Tertiary and Quaternary Activities — NCERT Solutions

Retail trading is the business activity concerned with the sale of goods directly to consumers. It usually takes place in fixed stores, but it can also happen through street peddling, handcarts, trucks, door-to-door sales, mail order, telephone, automatic vending machines, and the internet.

Quaternary services are knowledge-oriented services. They involve the collection, production and dissemination of information and centre around research and development. They require specialised knowledge and technical skills, and examples include work done by software developers, statisticians, mutual fund managers, and people working in universities, hospitals, accounting and brokerage firms.

The chapter states that medical tourism is a fast-growing field in countries such as India, Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia.

The digital divide is the uneven distribution of opportunities and benefits from Information and Communication Technology (ICT) across the globe. Developed countries generally move ahead faster, while developing countries lag behind; similar gaps also exist between metropolitan and rural areas within a country.

The service sector has grown rapidly in modern economic development because it provides many kinds of essential services such as health, education, law, governance, recreation, trade, transport and communication. As economies develop, employment shifts away from the primary sector toward the tertiary sector, and in developed countries most workers are now engaged in services. This growth is linked to higher demand for skilled labour, professionals and consultants, along with the expansion of modern transport, communication, tourism, finance, outsourcing and other knowledge-based activities.

Transport and communication are vital services in modern life. Transport carries people, materials and manufactured goods from one place to another, helping production, distribution and consumption. It adds value to goods by making them accessible and linking places through networks of nodes and links. It also depends on demand, routes, population, trade, landscape, climate and available funds. Communication transmits words, messages, facts and ideas. Modern telecommunications, radio, television, newspapers, satellites and the internet have made communication fast and widespread. Together, transport and communication reduce distance, connect markets, support trade, tourism and outsourcing, and help economic and social development.