The Growth of Industries

The Growth of Industries

Industries: refers to economic activity concerned with the processing of raw materials and manufacturing of goods in factories.

1. Primary Industry- activities based on agriculture and mining
2. Manufacturing Industry- process raw materials, causing it to undergo a physical change
3. Service Industry- retail dealers, restaurant and hotel managers, transporters, tourist agents, bankers, teacher and doctors.

Pre-modern Industries:  are textile works, bamboo works, wood works, desho and iron & gold smithies.

Textile works- the types of clothes they wove depended on the raw material available. For example, in Bumthang, parts of Mangde valley and in the high altitude settlements, like Merak, Sakteng, Dur, Busa and Sephu, people raised sheep and so they were engaged in woolen textile production.

Eastern part of Bhutan and Kheng valleys, people cultivate annual crop as cotton and made cotton clothes.

Samdrup Jongkhar and Orong areas, raised silk worms and made cloth from raw silk called Bura.

Bamboo Works: is famous in Kheng region and make basket, hat and kitchen utensil.

Wood Works: use to made tools, containers and decorative items. A cup made from nodules found mainly in poplar and maple tree.

Desho is traditional paper made in Bhutan and made from daphne known as de shing in Bhutan. it grows at elevations between 1200 and 3000 metres above sea level and is found across the entire country.

Process in Desho making:

1. Cutting bark into pieces
2. Soaking, cleaning and cooking
3. Beating into pulp
4. Spreading and drying of the pulp

Uses of Desho

1. Desho is used for important document and religious scripts that need to preserved for ages
2. Wrapping parcel and gifts
3. It is used for making envelop or greeting cards

Reasons for development of Industries in Bhutan

i. To increase the people’s level of income, which then increases their ability to purchase goods and services, leading to economic growth

ii. To encourage entrepreneurship among as many people as possible.

iii. To produce goods of good quality by using local materials, so that they can be sold abroad.

iv. To help reduce our dependence on imported goods.

v. To create jobs for people who are unemployed.

Industries are not equally distributed in Bhutan. This uneven distribution of industries in Bhutan could be due to the following reasons.

1. The motor road is not well developed in the country
2. Inaccessible to raw materials needed by the respective industries
3. Lack of entrepreneurship skill

Largest Industries in Bhutan

1. Bhutan Carbide and Chemical Limited
2. Bhutan Board Products Limited

BBPL is located at Tala and produce wood based graded particle board.

Factors determine location of BBPL factory in Tala.

1. Nearness to large forests which provide raw materials
2. Close to main power line
3. Nearness to market only 50 km from indo-Bhutan border

BCCL is located at Pasakha and manufacture Calcium Carbide (CoCo3)

Uses of Carbide chemicals- it is used to manufacture acetylene gas and artificially ripen fruit.

Factors determine location of BCCL at Pasakha.

1. Easily accessible to India by motor road for obtaining raw materials and marketing the products.
2. Close to the sources of raw materials- Limestone is obtain from Hauri Khola in Samtse.
3. Close to main power line.

Service Industries:

A sector which provides services to the people is known as service industries. For instance, retail dealers, restaurants, hotels, transport, financial institution etc.

Tourism: refers to travelling to undisturbed natural areas, cultural areas, historical areas, for entertainment, for holidays, for understanding other people’s way of life.

Development of tourism depends upon following factors:

1. Attractions
2. Accessibility
3. Adequate service infrastructure

Positive impacts of tourism

i. Tourism industries are major source of revenue for the government in accelerating economic growth.

ii. It generates employment opportunities

iii. Socialization or interaction with people from different country and culture.

Negative impacts of tourism

i. It may cause environment degradation. For example, large number of tourist may litter our beautiful mountains.

ii. Tourism may cause the desecration of religious shrines and images.

iii. People are exposed to different food and ways of life including dress

iv. Gets influenced by fashionable dress and others tradition.

Arrival of tourist decline in the year 2001 and 2002 as a result of:

1. Terrorism attacks  in USA instill fear in people to travel across the world
2. Outbreak of deadly disease called SARS in China restricted the people to travel.
3. The reason for low arrival of tourist in 2003 is as a result of flush out of ULFA, Bodo and KLO from our country.