GENERAL ECONOMIC SURVEY

INDUSTRIES

Industrially, Ratnagiri is backward. This backwardness is reflected in the number of persons engaged in industrial occupation which was returned as 1,12,000 in 1951. The mountainous nature of the country, lack of adequate and easy communications, absence of intensive research and sub-soil mineral resources, and absence of electrical power-all these factors have combined to make the economy of the district almost static for several decades. The census of 1951 returns hardly 423 persons following mining and quarrying as their main occupation. The supply of electric energy was started at places like Ratnagiri, Malvan, Vengurla and Chiplun as late as 1949. Of the total number of persons engaged in industrial occupations, industries such as food-stuffs, textiles, leather and products thereof accounted for nearly 20,383; metals, chemicals and products thereof accounted for nearly 2,089; processing and manufacture notspecified elsewhere accounted for nearly 9,167 and construction and utilities employed nearly 2,036. The rest of the workers were either working dependents or non-working dependents.

Among the cottage industries which work without the use of power, catechu manufacturing, coir, fishing, and salt manufacture deserve a special mention, due to the fact that they keep the farmer busy during the non-agricultural season and supplement his meagre income. No figures regarding the number of persons employed in the cottage industries are available. The industries have been in existence for a long time and are carried on in the traditional way in almost all the parts of the district.

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