Geography Test - 28

• Zoji La is a high mountain pass located in the Indian union territory of Ladakh, connecting Srinagar (Kashmir) to Leh (Ladakh).

• Banihal Pass is in Jammu and Kashmir, connecting Jammu to the Kashmir Valley.

• Jelep La: This is a mountain pass between Sikkim, India, and Tibet Autonomous Region, China.

• Khardung La is in Ladakh, often considered one of the highest motorable passes in the world.

Indian Railways earn the maximum revenue from freight.

Indian Railways is one of the largest employers on earth.

Indian Railways android app IRCTC won National Award for E-Governance for the year 2018 in special jury award.

Indian railways have four UNESCO world heritage sites and they are Darjeeling Himalayan Railway enlisted in the year 1999, Mumbai CSMT Building enlisted in the year 2004, Nilgiri Mountain Railways enlisted in the year 2005 and Kalka-Shimla Railways enlisted in the year 2008.

Railways are indeed economical for bulky goods over long distances, while air transport is used for lighter, high-value goods due to its high cost.

The Trans-Siberian Railway is the longest in the world, but it connects cities in Russia, not Canadian cities.

The correct answer is Fifth.

Key Points

• The Hill Area Development Programme (HADP) was launched during the Fifth Five-Year Plan period in India, which spanned from 1974 to 1979.
• It was initiated to ensure the ecological security of the hill areas and to improve the socio-economic condition of the people living in these regions.
• The programme aimed at sustainable development by focusing on areas like agriculture, horticulture, minor forest produce, and small-scale and cottage industries.
• Special attention was given to preserving the biodiversity and preventing the degradation of the hill environment.
• The HADP covered the hill areas of the North-Eastern region, Western Ghats, Eastern Ghats, and some parts of the Himalayas, addressing the unique challenges faced by these regions.
• This programme is significant as it recognized the unique needs and challenges of hill areas, which differ markedly from those of the plains, and aimed to address these through targeted development initiatives.

Bhutan

Key Points

Bhutan has officially proclaimed the Gross National Happiness Index as the measure of the country's progress.

This holistic approach to development prioritizes the well-being and happiness of its citizens over purely economic indicators like GDP

The correct answer is Quinary activities.

Key Points

• Primary - Activities are undertaken by directly using natural resources. eg.- agriculture, mining fishing, forestry
• Secondary - Industries where finished products are made from natural materials produced in the primary sector.
  • Also called the industrial sector.
  • People engaged are called blue-collar workers.
  • Eg. - Cotton mills, industrial production, etc.
• Quaternary Activities -
  • Specialized activities in the knowledge sector.
  • The intellectual aspect of the economy.
  • It enables entrepreneurs to innovate & improve the quality of services offered in the economy.
  • eg. - Elementary schools & university professors, doctor offices, accounting and brokerage firms, etc.
• Quinary Activities -
  • The sector of the economy where top-level decisions are made.
  • It includes a government that passes legislation.
  • Focus on operation, rearrangement & interpretation of new & existing ideas.
  • These are called gold collar professionals, officers, research scientists.

The correct answer is Both 1 and 2.

Key Points

Economic Activity

• Economic activity is an activity of providing, making, buying, or selling of commodities or services by people to satisfy their day-to-day needs of life.
• Economic activities include any activity that deals with the manufacturing, distributing, or utilizing of products or services.
• Activities that involve money, or the exchange of products or services, are economic activities. The three types of economic activities are as follows:
• Business: – This economic activity provides goods and services to satisfy human needs on a daily basis with the aim of earning profits.
• Profession: – It can also be defined as an occupation or a professional job that offers specialized services in return for professional charges.
• Employment: – This activity is based on a contract between the company and the employee. Here, the employee performs duties for the company and is paid (with wages or a salary) in return.
• Human activities that generate income are known as economic activities. Hence, statement 1 is correct.
• Economic activities are broadly grouped into primary, secondary, tertiary, and quaternary activities. Hence, statement 2 is correct.
• Primary activities are directly dependent on the environment as these refer to utilizing earth's resources such as land, water, vegetation, building materials, and minerals. It, thus includes hunting and gathering, pastoral activities, fishing, forestry, agriculture, and mining and quarrying.
• Therefore production, distribution and exchange of goods and services, economic motive, creation of utility, measurement by money, satisfaction of wants etc. are the main features of economic activities.
• They are broadly grouped in to primary, secondary, tertiary and quaternary activities.

2 and 3 only

Key Points

• Trade, transport, and communication facilities are grouped under the "exchange" part of the tertiary sector.
  • Explanation: The tertiary sector of the economy, also known as the service sector, includes activities that facilitate the exchange of goods and information between producers and consumers.
  • This statement is accurate because trade (buying, selling, and exchange of goods), transport (movement of goods and people), and communication (exchange of information) serve as the backbone for these exchanges.
  • These services are crucial for both the functioning of the economy and for making goods produced in the primary and secondary sectors available to consumers. Hence, they are rightly grouped under the "exchange" part of the tertiary sector.
• Tertiary activities are directly involved in the processing of physical raw materials.
  • Explanation: This statement is incorrect because it confuses the functions of the secondary sector with those of the tertiary sector.
  • The primary sector involves the extraction of raw materials, the secondary sector concerns the processing of these materials into goods (e.g., turning iron ore into steel or timber into furniture), and the tertiary sector involves providing services rather than dealing with raw materials or their processing.
  • Activities such as retail, education, health services, and financial services are examples of tertiary activities which do not involve direct processing of raw materials.
  • Thus, this statement inaccurately describes the function of the tertiary sector.
• Tertiary activities rely more on the production techniques, machinery, and factory processes.
  • Explanation: This statement is also incorrect and appears to describe the secondary sector more accurately.
  • The secondary sector is characterized by industrial activity that relies heavily on production techniques, machinery, and processes in factories to convert raw materials into finished products or semi-finished goods.
  • On the other hand, the tertiary sector is service-oriented. While it can involve technology and equipment (e.g., in IT services, telecommunications, or medical services), it is not primarily focused on manufacturing processes or the use of heavy machinery as implied by the statement.
  • The reliance is more on human capital, expertise, and technology aimed at providing services rather than physical manufacturing or processing.

In conclusion, the differences in these sectors are foundational to understanding how economies function and classify their activities, with the tertiary sector focusing on services rather than the physical processing of goods or the heavy reliance on industrial machinery, which is characteristic of the secondary sector.

The correct answer is Primary.

Key Points

• In India, the primary sector employs a disproportionately large number of people.
• In the primary sector, 50–60% of the workforce is employed. Additionally, this industry makes for one-fourth of the GDP.
• The primary sector is made up of all endeavours whose ultimate goal is the exploitation of natural resources, such as agriculture, fishing, forestry, and mining.

Important Points

• Secondary Sector
  • The production of goods in the economy, including the processing of raw materials generated by the primary sector, is under the purview of the secondary sector.
• ​Tertiary Sector
  • The tertiary sector encompasses a wide range of activities, including commercial and personal services, education, health care, social work, transportation, financial and real estate activities, and administration.
• ​Quaternary sector
  • The economic activity connected to the intellectual or knowledge-based economies forms the foundation of the quaternary sector of the economy.