Economic activity
Topic: Primary Activities: Gathering, Pastoralism, Agriculture and Mining · NCERT: Class 12, Ch 4 "Primary Activities"
Meaning
An economic activity is any human activity that earns income. Economic activities fall into four groups: primary, secondary, tertiary and quaternary. Quinary activities are a further sub-group. Primary activities depend directly on the environment, such as land, water, plants and minerals. Which activity people take up depends on physical factors, like relief, climate, soil and coastline. It also depends on social factors, like population, technology, capital, markets and tradition.
Example
In Kerala, people on the coast earn a living by fishing. On the Indo-Gangetic plains of Punjab, people earn a living by farming. Both are economic activities, and the land and water around people shape the choice.
Don't confuse with
- Primary activities: only one of the four groups of economic activity. These are the activities that take resources straight from nature, such as farming, fishing and mining.