Economics [3 marks Question-Answer]

Economic progress of a nation is closely associated with both industrialisation and urbanisation.
Growing share of urban population to total population of a country is called urbanisation. Urbanisation is a process of fast development of cities due to migration of people from rural areas in search of jobs.
With the growth of medium and large-scale industries, several industrial towns and cities have emerged in India.
In 1951, about 17 per cent of Indian population lived in urban areas, which increased to about 33 per cent in 2017.
Cities are the main hubs of economic activities in any industrialising country.
Therefore, in many cases, the economic and social infrastructure in these cities become inadequate to meet the growing needs of the people. Due to this reason, in many large cities we find the existence of many slum areas (which begin as unauthorised settlement for the poor people migrating from the rural areas) with poor waste disposal facility, inadequate access to safe drinking water and sanitation facilities.

The industrial practices in a country have some adverse impacts on the environment in the form of

• Greater pressure upon natural resources and environmental pollution.
• Greater production in the industrial sector leads to air pollution, water pollution, soil pollution and sound pollution.
• An expansion of mining activities or power generation activities causes severe damage to the environment.
• An expansion of automobiles in urban centres and growing urbanisation also pollute the environment.

(i) Large scale industries are mainly heavy and capital intensive industries.
(ii) These are hightech industries where white collar workers make up a large share of the total workforce.
(iii) Specialisation in production is the main feature of large scale industries.

(i) Small scale industries make use of local resources as raw materials.
(ii) Hired workers perform work in these industries.
(iii) Cheap but skilled labourers are employed.

(a) Cottage industries are those industries which are carried on the home of an artisan.
(b) Features :
(i) These industries are carried on by handicraftmen in their homes.
(ii) Such industries can be carried on with the help of family members.
(iii) The amount of investment in these units is very small.

Safe disposal of wastes
(i) Segregation of wastes
(ii) Dumping
(iii) Composting
(iv) Drainage
(v) Treatment of effluents before discharge

SSIs need to be promoted because of the following reasons :
(i) Small industries are labour intensive. Hence, they are capable of absorbing surplus labour in productive employment.
(ii) They help in reducing the regional disparities as these can be started anywhere (in villages or towns) all over the country.