weaving
- Factories
✔ Pair 4: Weaving cloth — Correctly matched
🔵 Tertiary Sector
- Service-based activities
- Supports Primary & Secondary sectors
- Examples:
- Transport
- Storage
- Banking
- Trade
- Consultancy
- Technical services
❌ Pair 1: Storage of agricultural produce — Incorrectly matched
📌 Storage is a service, hence tertiary, not secondary.
✔ Pair 3: Mineral exploration — Correctly matched
📌 Important UPSC nuance:
- Mining → Primary
- Mineral exploration → knowledge-intensive, survey, consultancy → Tertiary
🧩 Final Tally
| Pair | Status |
|---|---|
| 1 | ❌ Incorrect |
| 2 | ✅ Correct |
| 3 | ✅ Correct |
| 4 | ✅ Correct |
➡️ Correct pairs = 3
🧘♂️ IAS Monk Whisper
What extracts is primary, what transforms is secondary, what supports is tertiary.
