8th Class Social Science Industries / उद्योग Notes - Industries-Comparative Case Studies

 

Industries Comparative Case Studies

 

 

The world's major industries are the iron and steel industry, textile industry and information technology (IT) industry. The first two are very old industries while the last one is an emerging industry. Iron and steel industry is located in Germany, China, Japan, USA and Russia. Textile industry is concentrated in India, China, Taiwan, Indonesia, Vietnam, South Korea and Japan. The major hubs of the IT Industry are the Silicon Valley in Central California, Bengaluru in India and Taiwan and South Korea. In this chapter, we will do a comparative study of three major industries: iron and steel industry, (between Jamshedpur, India and Pittsburg, USA ;) textile industry (between Ahmedabad, India and Osaka, Japan) and finally the information technology industry (between Bengaluru, India and the Silicon Valley, USA).

 

IRON AND STEEL INDUSTRY

 

The iron and steel industry is a basic industry. It is the 'key' to other industries, since all other industries depend on it for their machinery and other product needs. For this reason, the production and consumption of iron and steel is often taken as an index of a nation's business activity and the standard of living of its people.

 

JAMSHEDPUR. JHARKHAND? INDIA

 

 

In India, the first iron and steel plant was set up in West Bengal at Kulti in 1870. Later, the Tata Iron and Steel Company Limited (TISCO) was established at Sakchi, Jamshedpur, in 1907 by Jamshedji Tata, one of the pioneers of modern India. It is one of the largest integrated iron and steel works in Asia. It is a private sector industry. It started pig iron production in 1911 and steel in 1912. The first public sector iron and steel plant, now known as Visvesvaraya Iron and Steel Works at Bhadrawati (Kamataka), was established in 1923.

 

Locational advantages for Jamshedpur

Jamshedpur is strategically located and enjoys the following advantages:

 

?      The place is only 32 km away from Kalmati station on the Bengal-Nagpur railway line.

?      Sakchi is ideally situated at the confluence of the rivers Subamarekha and Kharkai in Jharkhand about 200 km from Kolkata.

?      The iron ore comes from the districts of Singhbhum (Jharkhand) and Mayurbhanj mines (Odisha) located at a distance of just 75 km from Jamshedpur. Coal comes from Jharia and Raniganj coalfields which are about 180 km away. Limestone and dolomite come from Odisha and Chhattisgarh. Manganese is obtained from Keonjhar mines in Odisha.

?      A dam has been constructed on river Subamarekha to provide water.

?      The Damodar Valley project provides cheap and abundant hydroelectric power.

?      Since the iron and steel industry is labour-intensive1, it has the demand for a large number of skilled and unskilled labour. This region is densely populated and this cheap labour is available from the nearby states of Bihar, Odisha and West Bengal.

?      It is located on the main railway line connecting it to the ports of Kolkata and Mumbai.

 

Several other industrial plants were set up later. They produce locomotives, chemicals, machinery, agricultural equipment, cables, wires, etc. The Indian iron and steel industry consists of large integrated steel plants as well as mini steel plants, rolling mills, ancillary producers, etc.

 

PITTSBURGH, USA

 

Pittsburgh is an important city of the United States of America and is historically known for its steel industry. It was named in 1758 by General John Forbes in the honour of the British Statesman, William Pitt. It is on the Allegheny plateau, where the confluence of the Allegheny from the north-east and Monongahela from the south-east form the Ohio River. The growth of Pittsburgh and its economy was caused by the extensive trade in steel through the 1970s.

 

 

 

Locational advantages for Pittusburgh

Like Jamshedpur, Pittsburgh is also strategically located which helped it grow into a steel city.

 

?      Coal is available in the nearby Appalachian coalfields while the iron ore comes from the mines 1500 km away at Minnesota.

?      The Ohio, Monongahela and Allegheny rivers provide adequate water supply.

?      The densely populated eastern area of the US provides the labour supply.

?      Between the iron ore mines of Minnesota and Pittsburgh area, there are the world's famous shipping routes of the Great Lakes Waterway-a cheap means of transportation. Trains carry the iron ore from the great lakes to Pittsburgh. Finished products are transported to the market by both land and water routes.

?      There are many other industries, other than steel mills, which use steel as their raw material to make other products

?      e.g., railroad equipment, rails and heavy machinery.

 

COTTON TEXTILE INDUSTRY

 

The term textile is derived from the Latin word 'textere' which means to weave. Weaving cloth from various fibres such as? cotton, jute, silk and wool is an ancient art. The textile industries can be grouped on the basis of the raw material they use, which could be natural or man-made. Natural fibres are? wool, silk, cotton, jute and linen while the man-made fibres are? nylon, rayon, acrylic and polyester.

 

The cotton industry is one of the oldest industries in the world. India was well known for its cotton fabrics. The muslins of Dhaka, chintzes of Masulipatnam and the Calicos of Surat and Vadodara were known worldwide. You have already studied about them in history. Chapter 7 of this book. Before the industrial revolution, cloth was spun by hand on spinning wheels and looms. Till the middle of the 18th century, Indian textiles reigned in the foreign markets. However, with the industrial revolution in Europe, production of bulk material with power looms started which resulted in a decline in the Indian textile industry. It was only after the grant of protection and the Swadeshi movement that the Indian cotton industry began to make rapid strides to become the largest single industry. More than 15 million people depend on this industry, directly or indirectly. Over time, India has become the largest producer of cotton textiles in the world.

 

Initially, cotton textile industry was set up in Maharashtra. Mumbai was the largest centre. It had favourable factors like-warm, moist climate, ports for importing and exporting material, easy availability of raw material and skilled labour, which helped in the development of cotton textile industry. Later, the cotton textile industry was developed in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. It soon became the largest cotton textile manufacturing centre in Gujarat. Some other centres of the cotton industry are-Coimbatore, Kolkata, Kanpur, Ludhiana, Chennai and Panipat. Today India, China, Japan and USA are important producers of textiles.

 

AHMEDABAD, GUJARAT?INDIA

 

Ahmedabad city is located in Gujarat on the banks of the Sabarmati River and is the heart of the cotton-growing region. The first mill was established in 1859. It has become the second largest textile city of India after Mumbai. It is often referred to as the 'Manchester of India'. Locational advantages for Ahmedabad its strategic location is favourable for the development of the textile industry. Other factors include:

 

?      Availability   of   raw material    from    the cotton growing areas of Maharashtra and Gujarat.

?      The humid climate which is ideal for spinning of yam.

?      Cheap   hydroelectricity and soft water for dyeing and bleaching is easily available.

?      Skilled and unskilled labour is available from the densely populated states of Gujarat and Maharashtra.

?      Ahmedabad is not far from the port facilities of Mumbai and Kandla. The city is also connected by road and rail to the rest of the country.

?      There are over 72 cotton mills in Ahmedabad although they are smaller in size than the mills in Mumbai.

?      Ahmedabad is situated on the bank of the Sabarmati River which provides sufficient water.

?      The flat terrain and availability of land are suitable for the establishment of mills.

?      India, being a tropical country/ is a large market for the finished goods produced here. Capital is available from various financial institutions and public sector banks in Ahmedabad, because as it is the capital of Gujarat. It receives funds form the financial and commercial centre of Mumbai as well.

 

OSAKA, JAPAN

 

Osaka is an important textile centre of Japan and is known as the 'Manchester of Japan'. The textile industry is developed here due to several geographical reasons.

 

 

Q. what are the problems faced by the textile industries in India?

 

Locational Advantages for Osaka

 

?      Osaka is situated on the Nobi Plain which is a highly industrialised area. Japan has very little flat land, so the industries are set up along small coastal plains.

?      Textile industry completely depends upon the imported raw materials. Most of the raw material is imported from Egypt, India, China and USA.

?      Coastal location helps in importing raw materials and exporting finished textile goods. Finished goods have a good market due to good quality and low price.

?      The River Yodo provides water for the mills and coal burning power stations provide adequate power.

?      The warm humid climate along the coast is well suited for spinning and weaving.

?      Labour is easily available here.

?      Hydroelectric power is obtained from streams that flow from the mountains around Osaka.

?      Technologically advanced machinery and efficient organisation make the industry profitable.

 

 

Though the textile industry is important here; the iron and steel, machinery, ship-building, automobiles and cement industries are gaining more importance.

 

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (IT) INDUSTRY

 

The major hubs of the IT industry in the world are the Silicon Valley in California and Bengaluru in India. Today this industry has become global as it deals with the storage, processing and distribution of information worldwide. High technology industries group together to take advantage of the information, research and knowledge they can exchange. They take advantage of the infrastructure that metropolitan centres offer-markets, skilled workforce, attractive and clean environment, plenty of space for development in future,  excellent communication facilities within the city as well as internationally. Many IT jobs in the USA and other European countries are being outsourced to countries like-India, China, Taiwan and the Philippines; where skilled and top management talent is available at much cheaper rates. In India, information technology hubs are being developed in Mumbai, New Delhi, Hyderabad and Chennai.

 

SILICON VALLEY, USA

 

Silicon Valley is a part of Santa Clara County in the state of California, radiating outward from Stanford University. It is surrounded by the San Francisco Bay on the east, the Santa Cruz mountains on the west and the coast range on the south-east. At the turn of the 20th century when fruit orchards predominated, the area was known as The Valley of Heart's Delight'.

 

After World War II, Stanford University had some financial problems. The Stanford Professor of electrical engineering, Frederick Terman tried to solve the problem by leasing out over 800 acres of land to high tech companies for 99 years. The goal was to create a centre of high technology close to a cooperative university. So an industrial park was created-The Stanford Industrial Park-the most successful complex of its kind in the world. It was later to be known as the Silicon Valley.

 

In 1951, Varian Associates signed a lease and in 1953, the company moved into the first building of the park. Fairchild was the first company to produce integrated circuits. Other companies-Intel and VP National Semiconductors soon followed into this area. These companies were the basis of the semiconductor industry that led to the mass   production   and Intel semiconductor chips became the standard of the industry. The PC revolution started in 1975 when the first home computer was built. By 1982, IBM entered the personal computer market. So, the early eighties were dominated by the microcomputer   expansion. By the nineties, the usage of World Wide Web (WWW) began to grow exponentially. For a lot of companies, the internet, especially the WWW, changed the Information Communication Technology (ICT) world. For the software industry, it was a change from client service to web application. New companies, such as Sun Microsystems, CISCO and Netscape emerged over time.

 

Fact File

By 1955, a Stanford graduate Dr. William Shockley developed Shockley transistors together with Stanford students. They developed a transistor for the Bell Lab based on the principle of amplifying air electrical currents using a solid semi-conducting material. The concept was based on the fact that, "it is possible to selectively control the flow of electricity through silicon". Therefore, he used silicon in the transistor. This is how the name Silicon Valley become popular.

 

Locational Advantages of Silicon Valley

 

?      It is close to the most advanced technological and scientific centres of the world.

?      It has a pleasant climate with a clean environment.

?      It is located close to major airports and roads.

?      It has plenty of space for development and future expansion.

?      It is close to the markets and has good access to skilled workforce.

 

BENGALURU, KARNATAKA? INDIA

 

Bengaluru is located on the Deccan Plateau. It is the capital of Karnataka. It is nick-named, the 'Garden City' because of its beautiful gardens and was once called a pensioner's paradise. It is a growing metropolis and home to many colleges and research institutions. Numerous public sector heavy industries, software companies, aerospace, defence organisations and telecommunications are located here. It is known as the Silicon Valley of India as it is becoming the nation's leading IT exporter.

 

 

Its information technology industry is divided into three main clusters-Software Technology Parks of India (STPI), International Tech Park, Bengaluru and Electronics city. Infosys and Wipro, which are India's largest software companies, have headquarters here. World's leading IT companies like GE, Texas Instruments, CISCO, Digital, IBM, HP, Compaq, Sun Microsystems, Motorola, Microsoft, Lucent Technologies, Oracle, Novell, etc. have set up their establishments here.

 

Locational advantages of Bengaluru

 

?      It has the largest and widest   availability   of skilled managers with work experience.

?      It has the largest number of educational institutions and information technology colleges in India.

?      The climate is moderate throughout the year which attracts foreign companies.

?      It has a good transport network, good telecom connectivity, advanced infrastructure and better state policy and investor perception.

?      The state government of Karnataka was the first to announce an IT policy in 1992.

 

Geography Reveals

Nagavara Ramarao Narayana Murthy, better known as NR Narayana Murthy; is an Indian industrialist and software engineer. He founded Infosys in 1981 along with six software professionals.