Minerals, energy & industry

Answer: (d) Titanium

Ilmenite and rutile are the main ores of titanium. They occur in the heavy-mineral beach sands of coasts such as those of Kerala and Tamil Nadu, and titanium dioxide made from them is the white pigment used in paints and toothpaste.

• ✓ (d) Titanium oxide is obtained from the minerals rutile, ilmenite and anatase; ilmenite is found in beach sands along the Kerala and Tamil Nadu coast.
• ✗ (c) Ilmenite does contain iron (it is an iron-titanium oxide), but it is mined for titanium; India's iron comes from haematite and magnetite ores.
• ✗ (a) Aluminium is obtained from bauxite, not from ilmenite or rutile.

Remember · Beach-sand minerals: ilmenite and rutile give titanium; monazite gives thorium. Bauxite gives aluminium; haematite and magnetite give iron.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 10 Contemporary India – II, Ch 5 (practise this chapter) · Class 12 India: People and Economy, Ch 5 (practise this chapter)

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2023, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) the Democratic Republic of the Congo

The Democratic Republic of the Congo dominates cobalt mining, supplying roughly 70 per cent or more of the world's mined cobalt, most of it from its copper-cobalt belt in the south-east. Much of this is refined in China and used in rechargeable batteries.

• ✓ (c) The US Geological Survey reported that Congo (Kinshasa) remained the world's leading source of mined cobalt in 2022, with about 70% of world mine production.
• ✗ (a) Argentina is known for lithium brines, another battery mineral, not cobalt.
• ✗ (d) Kazakhstan is the world's largest uranium producer; it is not a major cobalt source.

Remember · Cobalt: DR Congo mines about 70–75% of world output, mostly as a by-product of copper; China leads in refining and battery use.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2023, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) Statement-I is correct but Statement-II is incorrect

Coal generates well over two-thirds of India's electricity even though the country has uranium ores, so Statement-I is right. Statement-II is wrong: India's heavy water reactors burn natural (unenriched) uranium and its light water reactors use only low-enriched uranium, nowhere near 60%.

• ✓ Statement-I Uranium occurs in India, for example in the Dharwar rocks and along the Singhbhum copper belt, but coal-fired plants still supply more than 70% of the electricity generated in the country.
• ✗ Statement-II Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors, the backbone of India's nuclear power, are fuelled by natural uranium, and Light Water Reactors by low-enriched uranium. Enrichment of 60% or more is not needed to produce electricity.

Remember · Coal: about 70–74% of India's electricity. PHWRs run on natural uranium; LWRs on low-enriched uranium. Power generation does not need highly enriched uranium.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 12 India: People and Economy, Ch 5 (practise this chapter)

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2023, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) All three

All three statements are correct. Green hydrogen is hydrogen made by splitting water with renewable electricity, and it is chemically the same fuel as any other hydrogen: it can burn in an engine, be mixed into natural gas, or feed a fuel cell.

• ✓ 1. Hydrogen internal combustion engines are in use: India's pilot projects under the National Green Hydrogen Mission include 22 hydrogen internal-combustion vehicles.
• ✓ 2. Hydrogen is already being blended into gas networks in India, for example up to 8% by volume in a piped natural gas network in Surat, for use as fuel.
• ✓ 3. Hydrogen fuel cells power vehicles; the same pilot projects include 15 fuel-cell vehicles, and hydrogen fuel-cell buses already run in Leh and Greater Noida.

Remember · Green hydrogen (made by electrolysis with renewable power) works as engine fuel, as a blend in natural gas, and in fuel cells for vehicles.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2023, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (d) None

None of the statements is correct, because each says that no coal plant in India does something that at least one plant does. The private Mundra plant in Gujarat uses seawater, and many coal plants stand in water-stressed areas.

• ✗ 1. The 4,000 MW Mundra Ultra Mega Power Project, a coastal plant, uses seawater; the Central Electricity Authority lists its water source as seawater, with fresh water made by desalination.
• ✗ 2. A World Resources Institute study, cited in a NITI Aayog-hosted report, found that more than 70% of India's coal power plants are in water-stressed or water-scarce areas.
• ✗ 3. Mundra UMPP is developed and run by Coastal Gujarat Power Limited, a Tata Power company, so privately owned coal plants exist. Coal capacity is spread across central, state and private owners.

Remember · A single counter-example defeats an 'none of them' claim: Mundra (Tata Power) is a private coal plant using seawater, and most coal plants lie in water-stressed areas.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2023, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) Statement-I is correct but Statement-II is incorrect

Statement-I is correct: India is the world's largest user of groundwater, taking more than a quarter of the global total. Statement-II is wrong because most of that water goes to irrigation, not to drinking water and sanitation.

• ✓ Statement-I India is the largest groundwater user in the world, drawing an estimated 230 cubic kilometres a year, which is over a quarter of the global total.
• ✗ Statement-II Agriculture accounts for about 92 per cent of India's groundwater use (NCERT); drinking water and other domestic needs take only a small share. The high extraction is driven by irrigation, so the stated reason is false.

Remember · India draws over a quarter of the world's groundwater, but about nine-tenths of it goes to irrigation, not to drinking water and sanitation.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 12 India: People and Economy, Ch 4 (practise this chapter)

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2023, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error