Question

State one point of similarity between the woollen and silk industries and mention the states which produce the most wool and silk products respectively.

Answer 1

Hint: Wool Industry is a rural-based export-oriented industry which caters to civil and defence requirements of warm clothing and the Silk Industry caters to the demand of both commercial and exclusive silk requirements of the country and world.

Complete answer:The similarity between wool and silk industries is that both of them are textile industries.
Let’s understand more about these industries in detail.
The Wool industry
a.Wool comes from the fleece or hair of sheep, goats, yak and other animals.
b. Mainly the skin of sheep has two types of fibres. One is the beard hair which is rough, and the other is fine and very soft hair close to the skin, this fine hair provides the fibre for making wool.
c. Selective breeding is an important process of the wool industry in which the parent sheep with desirable characteristics are bred to get those characteristics in their offspring.
 d. Sheep are reared in many parts of our country for wool, namely Rajasthan, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Gujarat.
The Processing of fibres into wool involves the following intricate steps:
Shearing is the stage in which the sheep's fleece is separated from its body along with a thin layer of skin.
Scouring is the second step in which the sheared skin with hair is properly washed in water to remove grease and dirt.
Sorting is the third stage in which the hairy skin is sent to a factory where various textures of hair and tiny fluffy fibres, called burrs, are segregated and picked out from the hair, these fibres are dyed in different colours. These fibres are then straightened, combed and rolled into yarn.
In the fourth and final step, the longer fibres are made into wool for sweaters and the smaller fibres are spun and woven into woollen cloth.
The Processing of silk is also an extensive process, the steps involved are: -
The moths are reared and their cocoons are used to collect silk threads, then the reeling of silk involves taking out threads from the cocoon to use as silk. Silk fibres are then obtained and then woven into silk cloth by the weavers.
Karnataka is one of the states which produces silk products.

Note: The different varieties of silk are – Tassar, Mooga, Kosa etc. India is the world’s largest producer of silk and is known for the fact that all kinds of silk are available in India. The rearing of silkworms is called sericulture, sheep rearing is also known as sheep husbandry.