Hinglish

Interdependence Among Sectors

Class 6 Social Science · Chapter 14: Economic Activities Around Us · NCERT Exploring Society: India and Beyond section 14.2

Learn

Anjali's family keeps two buffaloes in a village in Gujarat. Every morning her mother milks them and takes the milk to the village dairy cooperative. At the end of the month, the family is paid according to how much milk they gave and how good it was.

It wasn't always like this. In the 1940s, dairy farmers in Anand district had to sell milk quickly before it spoiled in the heat, so middlemen bought it at very low prices. The farmers approached Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, who advised them to form a cooperative: a group that people join voluntarily, own together and run together. Their cooperative, started in 1946, grew into AMUL, and its success spread across India.

Follow the milk from farm to plate. Milking the buffaloes is primary. At the dairy plant, milk is chilled, packed and made into butter, cheese and sweets: secondary. Trucks carry the products, shops sell them, banks handle payments and advertisements tell people about them: tertiary.

This is interdependence: each sector depends on the others. The dairy plant needs farmers' milk, farmers need the dairy to buy it, and both need transport, banks and shops. If any link breaks, everyone is affected. Cooperatives also show how people working together can get a fairer deal.

Explore: from farm to plate.

  1. Put the journey of milk in order.
  2. Now sort each step by its sector.

Remember

  • A cooperative is jointly owned and run by its members; Anand's dairy cooperative grew into AMUL.
  • Milk's journey shows interdependence: primary (milking), secondary (processing), tertiary (transport and sale).

Quick check

Why did Anand's dairy farmers form a cooperative?

  1. To stop being cheated by middlemen and get fair prices
  2. To stop keeping cattle
  3. To move abroad
  4. To build a cinema
Answer

To stop being cheated by middlemen and get fair prices. Together they owned their dairy and shared the benefits.

Think about it

What might happen to the dairy farmers if the trucks stopped running for a week?

One answer

Milk and products could not reach towns, so the dairy could not sell them, milk might spoil, and farmers might not get paid. One broken link affects all the sectors.

Practice

Practise with fresh questions at three levels (easy, medium, hard), some answered hands-on, with hints and worked answers. Get 4 of your last 5 right to finish the topic.