Previous Year Question

In the initial stages of economic development, the Primary Sector generally has the greatest importance. According to NCERT, in the early stages of economic development, a larger proportion of the population worked in the primary sector, whereas in developed economies employment gradually shifts towards tertiary or service activities.

The primary sector includes economic activities based on the direct use of natural resources. These mainly include activities such as agriculture, animal husbandry, fishing, forestry and mining. In the initial stages of development, an economy depends more heavily on these activities for both production and employment.

With economic development, a process of structural
transformation generally takes place—first the primary sector dominates, then industrialisation increases the importance of the secondary sector, and later the expansion of services makes the tertiary sector more important. NCERT describes this general historical pattern in the development of advanced economies.