Question

Which is the second largest agro-based industry in India?
A.Textile Industry
B.Sugar Industry
C.Jute Industry
D.None of these

Answer 1

Hint: As of 2016, 59% of the total workforce in India is engaged in agricultural activities. India also ranks second in terms of farm outputs globally and agricultural produce and industries contribute 17-18% to the total GDP in India. Agro-based industries are ones which use agricultural products as their raw materials for example, cotton textiles, woollen textiles, silk, jute, sugar, edible oil, etc.

Complete answer: Option A: is incorrect. Textile industry, specifically cotton textile, is the largest agro-based industry in India. Historically, hand-dyed and printed fabrics of cotton were exported by India right from the ancient times. Currently, the major centres of cotton textiles in India are Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Coimbatore, Madurai, Bengaluru, Nagpur, Indore, Solapur, Vadodara, Ujjain, Agra and Chennai.
Option B: is correct. The Sugar Industry is the second-largest agro-based industry in India. India is the largest producer of sugarcane and cane sugar in the world and accounts for around 8% of the total sugar production in the world. The major states that produce sugar in India are Maharashtra (largest producer), Uttar Pradesh (second-largest producer), Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, etc.
Option C: is incorrect. India is the largest producer of jute in the world closely followed by Bangladesh. Post-partition, as most of the mills were still located in India, raw materials were imported from Bangladesh and processed in India. The major states that produce jute in India are West Bengal, Bihar and Assam.
Option D: is incorrect.

Hence, The correct answer is Option B: the sugar industry.

Note: There are various kinds of farming methods practiced in India including primitive subsistence farming, humming, intensive subsistence farming and commercial farming and all of these aim to grow either food crops or cash crops or both.