YUVRAJ IAS

GIST OF HUMAN & ECONOMIC

GEOGRAPHY
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Contents
1. Human Resources ..................................................................................................................................... 2
2. Human Development ............................................................................................................................... 2
3. Human Settlement ................................................................................................................................... 3
4. Rural Settlement ...................................................................................................................................... 5
5. Indicators of Development ....................................................................................................................... 5
6. Composition of Indian population ............................................................................................................ 6
7. Urban Settlements in India....................................................................................................................... 8
8. Urbanisation in India ................................................................................................................................ 9
9. Functional Classification of Towns ......................................................................................................... 10
10. Dichotomy of Human Geography ........................................................................................................... 10
11. Human Development Index in India ....................................................................................................... 11
12. Racial Groups of India............................................................................................................................. 12
13. Schedule Tribes in India.......................................................................................................................... 14
14. Schedule Castes in India ......................................................................................................................... 15
15. Population Policies of India .................................................................................................................... 16
16. Human Migration ................................................................................................................................... 18
Economic Geography
17. Sectors of Economy: Primary, Secondary, Tertiary, Quaternary and Quinary ....................................... 19
18. Factors Responsible for the Location of Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Sector Industries in Various
Parts of the World (Including India) ....................................................................................................... 20
19. Geographical Indication (GI) Tags in India .............................................................................................. 22
20. Distribution of Major Industries: Location Factors ................................................................................ 42
21. Iron Ore in the World ............................................................................................................................. 45
22. Iron Ore Distribution in India | Types of Iron Ore .................................................................................. 49
23. Coal | Types of Coal: Peat, Lignite, Bituminous Coal & Anthracite Coal ................................................ 51
24. Distribution of Coal in India: Gondwana Coalfields & Tertiary Coalfields .............................................. 53
25. Distribution of Petroleum and Mineral Oil in India ................................................................................ 61
26. Natural Gas Distribution: India ............................................................................................................... 64
27. Unconventional Gas Resources: Shale Gas & Coalbed Methane ........................................................... 69
28. Manganese Ore Distribution across India & World ................................................................................ 72
29. Gold & Silver Distribution across India & World .................................................................................... 74
30. Copper, Nickel & Chromite Distribution across India & World .............................................................. 76
31. Bauxite, Lead & Zinc, Tungsten & Pyrites Distribution across India and World ..................................... 79
32. Nuclear Fission, Components of Nuclear Reactor, Types of Nuclear Reactors ...................................... 82
33. Uranium & Thorium Distribution across India & World ......................................................................... 90
34. India’s Three-Stage Nuclear Power Programme .................................................................................... 93
35. Diamond & Graphite Distribution across India & World ........................................................................ 97
36. Mica, Limestone & other Non-Metallic Minerals in India .................................................................... 100
37. Renewable & Non-Conventional Sources Of Energy ............................................................................ 105

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 Human Geography

Human Resources
Human resources are often referred to the population. The population density means the
number of people per sq. Km is called the pattern of population distribution. The
environmental factors such as high altitude, extreme cold, aridity, relief, climate, soil,
vegetation types, mineral, energy resources and technological and economic advancements
influences the population distribution, this is the only reason that the hills, mountains and
deserts have less number of people per sq. km.

Growth of Population
When the natural increase in the population plus any net gain from migration is known as
the population growth. The difference between births and deaths in the country is called
natural increase. The balance between people leaving from and people moving into a
country is known as net migration.

Composition of population
Population of males and females, children, young and old comprises the population of a
country. The population is usually divided into three age groups- children (0-14yrs), adults
(15-59yrs) and aged (60 and over). This is called age-group of population. The proportion of
adult population is the least variable in the three groups. The main difference is found in the
population of children and old people.

The proportion of children is quite low in the first world countries like Sweden whereas in
countries like Japan, the proportion of old people is high. When it comes to India, the sex
ratio, the number of females per thousand males is very low. Only Kerala is an exception
with a higher number of females per thousand males and also have good literacy rate. A
person who is above 7yrs and can read and write any language with understanding is called
a literate. Literacy, the percentage of literate people, is one of the indicators of the quality
of population.

Qualitative growth
Poverty refers to the economic condition of a person, i.e. a person having little money to
fulfil his minimum needs. A country’s development is measured in terms of human
development, Life expectancy; Literacy, birth rate and death rate are some of the basic
indicators of human development.

Human Development
Development is the combination of qualitative and quantitative process of growing or
causing something to grow or become larger or more advanced. The term ‘growth’ and
‘development’ are not new but refer to changes over a period of time. The difference is that
growth is quantitative and value neutral which means it may have a positive or a negative
that the change may be either positive (showing an increase) or negative (indicating a
decrease) whereas development means a qualitative change which is always value positive
that means that development cannot take place unless there is an increment or addition to
the existing conditions. When positive growth takes place then development occurs but it
doesn’t mean that the positive growth always leads to development. Development occurs
when there is a positive change in quality.
For many decades, a country’s level of development was measured only in terms of its
economic growth. This meant that the bigger the economy of the country, the more
developed it was considered, even though this growth did not really mean much change in
the lives of most people. The idea that the quality of life people enjoy in a country, the

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opportunities they have and freedoms they enjoy, are important aspects of development, is
not new. These ideas were clearly spelt out for the first time in the late eighties and early
nineties.
The concept of human development was introduced by Dr Mahbub-ul-Haq. He had stated
that human development as development that magnifies people’s choices and improves
their lives. Hence, all the developments are moving around the people. These choices are
not fixed but keep on changing. The basic aim of development is to create conditions where
people can live meaningful lives. It must be a life with some purpose which means that
people must be healthy, be able to develop their talents, participate in society and be free
to achieve their goals. Leading a long and healthy life, being able to gain knowledge and
having enough means to be able to live a decent life are the most important aspects of
human development. Therefore, access to resources, health and education are the key
areas in human development. Suitable indicators have been developed to measure each of
these aspects.

Very often, people do not have the capability and freedom to make even basic choices. This
may be due to their inability to acquire knowledge, their material poverty, social
discrimination, inefficiency of institutions and other reasons. This prevents them from
leading healthy lives, being able to get educated or to have the means to live a decent life.
Building people’s capabilities in the areas of health, education and access to resources is
therefore, important in enlarging their choices. If people do not have capabilities in these
areas, their choices also get limited. For example, an uneducated child cannot make the
choice to be a doctor because her choice has got limited by her lack of education. Similarly,
very often poor people cannot choose to take medical treatment for disease because their
choice is limited by their lack of resources.

Pillars of Human Development

There are four pillars of human development which are discussed below:

• Equity means making equal access to opportunities available to everybody that

opportunities available to people must be equal irrespective of their gender, race, income
and in the Indian case, caste.
• Sustainability refers to the continuity in the availability of opportunities. To have
sustainable human development, each generation must have the same opportunities. All
environmental, financial and human resources must be used keeping in mind the future.
Misuse of any of these resources will lead to fewer opportunities for future generations.
• Productivity refers to the human labour productivity or productivity in terms of human
work that must be constantly enriched by building capabilities in people. Ultimately, it is
people who are the real wealth of nations. Therefore, efforts to increase their knowledge, or
provide better health facilities ultimately lead to better work efficiency.
• Empowerment refers to the power of making choices that power comes from increasing
freedom and capability. Good governance and people-oriented policies are required to
empower people. The empowerment of socially and economically disadvantaged groups is
of special importance.

Human Settlement
Human Settlement is a form of human habitation which ranges from a single dowelling to
large city. In other words, it is a process of opening up and settling of a previously
uninhabited area by the people. People live in clusters of houses that might be a village, a
town or a city. The study of human settlements is basic to human geography because the
form of settlement in any particular region reflects human relationship with the
environment. A human settlement is defined as a place inhabited more or less permanently.

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The houses may be designed or redesigned, buildings may be altered, functions may change
but settlement continues in time and space. There may be some settlements which are
temporary and are occupied for short periods, may be a season.

Rural Urban Settlement Dichotomy

The term settlement is accepted but when it comes to its existence that can be
differentiated in terms of rural and urban, but there is no consensus on what exactly defines
a village or a town. Although population size is an important criterion, it is not a universal
criterion since many villages in densely populated countries of India and China have
population exceeding that of some towns of Western Europe and United States. At one
time, people living in villages pursued agriculture or other primary activities, but presently in
developed countries, large sections of urban populations prefer to live in villages even
though they work in the city. The basic difference between towns and villages is that in
towns the main occupation of the people is related to secondary and tertiary sectors, while
in the villages most of the people are engaged in primary occupations such as agriculture,
fishing, lumbering, mining, animal husbandry, etc. Differentiations between rural and urban
on the basis of functions are more meaningful even though there is no uniformity in the
hierarchy of the functions provided by rural and urban settlements. Petrol pumps are
considered as a lower order function in the United States while it is an urban function in
India. Even within a country, rating of functions may vary according to the regional
economy. Facilities available in the villages of developed countries may be considered rare
in villages of developing and less developed countries.

Types and Patterns of Settlements

Settlements are classified on the basis of their shape, patterns types which are discussed
below:

• Compact or Nucleated settlements: In these settlements large number of houses is built

very close to each other. Such settlements develop along river valleys and in fertile plains.
Communities are closely knit and share common occupations.
• Dispersed Settlements: In these settlements, houses are spaced far apart and often
interspersed with fields. A cultural feature such as a place of worship or a market, binds the
settlement together.
Rural Settlement Patterns
Patterns of rural settlements contemplate the way the houses are sited in relation to each
other. The site of the village, the surrounding topography and terrain influence the shape
and size of a village.

Rural settlements may be classified on the basis of a number of criteria:

(i) On the basis of setting: The main types are plain villages, plateau villages, coastal villages,
forest villages and desert villages.
(ii) On the basis of functions: There may be farming villages, fishermen’s villages,
lumberjack villages, pastoral villages etc.

(iii) On the basis of forms or shapes of the settlements: These may be a number of
geometrical forms and shapes such as Linear, rectangular, circular star like, T-shaped village,
double village, cross-shaped village etc.
• Linear pattern: In such settlements houses are located along a road, railway line, and
river, canal edge of a valley or along a levee.
• Rectangular pattern: Such patterns of rural settlements are found in plain areas or wide
inter montane valleys. The roads are rectangular and cut each other at right angles.

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• Circular pattern: Circular villages develop around lakes, tanks and sometimes the village is
planned in such a way that the central part remains open and is used for keeping the
animals to protect them from wild animals.
• Star like pattern: Where several roads converge, star shaped settlements develop by the
houses built along the roads.
• T-shaped, Y-shaped, Cross-shaped or cruciform settlements: T –shaped settlements
develop at tri-junctions of the roads while –shaped settlements emerge as the places where
two roads converge on the third one and houses are built along these roads. Cruciform
settlements develop on the cross-roads and houses extend in all the four direction.
• Double village: These settlements extend on both sides of a river where there is a bridge
or a ferry.

Rural Settlement
The rural settlements are concerned with the degree of dispersion of the dwellings and the
life is supported by land based primary economic activities. Rural people are less mobile and
therefore, social relations among them are intimate. In India, the rural settlement varies
with the diversity of climatic condition in India that is compact or clustered village of a few
hundred houses is a rather universal feature, particularly in the northern plains. However,
there are several areas, which have other forms of rural settlements. There are various
factors and conditions responsible for having different types of rural settlements in India
which is given below:

• Physical features – nature of terrain, altitude, climate and availability of water

• Cultural and ethnic factors – social structure, caste and religion
• Security factors – defence against thefts and robberies.
Rural settlements in India
• Clustered, agglomerated or nucleated: It is a compact or closely built up area of houses.
In this type of village the general living area is distinct and separated from the surrounding
farms, barns and pastures.
• Semi-clustered or fragmented: These types of settlements may result from tendency of
clustering in a restricted area of dispersed settlement. More often such a pattern may also
result from segregation or fragmentation of a large compact village.
• Hamleted: Sometimes settlement is fragmented into several units physically separated
from each other bearing a common name. These units are locally called panna, para, palli,
nagla, dhani, etc. in various parts of the country. This segmentation of a large village is often
motivated by social and ethnic factors.
• Dispersed or isolated: This pattern of settlement appears in the form of isolated huts or
hamlets of few huts in remote jungles, or on small hills with farms or pasture on the slopes.
Extreme dispersion of settlement is often caused by extremely fragmented nature of the
terrain and land resource base of habitable areas.

Indicators of Development
Development moving on an uneven path because State have a very high GDP that might be
derived from the exploitation of rich oil reserves but their segments of the population live in
poverty and lack access to basic education, health and decent housing. The UNDP has given
indicators on that basis the Planning Commission of India prepared the Human
Development Report for India. It used states and the Union Territories as the units of
analysis. Later, each state government prepared the state level
Human Development Reports, using districts as the units of analysis. Some of the important
indicators have been discussed below:

Indicators of Economic Attainments

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Rich resource base and access to these resources by all, particularly the poor, down trodden
and the marginalised is the key to productivity, well-being and human development. Gross
National Product (GNP) and its per capita availability are taken as measures to assess the
resource base/ endowment of any country.

Indicators of a Healthy Life

Life free from illness and ailment and living a reasonably long life span are indicative of a
healthy life. Availability of pre and post natal health care facilities in order to reduce infant
mortality and post delivery deaths among mothers, old age health care, adequate nutrition
and safety of individual are some important measures of a healthy and reasonably long life.

Indicators of Social Empowerment

“Development is freedom”. Freedom from hunger, poverty, servitude, bondage, ignorance,
illiteracy and any other forms of domination is the key to human development. Freedom in
real sense of the term is possible only with the empowerment and participation of the
people in the exercise of their capabilities and choices in the society. Access to knowledge
about the society and environment are fundamental to freedom. Literacy is the beginning of
access to such a world of knowledge and freedom.

Composition of Indian population

The distribution within a group of people of specified individual attributes such as sex, age,
marital status, education, occupation, and relationship to the head of household is called
Population composition. Population is divided into two parts-rural and urban on the basis of
the size and occupation of settlements. The rural population consists of small sized
settlements scattered over the countryside. Urban population is one that lives in large size
settlements i.e. towns and cities. The composition of Indian population with respect to their
rural-urban characteristics, language, religion and pattern of occupation will be discussed
below:
Rural – Urban Composition
An important indicator of social and economic characteristics is the composition of
population by their respective places of residence. For the first time since Independence,
the absolute increase in population is more in urban areas that in rural areas. Rural – Urban
distribution: 68.84% & 31.16%. Level of urbanization increased from 27.81% in 2001 Census
to 31.16% in 2011 Census. The proportion of rural population declined from 72.19% to
68.84%
Linguistic Composition
The speakers of major Indian languages belong to four language families, which have their
sub-families and branches or groups.

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Religious Composition
Religion is one of the most dominant forces affecting the cultural and political life of the
most of Indians. Since religion virtually permeates into almost all the aspects of people’s
family and community lives, it is important to study the religious composition in
detail. Population Growth rate of various religion has come down in the last decade (2001-
2011). Hindu Population Growth rate slowed down to 16.76 % from previous decade figure
of 19.92% while Muslim witness sharp fall in growth rate to 24.60% (2001-2011) from the
previous figure of 29.52 % (1991-2001). Such sharp fall in population growth rate for
Muslims didn't happened in the last 6 decades. Christian Population growth was at 15.5%
while Sikh population growth rate stood at 8.4%. The most educated and wealthy
community of Jains registered least growth rate in 2001-2011 with figure of just 5.4%. The
Growth rate of Hindus, Muslims and Christian is expected to fall more in upcoming 2021
census while other religions like Sikhism, Jainism and Buddhism are expected to remain
stable for next 2 decades considering already slowed down growth rate of these religions.

All India Religion Census Data 2011

Religion Percentag Estimate Total Male Female State
e d Majorit
y
All 100.00% 121 1,210,854,97 623,270,25 587,584,71 35
Religion Crores 7 8 9
Hindu 79.80% 96.62 966,257,353 498,306,96 467,950,38 28
Crores 8 5

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 Muslim 14.23% 17.22 172,245,158 88,273,945 83,971,213 2
Crores
Christia 2.30% 2.78 27,819,588 13,751,031 14,068,557 4
n Crores
Sikh 1.72% 2.08 20,833,116 10,948,431 9,884,685 1
Crores
Buddhis 0.70% 84.43 8,442,972 4,296,010 4,146,962 -
t Lakhs
Jain 0.37% 44.52 4,451,753 2,278,097 2,173,656 -
Lakhs
Other 0.66% 79.38 7,937,734 3,952,064 3,985,670 -
Religion Lakhs
Not 0.24% 28.67 2,867,303 1,463,712 1,403,591 -
Stated Lakhs

Urban Settlements in India

Urban settlements are generally compact and larger in size and engaged in a variety of non-
agricultural, economic and administrative functions. As mentioned earlier, cities are
functionally linked to rural areas around them. Thus, exchange of goods and services is
performed sometimes directly and sometimes through a series of market towns and cities.
Thus, cities are connected directly as well as indirectly with the villages and also with each
other.
Evolution of Towns in India
Since prehistoric times, towns flourished in India. During the time of Indus valley
civilisation, towns like Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro were in existed. The following period has
witnessed evolution of towns. It continued with periodic ups and downs until the arrival of
Europeans in India in the eighteenth century. On the basis of their evolution in different
periods, Indian towns may be classified as:

• Ancient Towns: There are number of towns in India having historical background spanning
over 2000 years. Most of them developed as religious and cultural centres. Varanasi is one
of the important towns among these. Prayag (Allahabad), Pataliputra (Patna), Madurai are
some other examples of ancient towns in the country.
• Medieval Towns: About 100 of the existing towns have their roots in the medieval period.
Most of them developed as headquarters of principalities and kingdoms. These are fort
towns which came up on the ruins of ancient towns. Important among them are Delhi,
Hyderabad, Jaipur, Lucknow, Agra and Nagpur.
• Modern Towns: The British and other Europeans have developed a number of towns in
India. Starting their foothold on coastal locations, they first developed some trading ports
such as Surat, Daman, Goa, Pondicherry, etc. The British later consolidated their hold
around three principal nodes – Mumbai (Bombay), Chennai (Madras), and Kolkata (Calcutta)
– and built them in the British style. Rapidly extending their domination either directly or
through control over the princely states, they established their administrative centres, hill
towns as summer resorts, and added new civil administrative and military areas to them.
Towns based on modern industries also evolved after 1850. Jamshedpur can be cited as an
example.
Conclusion

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After independence, a large number of towns have been developed as administrative
headquarters, e.g. Chandigarh, Bhubaneswar, Gandhinagar, Dispur, etc. and industrial
centres such as Durgapur, Bhilai, Sindri, Barauni. Some old towns also developed as satellite
towns around metropolitan cities such as Ghaziabad, Rohtak, Gurgaon around Delhi. With
increasing investment in rural areas, a large number of medium and small towns have
developed all over the country. Hence, changes are never ending process.

Urbanisation in India
The term urban contemplate “engines of inclusive economic growth”. With the massive
support from Industrialisation, the number of urban centres started growing day by day.
Enlargement of urban centres and emergence of new towns have played a significant role in
the growth of urban population and urbanisation in the country. But the growth rate of
urbanisation has slowed down during last two decades Census of India classifies urban
centres into six classes. Centre with population of more than one lakh is called a city or
class I town. Cities accommodating population size between one to five million are
called metropolitan cities and more than five million are mega cities. Majority of
metropolitan and mega cities are urban agglomerations.
Combinations of urban agglomeration
• A town and its adjoining urban outgrowths,

• Two or more contiguous towns with or without their outgrowths, and

• A city and one or more adjoining towns with their outgrowths together forming a
contiguous spread. Examples of urban outgrowth are railway colonies, university campus,
port area, military cantonment, etc. located within the revenue limits of a village or villages
contiguous to the town or city.

It is evident that more than 60 per cent of urban population in India lives in Class I towns.
Out of 423 cities, 35 cities/ urban agglomerations are metropolitan cities. Six of them are
mega cities with population over five million each. More than one-fifth (21.0%) of urban
population lives in these mega cities. Among them, Greater Mumbai is the largest
agglomeration with 16.4 million people. Kolkata, Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad
are other mega cities in the country.

Causes of Urbanisation

There are plethora of reasons which led to the growth of urbanisation, one of the major
reasons are discussed below:
• Industrialization: It is one of the major causes of urbanization due to this the employment
opportunities are expanded. People have migrated to cities on account of better
employment opportunities and better life.
• Social factors: Factors such as attraction of cities, better standard of living, and better
educational facilities compel people to migrate to the urban centres.
• Employment opportunities: Rural centres have limited employment opportunities but
urban centres give large domain of employment.
• Modernization: Urban areas are characterized by sophisticated technology better
infrastructure, communication, medical facilities, etc. People feel that they can lead a
comfortable life in cities and migrate to cities.
• Rural urban transformation: It is an interesting aspect that not only cities are growing in
number but rural community is adopting urban culture, no longer rural communities are
retaining their unique rural culture. Rural people are following the material culture of urban
people.

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• Spread of education: Education play an important role in transforming of societies.
Conclusion
Hence, we can say that urbanisation is increasing day by day in India with full support of
opportunities and style of living. But, urbanisation is growing faster and faster that became
barriers for balance, equitable and inclusive development. Although, people come to know
about each other’s culture and they exchange their ideas, breaking the barriers which
earlier used to exist between them. In reality, social structure is getting dispersed for
example- Family structure which is transform from joint to nuclear.

Functional Classification of Towns

The structure and functions of any region varies in terms of function, history of
development as well as age of the town. Some towns and cities specialise in certain
functions and they are known for some specific activities, products or services. However,
each town performs a number of functions. On the basis of functions, Indian cities and
towns can be broadly into - Administrative towns and cities, Industrial towns, Transport
Cities, Commercial towns, Mining towns, Garrison Cantonment towns, Educational towns,
Religious and cultural towns, and Tourist towns which is discussed below :

• Administrative towns and cities: Towns supporting administrative headquarters of higher

order are administrative towns, such as Chandigarh, New Delhi, Bhopal, Shillong, Guwahati,
Imphal, Srinagar, Gandhinagar, Jaipur Chennai, etc.
• Industrial towns: Industries constitute prime motive force of these cities such as Mumbai,
Salem, Coimbatore, Modinagar, Jamshedpur, Hugli, Bhilai, etc.
• Transport Cities: They may be ports primarily engaged in export and import activities such
as Kandla, Kochchi, Kozhikode, Vishakhapatnam, etc. or hubs of inland transport such as
Agra, Dhulia, Mughal Sarai, Itarsi, Katni, etc.
• Commercial towns: Towns and cities specialising in trade and commerce are kept in this
class. Kolkata, Saharanpur, Satna, etc. are some examples.
• Mining towns: These towns have developed in mineral rich areas such as Raniganj, Jharia,
Digboi, Ankaleshwar, Singrauli, etc.
• Garrison Cantonment towns: These towns emerged as garrison towns such as Ambala,
Jalandhar, Mhow, Babina, Udhampur, etc.
• Educational towns: Starting as centres of education, some of the towns have grown into
major campus towns such as Roorki, Varanasi, Aligarh, Pilani, Allahabad etc.
• Religious and cultural towns: Varanasi, Mathura, Amritsar, Madurai, Puri, Ajmer, Pushkar,
Tirupati, Kurukshetra, Haridwar, Ujjain came to prominence due to their religious/cultural
significance.
• Tourist towns: Nainital, Mussoorie, Shimla, Pachmarhi, Jodhpur, Jaisalmer,
Udagamandalam (Ooty), Mount Abu are some of the tourist destinations.
Conclusion
The cities are not static in their function. The functions change due to their dynamic nature.
Even specialised cities, as they grow into metropolises become multifunctional wherein
industry, business, administration, transport, etc. become important. The functions get so
intertwined that the city cannot be categorised in a particular functional class.

Dichotomy of Human Geography

Development is very complex concepts of Social Sciences because it is a substantive concept
and once it is achieved it will address all the socio-cultural and environmental ills of the
society. Although, it has brought in significant improvement in the quality of life in more
than one way but increasing regional disparities, social inequalities, discriminations,
deprivations, displacement of people, abuse of human rights and undermining human
values and environmental degradation have also increased. Considering the gravity and

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sensitivity of the issues involved, the UNDP in its Human Development Report 1993, tried to
amend some of the implicit biases and prejudices which were entrenched in the concept of
development.

People’s participation and their security were the major issues in the Human Development
Report of 1993. It also emphasised on progressive democratisation and increasing
empowerment of people as minimum conditions for human development. The report
recognised greater constructive role of ‘Civil Societies’ in bringing about peace and human
development. The civil society should work for building up opinion for reduction in the
military expenditure, demobilisation of armed forces, transition from defence to production
of basic goods and services and particularly disarmament and reduction in the nuclear
warheads by the developed countries. In a nuclearised world, peace and well-being are
major global concerns.

According to the Neo-Malthusians, environmentalists and radical ecologists, for a happy

and peaceful social life proper balance between population and resources is a necessary
condition. These thinkers advocated the gap between the resources and population has
widened after eighteenth century. There have been marginal expansion in the resources of
the world in the last three hundred years but there has been phenomenal growth in the
human population. Development has only contributed in increasing the multiple uses of the
limited resources of the world while there has been enormous increase in the demand for
these resources. Therefore, the prime task before any development activity is to maintain
parity between population and resources.
Sir Robert Malthus was the first Scholar who raises his voice his concern on the growing
scarcity of resources as compared to the human population. Apparently this argument looks
logical and convincing, but a critical look will reveal certain intrinsic flaws such as resources
are not a neutral category. It is not the availability of resources that is as important as their
social distribution. Resources everywhere are unevenly distributed. Rich countries and
people have access to large resource baskets while the poor find their resources shrinking.
Moreover, unending pursuit for the control of more and more resources by the powerful
and use of the same for exhibiting ones prowess is the prime cause of conflicts as well as the
apparent contradictions between population resource and development.
Indian culture and civilisation have been very sensitive to the issues of population, resource
and development for a long time. It would not be incorrect to say that the ancient scriptures
were essentially concerned about the balance and harmony among the elements of nature.

Mahatma Gandhi advocated the reinforcement of the harmony and balance between the
two. He was quite apprehensive about the on-going development particularly the way
industrialisation has institutionalised the loss of morality, spirituality, self-reliance, non-
violence and mutual cooperation and environment. In his opinion, austerity for individual,
trusteeship of social wealth and non-violence are the key to attain higher goals in the life of
an individual as well as that of a nation. His views were also re-echoed in the Club of Rome
Report “Limits to Growth” (1972), Schumacher’s book “Small is Beautiful” (1974),
Brundtland Commission’s Report “Our Common Future” (1987) and finally in the “Agenda-
21 Report of the Rio Conference” (1993).

Human Development Index in India

The Human Development Index (HDI) is a composite statistics of life expectancy, education,
and income indices to rank countries into four tiers of human development. It was created
by economist Mahbub-ul-Haq, followed by economist Amartya Sen in 1990, and published
by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The Human Development Report
(HDR) presents the Human Development Index (HDI) (values and ranks) for 187 countries

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and UN-recognized territories, along with the Inequality-adjusted HDI for 145 countries, the
Gender Development Index for 148 countries, the Gender Inequality Index for 149
countries, and the Multidimensional Poverty Index for 91 countries. Country rankings and
values of the annual Human Development Index (HDI) are kept under strict embargo until
the global launch and worldwide electronic release of the Human Development Report.
India’s HDI value and rank
India’s HDI value for 2013 is 0.586— which is in the medium human development
category—positioning the country at 135 out of 187 countries and territories. Between 1980
and 2013, India’s HDI value increased from 0.369 to 0.586, an increase of 58.7 percent or an
average annual increase of about 1.41 percent. Between 1980 and 2013, India’s life
expectancy at birth increased by 11.0 years, mean years of schooling increased by 2.5 years
and expected years of schooling increased by 5.3 years. India’s GNI per capita increased by
about 306.2 percent between 1980 and 2013.

Latest Data: India climbed one spot to rank at 130 out of 189 countries in the latest Human
Development Index (HDI)rankings released today by the United Nations Development
Programme (UNDP). The country's HDI value for 2017 moved to 0.640, up from 0.624 in
2016.

Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI)

The 2010 HDR introduced the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), which identifies
multiple deprivations in the same households in education, health and living standards. The
education and health dimensions are each based on two indicators, while the standard of
living dimension is based on six indicators. All of the indicators needed to construct the MPI
for a household are taken from the same household survey. The indicators are weighted to
create a deprivation score, and the deprivation scores are computed for each household in
the survey. A deprivation score of 33.3 percent (one-third of the weighted indicators), is
used to distinguish between the poor and non-poor. If the household deprivation score is
33.3 percent or greater, the household (and everyone in it) is classed as multi-dimensionally
poor. Households with a deprivation score greater than or equal to 20 percent but less than
33.3 percent are near multidimensional poverty. Definitions of deprivations in each
dimension, as well as methodology of the MPI are given in Technical note 5 and in Calderon
and Kovacevic 2014. The most recent survey data that were publically available for India
MPI estimation refer to 2005/2006.

In India 55.3 percent of the population is multi- dimensionally poor while an additional 18.2
percent are near multidimensional poverty. The breadth of deprivation (intensity) in India,
which is the average of deprivation scores experienced by people in multidimensional
poverty, is 51.1 percent. The MPI, which is the share of the population that is multi-
dimensionally poor, adjusted by the intensity of the deprivations, is 0.282. Bangladesh and
Pakistan have MPIs of 0.237 and 0.237 respectively.

Racial Groups of India

The present population of the Indian subcontinent has been divided broadly into the
following racial groups:

1. The Negritos-Perhaps they were the first of the racial groups that came to India. They got
settled in the hilly areas of Kerala and the Andaman Islands. Kadar, Irula and Puliyan tribes
of Kerala resemble to a great extent with the Negritos. They are related to Africa, Australia
and their neighbouring islands. The Negritos have black (dark) skin, woolly hair, broad and
flat nose and slightly protruded jaws.

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2. The Proto-Australoids-Perhaps the people belonging to the Proto-Australoid race came
here just after the Negritos. Their sources are Australian aborigines. They are settled in the
central India from the Rajmahal hills to the Aravalis. Santhal, Bhil, Gond, Munda, Oraon etc.
tribes are related to this group. They are physically different from the Negritos in many
ways, e.g. their hair is coarse and straight instead of being woolly. It is considered that they
were the people who, in collaboration with the Mediterranean race, had developed the
Indus Valley Civilization. Their skeletons have been found in the excavations of
Mohenjodaro and Harappa.
3. The Mongoloids-The original homeland of this race was Mongolia (China). The
Mongoloids came to India through the passes of northern and eastern mountain ranges.
These people are concentrated in the nearby areas of the Himalayas, e.g. Ladakh, Sikkim,
Arunachal Pradesh and other areas of the north-eastern India. The Mongoloids have pale or
light pale skin, short height, comparatively large head, half open eyes, flat face and broad
nose. In India, they can be divided into two branches-
A. Paleo-Mongoloids- They were the first of the Mongoloids who came to India. These
people are settled mainly in the border areas of the Himalayas. They are found mostly in
Assam and the adjacent states.
B. Tibeto-Mongoloids- These people came from Tibet and are settled mainly in Bhutan,
Sikkim, areas of north-western Himalayas and beyond the Himalayas in which Ladakh and
Baltistan are included.
4. The Mediterraneans- They came to India from the south-west Asia. They may be divided
into three groups-
A. Paleo-Mediterraneans- They were the first of the Mediterranean’s race that came to
India. They were of medium height, black skin, well- built body and long head. Perhaps they
were the people who had begun cultivation for the first time in the north-west India. The
group which came later pushed them towards the central and the south India. At present,
the Paleo-Mediterraneans with their other sub-groups comprise the most part of the
population of the south India and a large part of the population of
the north India.
B. Mediterranean’s- They came to India later on. They developed the Indus valley
civilization in collaboration with the Proto-Australoids and initiated the bronze culture for
the first time during 2500-1500 BC. Later on, the new invading group coming from north-
west pushed them from the Indus valley to the Ganga valley and towards the south of the
Vindhyas. Today, most of the population of lower castes in the north India belongs to this
race.
C. Oriental-Mediterranean’s- They came to India very late. They are populated mostly in the
north-western border areas of Pakistan and Punjab. They are also found in sufficient
number in Sindh (Pakistan), Rajasthan and western Uttar Pradesh.
5. The Brachycephalics (Western race with broad head): Apart from Mongoloid, some
other races found in India having broad head are:
• Alpinoids

• Dinarics

• Armenoids

6. The Nordics: They are the last of the racial groups that came to India. They came from
Taiga and Baltic regions. They were Aryan speaking families with long head, fair complexion,
and sharp nose, well-developed and well-built body. They are found in the region of Punjab,
Haryana, Rajasthan and Jammu.

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Schedule Tribes in India
There are about 550 tribes in India. As per 1951 census, 5.6% of the total population of the
country was tribal. According to Census-2011, the number of scheduled tribes in India is 10,
42, 81,034. It is 8.6% of the total population of India [As per 2001 Census, it was 8.2% of the
total population of India.]. A total of 9, 38, 19,162 people belonging to scheduled tribes
reside in rural areas whereas 1, 04, 61,872 people in urban areas. The scheduled tribes are
11.3% of the total population of rural areas and 2.8% of urban areas. During 2001-2011 the
decadal growth rate of the population of India was 17.64%. During this period the decadal
growth rate of the scheduled tribes was 23.7%. The decadal growth rate of the scheduled
tribes in rural areas was less (21.3%) whereas it was more (49.7%) in urban areas.

• States and union territories having maximum ratio of scheduled tribes, as per Census-2011
(in descending order)- Lakshadweep (94.8%) > Mizoram (94.4%) > Nagaland (86.5%)
> Meghalaya (86.1%) > Arunachal Pradesh (68.8%).

• States and Union territories having minimum ratio of Scheduled tribes, as per Census-2011
(in ascending order)- Uttar Pradesh (0.6%) < Tamil Nadu (1.1%) < Bihar (1.3%) <
Kerala (1.5%) < Uttarakhand (2.9%) [Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi and Puducherry
have no population of Scheduled tribes.]

State-wise Total Population of Scheduled Tribes (in descending order)

State Population of Scheduled Percentage of the

Tribes (in lakh) state in the total
population of Scheduled
Tribes in the country

Madhya Pradesh 152.3 14.70%

Maharashtra 105.3 10.10%
Odisha 95.9 9.20%
Rajasthan 92.8 8.90%
Gujarat 89.6 8.60%
Jharkhand 86.5 8.30%
Chhattisgarh 78.2 7.50%
Sex Ratio Scheduled Tribes
As per Census 2011, the sex ratio in India is 943 whereas it is 990
in scheduled tribes. The sex ratio of children (0-6 age group) in India is 919 whereas that of
it are 957 in scheduled tribes. The sex ratio in scheduled tribes is in favour of females in Goa
(1046), Kerala (1025), Arunachal Pradesh (1032), Odisha (1029) and Chhattisgarh (1020). In
Jammu and Kashmir (924) the sex ratio in scheduled tribes is the lowest in the country.
Literacy of Scheduled Tribes
As per Census 2011, the rate of literacy in India is 72.99% whereas
that of it in scheduled tribes is 59%. State-wise, the rate of literacy in scheduled tribes is
highest in Mizoram (91.7%) and lowest in Andhra Pradesh (49.2%). Among union territories,
the highest rate of literacy in scheduled tribes is in Lakshadweep (91.7%).
Major Tribes in India (State-wise)
State Major Tribes

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 Arunachal Pradesh Aptani, Mishmi, Daffla, Miri, Aka, Sinpho, Khamti
etc.
Assam Chakma, Mikir, Kachari, Bora etc
Meghalaya Garo, Khasi, Jaintia, Hamar etc
Nagaland Angami, Siteng, Serna, Konyak, Lotha etc
Manipur Kuki, Lepcha, Mugh etc
Tripura Bhutia, Chakma, Garo, Kuki etc
Mizoram Mizo, Lakher etc
West Bengal Asur, Bhumij, Birhor, Lodha, Lepcha, Magh,
Mahali, Malpaharia, Polia etc
Jharkhand Santhal, Paharia, Munda, Ho, Birhor, Oraon,
Kharia, Tamaria etc
Uttar Pradesh & Uttarakhand Tharu, Bhatia, Jaunsari, Bhoksha, Raji, Khasa,
Bhuia, Kharwar, Manjhi, Kol etc
Odisha Zuang, Sawara, Karia, Khond, Kandh etc
Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh Hill Maria, Muria, Dandami, Gond, Baiga. Parja,
Bhattra, Agaria, Bhil, Saharia. Korwa, Halba etc
Himachal Pradesh Gaddi, Gujjar, Kinnar etc
Jammu & Kashmir Gaddi, Bakarwal etc
Rajasthan Bhil, Meena. Kathoria, Garasia etc
Andhra Pradesh and Telangana Chenchu, Yandai, Kurumba, Khond, Bagdaz,
Koya, Bagata, Gadaba etc
Kerala Irula, Kurumba, Kadar, Puliyan etc
Tamil Nadu Toda, Kota, Kurumba, Badaga etc
Andaman & Nicobar Great Andamanese, Nicobarese, Onge, Jarawa,
Shompen, Sentenalese etc.

Schedule Castes in India

As per Census- 2011, the number of scheduled castes in India is 20, 13, and 78,086. It is
16.6% of the total population of India. As per Census- 2001; it was 16.2% of the total
population of India. A total of 15, 38, 50,562 people belonging to the scheduled castes
reside in rural areas whereas 4, 75, 27,524 people in urban areas. The scheduled castes are
18.5% of the total population of rural areas and 12.6% of urban areas. It is to be noted that
during 2001-2011 the decadal growth rate of the population of India was 17.64%. During
this period decadal growth rate of the scheduled castes was 20.8%. The decadal growth rate
of the scheduled castes in rural areas was less (15.7%) whereas it was more (41.3%) in urban
areas because of their migration from villages to towns and cities.

• States having maximum ratio of scheduled castes, as per Census- 2011 (in descending
order) - Punjab (31.9%) > Himachal Pradesh (25.2%) > West Bengal (23.5%) >Uttar
Pradesh (20.7%) > Haryana (20.2%)

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• States and Union territories having minimum ratio of Scheduled Castes, as per Census-
2011 (in ascending order) - Mizoram (0.1%) < Meghalaya (0.6%) < Goa (1.7%) < Dadra and
Nagar Haveli (1.8%) < Daman and Diu (2.5%)
[Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and Lakshadweep Islands
have no population of Scheduled Castes.]

Percentage of the State

State Population of in the total population
Scheduled Castes of Scheduled Castes
(in lakh) in the country
Uttar Pradesh 412.80 20.5%
West Bengal 215.40 10.7%
Bihar 170.05 8.2%
Tamil Nadu 144.99 7.2%
Andhra Pradesh 138.95 6.9%
Maharashtra 132.90 6.6%
Among union territories, Delhi has the maximum number (28.19 lakh) of Scheduled Castes.

Sex Ratio in Scheduled Castes

As per Census 2011, the sex ratio in India is 943 whereas it is 945 in scheduled Castes. The
sex ratio of children (0-6 age group) in India is 919 whereas it is 933 in scheduled castes. The
sex ratio in scheduled castes is in favour of females in Kerala (1057), Puducherry (1056), Goa
(1015), Arunachal Pradesh (1008) and Tamil Nadu (1004). Mizoram is the only state where
the sex ratio in scheduled castes is not only lowest (509) in the country but deplorable also.

Literacy in Scheduled Castes

As per Census 2011, the rate of literacy in India is 72.99% whereas that of it in scheduled
castes is 66.1 %. State wise, the rate of literacy in scheduled castes is highest in Mizoram
(92.4%) and lowest in Bihar (48.6%). Among union territories, the highest rate of literacy in
scheduled castes is in Daman and Diu (92.6%). According to the Constitution (Scheduled
Castes) Orders (Amendment) Act, 1990 Scheduled Castes can only belong to Hindu, Sikh or
Buddhist religions.[1] [The Scheduled tribes may belong to any religion.]

Population Policies of India

Population Policies formulated to address the unmet needs for contraception, health care
infrastructure, and health personnel, and to provide integrated service delivery for basic
reproductive and child health care. The main objective is to achieve a stable population at a
level consistent with the requirements of sustainable economic growth, social development,
and environmental protection.
Five-Year Plans by the Government of India for population control
First Five Year Plan: India is the first country in the world to begin a population control
programme in 1952. It emphasized the use of natural devices for family planning.
Second Five Year Plan: Work was done in the direction of education and research and the
clinical approach was encouraged.
Third Five Year Plan: In 1965, the sterilization technique for both men and women was
adopted under this plan. The technique of copper- T was also adopted. An independent
department called the Family Planning Department was set up.

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Fourth Five-Year Plan: All kinds of birth control methods (conventional and modern) were
encouraged.
Fifth Five Year Plan: Under this plan the National Population Policy was announced on 16
April, 1976. In this policy, the minimum age for marriage determined by the Sharda Act,
1929 was increased. It increased the age for boys from 18 to 21 years and for girls from 14
to 18 years. The number of MPs and MLAs was fixed till the year 2001 on the basis of the
census 1971. Under this Plan, forced sterilization was permitted which was later on given
up. In 1977, the Janata Party government changed the name of Family Planning Department
to Family Welfare Department.

In the Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Plans, efforts were done to control population by
determining long-term demographic aims.
Ninth Five-Year Plan: In 1993, the government had established an expert group under the
chairmanship of M.S. Swaminathan for formulating national population policy. Though this
group had prepared the draft of the new population policy in 1994, it was reviewed in 1999
by the Family Welfare Department and was passed by the Parliament in 2000. The Central
Government formulated the 'new national population policy' in February 2000. This policy
has three main objectives:
Objectives of Ninth Five Year Plan
1. Temporary objective: The easy supply of birth control devices was included in it. Besides,
the development of health protection framework and recruitment of health workers were
also made a part of it.
2. Middle-term objective: Under it, the total fertility rate (TFR) had to bring down to the
replacement level of 2.1 by 2010.
3. Long-term objective: Under it, the Objective of population stabilization by 2045 is to be
achieved.
The population has to be stabilised at that level which must be harmonious from the points
of view of economic and social development and environmental protection.

It has been announced in the new population policy to keep the composition of the Lok
Sabha unchanged by 2026 so that the states could co-operate without any fear. Under
current provisions, the number of MPs in different states by 2001 has been determined on
the basis of the census 1971. It was to be changed in 2001 on the basis of the new census
report (2001). But it might be harmful to those states which had taken part in the
population control programme with great fervour. Those states which had not laid proper
attention on population control could get more shares in the Lok Sabha resulting in wrong
effect on the population control programme. So, the Lok Sabha would not have more than
553 elected seats till 2026 and the number of Lok Sabha seats of each state would remain
the same as it is at present. While announcing this new policy, the Central Health Minister
said that the people living below poverty line would be rewarded properly if they would
marry after 21 years, adopt the standard of two children and undergo sterilisation after two
children.

The following major Objectives had been set in the National Population Policy till the year
2010:
1. The 'total fertility rate' to be reduced to 2.1.

2. The high class birth control services had to be made available publically so that the
standard of two children could be adopted.

3. The infant mortality rate had to be reduced to 30 per thousand.

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4. The mother mortality rate had also to be reduced to below 100 per one lakh.

5. The late marriage of girls had to be encouraged.

A high level 100-membered National Population Commission has been set up under the
chairmanship of the Prime Minister on 11 May 2000 to supervise and analyse the
implementation of this new population policy.

Human Migration
The movement of people from region to region for the purpose of permanent or semi-
permanent residence, usually across a political boundary is called Human Migration. For
example: "semi-permanent residence" would be the seasonal movements of migrant farm
labourers. People can either choose to move ("voluntary migration") or be forced to move
("involuntary migration"). Birth and death is another reason for the population size changes.
When people move from one place to another, the place they move from is called the Place
of Origin and the place they move to is called the Place of Destination. The place of origin
shows a decrease in population while the population increases in the place of destination. It
may be interpreted as a spontaneous effort to achieve a better balance between population
and resources. Migration may be permanent, temporary or seasonal. It may take place from
rural to rural areas, rural to urban areas, urban to urban areas and urban to rural areas.
Types of Migration
• Internal Migration: Moving to a new home within a state, country, or continent.
• External Migration: Moving to a new home in a different state, country, or continent.
• Emigration: The act of entering a foreign country to live.
• Immigration: The act of leaving a country to live in another.
• Population Transfer: When a government forces a large group of people out of a region,
usually based on ethnicity or religion. This is also known as an involuntary or forced
migration.
• Impelled Migration: Individuals are not forced out of their country, but leave because of
unfavourable situations such as warfare, political problems, or religious persecution.
• Step Migration: A series of shorter, less extreme migrations from a person's place of origin
to final destination. For example- moving from a farm, to a village, to a town, and finally to a
city.
• Chain Migration: A series of migrations within a family or defined group of people. A chain
migration often begins with one family member who sends money to bring other family
members to the new location. Chain migration results in migration fields—the clustering of
people from a specific region into certain neighbourhoods or small towns.
• Return Migration: The voluntary movements of immigrants back to their place of origin.
This is also known as circular migration.
• Seasonal Migration: The process of moving for a period of time in response to labour or
climate conditions.
Causes of Migration
• The Push factors make the place of origin seem less attractive for reasons like
unemployment, poor living conditions, political turmoil, unpleasant climate, natural
disasters, epidemics and socio-economic backwardness.
• The Pull factors make the place of destination seem more attractive than the place of
origin for reasons like better job opportunities and living conditions, peace and stability,
security of life and property and pleasant climate.

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 ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY
Sectors of Economy: Primary, Secondary, Tertiary, Quaternary and Quinary
Human activities which generate income are known as economic activities.
Economic activities are broadly grouped into primary, secondary, tertiary activities. Higher
services under tertiary activities are again classified into quaternary and quinary activities.
Primary activities
• Primary activities are directly dependent on environment as these refer to utilisation
of earth’s resources such as land, water, vegetation, building materials and minerals.
It, thus includes, hunting and gathering, pastoral activities, fishing, forestry,
agriculture, and mining and quarrying.

• People engaged in primary activities are called red-collar workers due to the outdoor
nature of their work.

Secondary activities
• Secondary activities add value to natural resources by transforming raw materials
into valuable products. Secondary activities, therefore, are concerned
with manufacturing, processing and construction (infrastructure) industries.

• People engaged in secondary activities are called blue collar workers.

Tertiary activities
• Tertiary activities include both production and exchange. The production involves
the ‘provision’ of services that are ‘consumed. Exchange, involves trade, transport
and communication facilities that are used to overcome distance.

• Tertiary jobs = White collar jobs.

Quaternary activities
• Quaternary activities are specialized tertairy activities in the ‘Knowledge Sector’
which demands a separate classification. There has been a very high growth in
demand for and consumption of information based services from mutual fund
managers to tax consultants, software developers and statisticians. Personnel
working in office buildings, elementary schools and university classrooms, hospitals
and doctors’ offices, theatres, accounting and brokerage firms all belong to this
category of services. Like some of the tertiary functions, quaternary activities can
also be outsourced. They are not tied to resources, affected by the environment, or
necessarily localised by market.
Quinary activities
• Quinary activities are services that focus on the creation, re-arrangement
and interpretation of new and existing ideas; data interpretation and the use and
evaluation of new technologies. Often referred to as ‘gold collar’ professions, they
represent another subdivision of the tertiary sector representing special and highly
paid skills of senior business executives, government officials, research scientists,
financial and legal consultants, etc. Their importance in the structure of advanced

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 economies far outweighs their numbers.The highest level of decision makers or
policy makers perform quinary activities.

• Quinary = Gold collar professions.

Factors Responsible for the Location of Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Sector Industries
in Various Parts of the World (Including India)
Factors responsible for location of Industries
Industrial locations are complex in nature. These are influenced by the availability of many
factors. Some of them are: raw material, land, water, labor, capital, power, transport, and
market.

For ease of convenience, we can classify the location factors into two: geographical factors
and non-geographical factors.

Geographical Factors

1. Raw material: Availability of natural resource that can be used as raw material.
2. Technology: To turn the resource into an asset with value.
3. Power: To utilize the technology.
4. Labour: Human resource in the area who can function as labor to run the processes.
5. Transport : Road/rail connectivity.
6. Storage and warehousing.
7. Marketing feasibility.
8. Characteristics of land and soil.
9. Climate.
10. Precipitation and water resources.
11. Vulnerability to natural resources.

Explanation:

• Raw materials are one of the important factors in an industrial location. The mere
location of industries itself may be determined by the availability or location of the
raw materials.
• Power – conventional (coal, mineral oil or hydro-electricity) or on- conventional in
nature is a necessity for any industrial establishment.

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 • Availability of labor or skilled workforce is the success mantra for the growth of all
industries.
• Availability of easy transportation always influences the location of the industry. So
the junction points of waterways, roadways and railways become humming centers of
industrial activity.
• The finished goods should reach the market at the end of the process of
manufacturing. Thus nearness to the market is an add-on quality in the process of
selecting a location for industry.
• Availability of water is another factor that influences the industrial location. Many
industries are established near rivers, canals, and lakes, because of this reason. Iron
and steel industry, textile industries and chemical industries require large quantities
of water, for their proper functioning.
• The site that is selected for the establishment of an industry must be flat and well
served by adequate transport facilities.
• The climate of the area selected for the industry is important, very harsh climate are
not suitable for the successful industrial growth.

Non-geographical Factors

1. Capital investment.
2. Availability of loans.
3. Investment climate.
4. Government policies/regulations.
5. Influence of pressure groups.

Explanation:

• Capital or huge investment is needed for the establishment of industries.

• Government policies are another factor that influences industrial location. The
government sets certain restriction in the allocation of land for industries in order to
reduce regional disparities, to control excessive pollution and to avoid the excessive
clustering of industries in big cities.
• Industrial inertia is the predisposition of industries or companies to avoid relocating
facilities even in the face of changing economic circumstances that would otherwise
induce them to leave. Often the costs associated with relocating fixed capital assets
and labor far outweigh the costs of adapting to the changing conditions of an existing
location.
• Efficient and enterprising organization and management are essential for running
modem industry successfully.
• The location that has better banking facilities and Insurance are best suited for the
establishment of industries.

It is rarely possible to find all these factors available at one place.

Consequently, manufacturing activity tends to locate at the most appropriate place where
all the factors of industrial location are either available or can be arranged at lower cost. In
general, it should also be noted that both lower production cost and lower distribution cost
are the two major factors while considering the location of an industry. Sometimes, the
government provides incentives like subsidized power, lower transport cost, and other
infrastructure so that industries may be located in backward areas.

Industrial System

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An industrial system consists of inputs, processes, and outputs. The inputs are the raw
materials, labor, and costs of land, transport, power and other infrastructure. The processes
include a wide range of activities that convert the raw material into finished products.
The outputs are the end product and the income earned from it. In the case of the textile
industry, the inputs may be cotton, human labor, factory and transport cost. The processes
include ginning, spinning, weaving, dyeing, and printing. The output is the shirt you wear.

Connection between Industrialization and Urbanization

After an industrial activity starts, urbanization follows. Sometimes, industries are located in
or near the cities. Thus, industrialization and urbanization go hand in hand. Cities provide
markets and also provide services such as banking, insurance, transport, labor, consultants
and financial advice, etc. to the industry.

Agglomeration Economies
Many industries tend to come together to make use of the advantages offered by the urban
centers known as agglomeration economies. Gradually, a large industrial agglomeration
takes place.

Industries in pre-Independence period

In the pre-Independence period, most manufacturing units were located in places from the
point of view of overseas trade such as Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, etc. Consequently, there
emerged certain pockets of industrially developed urban centers surrounded by a
huge agricultural rural hinterland.

Geographical Indication (GI) Tags in India

Have you heard of Aranmula Kannadi which is a unique handicraft from Kerala? You might
have heard of Kanchipuram Sarees of Tamil Nadu and Madhubani Paintings of Bihar. All
these are unique products from a particular location. Such products now bear an additional
tag – Geographical Indication.

What is a Geographical Indication?

A geographical indication (GI) is a sign used on products that have a specific geographical
origin and possess qualities or a reputation that are due to that origin. In order to function
as a GI, a sign must identify a product as originating in a given place.

For example, Blue pottery of Jaipur.

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Significance of GI tag
You might have heard of intellectual properties rights like Copyright, Patent, Trademark etc.
Geographical Indication Tag provides similar rights and protection to holders.

A geographical indication right enables those who have the right to use the indication to
prevent its use by a third party whose product does not conform to the applicable
standards. For example, in the jurisdictions in which the Darjeeling geographical indication is
protected, producers of Darjeeling tea can exclude the use of the term “Darjeeling” for tea
not grown in their tea gardens or not produced according to the standards set out in the
code of practice for the geographical indication.

Significance of Geographical Indications for Competitive Exams

Geographical Indication is one of the hot question topics for almost all competitive exams
including UPSC Civil Services Prelims. Knowledge of students on Indian culture and diversity

23 © Yuvraj IAS 2019

is tested by different question formats connected to GI tags – including ‘Match the
following’ questions. As we have prepared this compilation state-wise, we hope it would be
very easy for students to connect different GI to corresponding states.

GI tags – a requirement of TRIPS agreement

• India, as a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO), enacted the Geographical
Indications of Goods (Registration & Protection)Act, 1999 has come into force with
effect from 15th September 2003.
• Darjeeling Tea was the first Indian product to get the geographical indication tag. In
2004, the famous beverage got the recognition.
• India has 236 GI products registered so far and over 270 more products have applied
for the label.

Geographical Indication (GI) Tags in India: State-wise Compilation

This post is a compilation of Geographical Indication Tags (GI Tags) in India, arranged state-
wise. The state-wise compilation will help students to memorize the cultural identities of a
place faster.

State-wise compilation of Geographical Indications

Andhra Pradesh

Sl.No. Geographical Indication Type

1. Srikalahasthi Kalamkari Handicraft

2. Kondapalli Bommalu Handicraft

3. Machilipatnam Kalamkari Handicraft

4. Budiiti Bell & Brass Craft Handicraft

5. Andhra Pradesh Leather Puppetry Handicraft

6. Uppada Jamdani Sarees Handicraft

24 © Yuvraj IAS 2019

7. Tirupati Laddu[a] Foodstuff

8. Guntur Sannam Chilli Agricultural

9. Venkatagiri Sarees Handicraft

10. Bobbili Veena Handicraft

11. Mangalagiri Sarees and Fabrics Handicraft

Dharmavaram Handloom Pattu Sarees and Paavad

12. Textile
as

Assam

Sl.No Geographical Indication Type

1. Assam (Orthodox) Logo Agricultural

2. Muga Silk of Assam (Logo) Handicraft

3. Muga Silk Handicraft

Bihar

Sl.No. Geographical Indication Type

1. Madhubani paintings Handicraft Handicraft

25 © Yuvraj IAS 2019

2. Applique – Khatwa Patch Work of Bihar Handicraft

3. Sujini Embroidery Work of Bihar Handicraft Handicraft

4. Bhagalpur Silk Handicraft Handicraft

Chhattisgarh

Sl.No. Geographical Indication Type

1. Bastar Dhokra Handicraft

2. Bastar Wooden Craft Handicraft

3. Bastar Iron Craft Handicraft

4. Bastar Dhokra (Logo) Handicraft

5. Champa Silk Saree and Fabrics Handicraft

Goa

Sl.No Geographical Indication Type

1. Fenni Manufactured

26 © Yuvraj IAS 2019

Gujarat

Sl.No Geographical Indication Type

1. Tangaliya Shawl Handicraft

2. Surat Zari Craft Handicraft

3. Gir Kesar Mango Agricultural

4. Bhalia Wheat Agricultural

5. Kachchh Shawls Handicraft

6. Patan Patola Handicraft

7. Sankheda Furniture Handicraft

8. Kutch Embroidery Handicraft

Haryana

Sl.No Geographical Indication Type

1. Phulkari* Handicraft

*Also in Punjab and Rajasthan

27 © Yuvraj IAS 2019

Himachal Pradesh

Sl.No Geographical Indication Type

1. Kullu ShawL (Logo) Textile

2. Kangra Tea Agricultural

3. Chamba Rumal Handicraft

4. Kinnauri Shawl Handicraft

J&K

Sl.No Geographical Indication Type

1. Kashmir Papier Mache Handicraft

2. Kashmir Walnut Wood Carving Handicraft

3. Khatamband Handicraft

4. Kani Shawls Handicraft

5. Kashmir Pashmina Handicraft

Karnataka

Sl.No Geographical Indication Type

28 © Yuvraj IAS 2019

1. Byadgi chilli Agriculture

2. Kinnal Toys Handicraft

3. Mysore Agarbathi Manufactured

4. Bangalore Blue Grapes Agriculture

5. Mysore Pak Sweets

6. Bangalore Rose Onion Agriculture

7. Coorg orange Agriculture

8. Mysore silk Handicraft

9. Bidriware Handicraft

10. Channapatna Toys & Dolls Handicraft

11. Mysore Rosewood Inlay Handicraft

12. Mysore Sandalwood Oil Manufactured

13. Mysore Sandal Soap Manufactured

14. Kasuti Embroidery Handicraft

29 © Yuvraj IAS 2019

15. Mysore Traditional Paintings Handicraft

16. Mysore betel leaf Agricultural

17. Nanjanagud Banana Agricultural

18. Mysore Jasmine Agricultural

19. Udupi Jasmine Agricultural

20. Hadagali Jasmine Agricultural

21. Ilkal saree Handicraft

22. Navalgund Durries Handicraft

23. Karnataka Bronze Ware Handicraft

24. Molakalmuru Sarees Handicraft

25. Monsooned Malabar Arabica Coffee Agricultural

26. Monsooned Malabar Robusta Coffee Agricultural

27. Coorg Green Cardamom Agricultural

28. Dharwad Pedha Foodstuff

30 © Yuvraj IAS 2019

Kerala

Sl.No Geographical Indication Type

1. Aranmula Kannadi Handicraft

2. Alleppey Coir Handicraft

3. Balaramapuram Sarees and Fine Cotton Fabrics Handicraft

4. Brass broidered coconut shell craft of Kerala Handicraft

5. Cannanore Home Furnishings Handicraft

6. Central Travancore Jaggery Agricultural

7. Chendamangalam Dhoties & Set Mundu Handicraft

8. Chengalikodan Banana Agriculture

9. Kasaragod Sarees Handicraft

10. Kuthampally dhoties and set mundu Clothing

11. Maddalam of Palakkad Handicraft

12. Payyannur Pavithra Ring Handicraft

31 © Yuvraj IAS 2019

13. Pokkali Rice Agriculture

14. Screw Pine Craft of Kerala Handicraft

15. Vazhakulam Pineapple Agriculture

16. Wayanad Gandhakasala Rice Agriculture

17. Wayanad Jeerakasala Rice Agriculture

18. Navara rice Agricultural Agriculture

19. Palakkadan Matta Rice Agriculture

20. Spices Alleppey Green Cardamom Agriculture

Madhya Pradesh

Sl.No Geographical Indication Type

1. Chanderi Fabric Handicraft

2. Leather Toys of Indore Handicraft

3. Bagh Prints of Madhya Pradesh Handicraft

4. Bell Metal Ware of Datia and Tikamgarh (Logo) Handicraft

32 © Yuvraj IAS 2019

5. Bell Metal Ware of Datia and Tikamgarh Handicraft

6. Maheshwar Sarees & Fabrics Handicraft

Maharashtra

Sl.No Geographical Indication Type

1. Solapuri Chaddar Handicraft

2. Solapur Terry Towel Handicraft

3. Nagpur Orange Agricultural

4. Puneri Pagadi Handicraft

5. Nashik valley wine Manufactured

6. Paithani Sarees and Fabrics Handicraft

7. Mahabaleshwar Strawberry Agricultural

8. Nashik Grapes Agricultural

9. Nashik Grapes Agricultural

10. Kolhapur Jaggery Agriculture

33 © Yuvraj IAS 2019

Manipur

Sl.No Geographical Indication Type

1. Shaphee Lanphee Textile

2. Wangkhei Phee Textile

3. Moirang Phee Textile

Nagaland

Sl.No Geographical Indication Type

1. Naga Mircha Agricultural

Odisha

Sl.No Geographical Indication Type

1. Kotpad Handloom fabric Handicraft

2. Orissa Ikat Handicraft

3. Konark Stone Carving Handicraft

4. Pattachitra Handicraft

34 © Yuvraj IAS 2019

5. Pipili Applique Work Handicraft

6. Khandua Saree and Fabrics Handicraft

7. Gopalpur Tussar Fabrics Handicraft

8. Ganjam Kewda Rooh Agricultural

9. Ganjam Kewda Flower Agricultural

10. Dhalapathar Parda & Fabrics Handicraft

11. Sambalpuri Bandha Saree & Fabrics Handicraft

12. Bomkai Saree & Fabrics Handicraft

13. Habaspuri Saree & Fabrics Handicraft

14. Berhampur Patta (Phoda Kumbha) Saree& Joda Handicraft

15. Odisha Pattachitra (Logo) Textile

Punjab

Sl.No Geographical Indication Type

Phulkari* Handicraft

*Also in Haryana and Rajasthan

35 © Yuvraj IAS 2019

Rajasthan

Sl.No Geographical Indication Type

1. Kota Doria Handicraft

2. Blue Pottery of Jaipur Handicraft

3. Molela Clay Work Handicraft

4. Kathputlis of Rajasthan Handicraft

5. Sanganeri Hand Block Printing Handicraft

6. Bikaneri Bhujia Agricultural

7. Kota Doria (Logo) Handicraft

8. Phulkari* Handicraft

9. Bagru Hand Block Print Handicraft

10. Thewa Art Work Handicraft

11. Makrana marble Natural Goods

*Also in Haryana and punjab

36 © Yuvraj IAS 2019

Tamil Nadu

Sl.No Geographical Indication Type

1. Salem Fabric Handicraft

2. Kancheepuram Silk Handicraft

3. Bhavani Jamakkalam Handicraft

4. Madurai Sungudi Handicraft

5. Coimbatore Wet Grinder Manufactured

6. Thanjavur Paintings Handicraft

7. Temple Jewellery of Nagercoil Handicraft

8. Thanjavur Art Plate Handicraft

9. E. I. Leather Manufactured

10. Salem silk Handicraft

11. Kovai Cora Cotton Handicraft

12. Arani Silk Handicraft Handicraft

37 © Yuvraj IAS 2019

13. Swamimalai Bronze Icons Agricultural

14. Eathomozhy Tall Coconut Agricultural

15. Thanjavur Doll Handicraft Handicraft

16. Nilgiri(Orthodox) Logo Agricultural

17. Virupakshi Hill Banana Agricultural

18. Sirumalai Hill Banana Agricultural

19. Madurai Malli Agricultural

20. Pattamadai Pai (‘Pattamadai Mat’) Handicraft

21. Nachiarkoil Kuthuvilakku (‘Nachiarkoil Lamp’) Handicraft

22. Chettinad Kottan Handicraft

23. Toda Embroidery t Handicraft

24. Thanjavur Veenai Handicraft

Telangana

Sl.No Geographical Indication Type

38 © Yuvraj IAS 2019

1. Pochampally Ikat Handicraft

2. Silver Filigree of Karimnagar Handicraft

3. Nirmal toys and craft Handicraft

4. Nirmal furniture Handicraft

5. Nirmal paintings Handicraft

6. Gadwal Sarees Handicraft

7. Hyderabadi Haleem Foodstuff

8. Cheriyal Paintings Handicraft

9. Pembarthi Metal Craft Handicraft

10. Siddipet Gollabhama Handicraft

11. Narayanpet Handloom Sarees Handicraft

Uttar Pradesh

Sl.No Geographical Indication Type

1. Allahabad Surkha Agricultural

39 © Yuvraj IAS 2019

2. Lucknow Chikan Craft Handicraft

3. Mango Malihabadi Dusseheri Agricultural

4. Banaras Brocades and Sarees Handicraft

5. Banaras Brocades and Sarees (Logo) Handicraft

6. Hand made Carpet of Bhadohi Handmade Carpets

7. Agra Durrie Handicraft

8. Farrukhabad Prints Handicraft

9. Lucknow Zardozi Handicraft

10. Kalanamak Rice Agricultural

11. Firozabad Glass Handicraft

12. Kannauj Perfume Manufactured

13. Kanpur Saddlery Manufactured

14. Moradabad Metal Craft Handicraft

15. Saharanpur Wood Craft Handicraft

40 © Yuvraj IAS 2019

16. Handmade Carpets of Mirzapur Handmade Carpets

17. Handmade Carpets of Banaras Handmade Carpets

18. Agra Petha Sweets

19. Mathura Peda Sweets

20. Nizamabad black clay pottery Handicraft

21. Varanasi Wooden Lacquerware &Toys Handicraft

West Bengal

Sl.No Geographical Indication Type

1. Darjeeling Tea (word & logo) Agricultural

2. Nakshi Kantha Handicraft

3. Laxman Bhog Mango Agricultural

4. Himsagar(Khirsapati Mango) Agricultural

5. Fazli Mango Agricultural

6. Santipore Saree Handicraft

41 © Yuvraj IAS 2019

7. Baluchari Saree Handicraft

8. Dhaniakhali Saree Handicraft

Summary: GI Tags

• Geographical Indications of Goods are defined as that aspect of industrial property

which refer to the geographical indication referring to a country or to a place situated
therein as being the country or place of origin of that product.
• Typically, such a name conveys an assurance of quality and distinctiveness which is
essentially attributable to the fact of its origin in that defined geographical locality,
region or country.
• Under Articles 1 (2) and 10 of the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial
Property, geographical indications are covered as an element of IPRs.
• They are also covered under Articles 22 to 24 of the Trade Related Aspects of
Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement, which was part of the Agreements
concluding the Uruguay Round of GATT negotiations.
• Proponents of GIs regard them as strong tools for protecting their national property
rights. Opponents, however, consider GIs as barriers to trade.

Distribution of Major Industries: Location Factors

World’s Major Industries
Yes, there are lot many industries, and it is not possible to analyze location details of all. So
we are limiting this post on world’s major industries (article courtesy : NCERT). Our focus is
on three major industries in the world, but aspirants are advised to go through other
industries like petroleum, fertilizers, automobile, pharmaceuticals, sugar etc too.

The world’s major industries are:

1. Iron and steel industry – Germany, USA, China, Japan and Russia.
2. Textile industry – India, Hong Kong, South Korea, Japan and Taiwan.
3. Information technology industry – Silicon valley of Central California and the
Bangalore region of India.

The iron and steel and textile industry are the older industries while information technology
is an emerging industry.

Iron and Steel Industry

Like other industries iron and steel industry too comprises various inputs, processes and
outputs. The inputs for the industry include raw materials such as iron ore, coal and
limestone, along with labour, capital, site and other infrastructure. The process of
converting iron ore into steel involves many stages. The raw material is put in the blast
furnace where it undergoes smelting. It is then refined. The output obtained is steel which
may be used by other industries as raw material.

42 © Yuvraj IAS 2019

The Indian iron and steel industry consists of large integrated steel plants as well as mini
steel mills. It also includes secondary producers, rolling mills and ancillary industries.

Changes in locations: Before 1800 A.D. iron and steel industry was located where raw
materials, power supply and running water were easily available. Later the ideal location for
the industry was near coal fields and close to canals and railways. After 1950, iron and steel
industry began to be located on large areas of flat land near sea ports. This is because by
this time steel works had become very large and iron ore had to be imported from overseas.

Locations in India: In India, iron and steel industry has developed taking advantage of raw
materials, cheap labour, transport and market. All the important steel producing centres
such as Bhilai, Durgapur, Burnpur, Jamshedpur, Rourkela, Bokaro are situated in a region
that spreads over four states — West Bengal, Jharkhand, Odisha and Chhattisgarh.
Bhadravati and Vijay Nagar in Karnataka, Vishakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh, Salem in
Tamil Nadu are other important steel centres utilising local resources. India’s steel
production increased from one million tonne in 1947 to 30 million tonnes in 2002.

Why Jamshedpur? Before 1947, there was only one iron and steel plant in the country –
Tata Iron and Steel Company Limited (TISCO). It was privately owned. After Independence,
the government took the initiative and set up several iron and steel plants. TISCO was
started in 1907 at Sakchi, near the confluence of the rivers Subarnarekha and Kharkai in
Jharkhand. Later on Sakchi was renamed as Jamshedpur. Geographically, Jamshedpur is the
most conveniently situated iron and steel centre in the country.

Sakchi was chosen to set up the steel plant for several reasons. This place was only 32 km
away from Kalimati station on the Bengal-Nagpur railway line. It was close to the iron ore,
coal and manganese deposits as well as to Kolkata, which provided a large market. TISCO
gets coal from Jharia coalfields, and iron ore, limestone, dolomite and manganese from
Odisha and Chhattisgarh. The Kharkai and Subarnarekha rivers ensured sufficient water
supply. Government initiatives provided adequate capital for its later development.

The development of the iron and steel industry opened the doors to rapid industrial
development in India. Almost all sectors of the Indian industry depend heavily on the iron
and steel industry for their basic infrastructure.

Why Pittsburgh? It is an important steel city of the United States of America. The steel
industry at Pittsburgh enjoys locational advantages. Some of the raw material such as coal is
available locally, while the iron ore comes from the iron mines at Minnesota, about 1500 km
from Pittsburgh. Between these mines and Pittsburgh is one of the world’s best routes for
shipping ore cheaply – the famous Great Lakes waterway. Trains carry the ore from the
Great Lakes to the Pittsburgh area. The Ohio, the Monogahela and Allegheny rivers provide
adequate water supply.

Today, very few of the large steel mills are in Pittsburgh itself. They are located in the valleys
of the Monogahela and Allegheny rivers above Pittsburgh and along the Ohio River below it.
Finished steel is transported to the market by both land and water routes. The Pittsburgh
area has many factories other than steel mills. These use steel as their raw material to make
many different products such as railroad equipment, heavy machinery and rails.

43 © Yuvraj IAS 2019

Cotton Textile Industry
Weaving cloth from yarn is an ancient art. Cotton, wool, silk, jute, flax have been used for
making cloth. The textile industry can be divided on the basis of raw materials used in them.
Fibres are the raw material of textile industry. Fibres can be natural or man-made. Natural
fibres are obtained from wool, silk, cotton, linen and jute. Man-made fibres include nylon,
polyester, acrylic and rayon. The cotton textile industry is one of the oldest industries in the
world. Till the industrial revolution in the 18th century, cotton cloth was made using hand
spinning techniques (wheels) and looms. In 18th century power looms facilitated the
development of cotton textile industry, first in Britain and later in other parts of the world.
Today India, China, Japan and the USA are important producers of cotton textiles.

India has a glorious tradition of producing excellent quality cotton textiles. Before the British
rule, Indian hand spun and hand woven cloth already had a wide market. The Muslins of
Dhaka, Chintzes of Masulipatnam, Calicos of Calicut and Gold-wrought cotton of Burhanpur,
Surat and Vadodara were known worldwide for their quality and design. But the production
of hand woven cotton textile was expensive and time consuming. Hence, traditional cotton
textile industry could not face the competition from the new textile mills of the West, which
produced cheap and good quality fabrics through mechanized industrial units.

Why Mumbai? The first successful mechanized textile mill was established in Mumbai in
1854. The warm, moist climate, a port for importing machinery, availability of raw material
and skilled labour resulted in rapid expansion of the industry in the region. Initially this
industry flourished in the states of Maharashtra and Gujarat because of favourable humid
climate. But today, humidity can be created artificially, and raw cotton is a pure and not
weight losing raw material, so this industry has spread to other parts of India. Coimbatore,
Kanpur, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Kolkata, Ludhiana, Puducherry and Panipat are
some of the other important centres.

Why Ahmedabad? It is located in Gujarat on the banks of the Sabarmati river. The first mill
was established in 1859. It soon became the second largest textile city of India, after
Mumbai. Ahmedabad was therefore often referred to as the ‘Manchester of India’.
Favourable locational factors were responsible for the development of the textile industry in
Ahmedabad. Ahmedabad is situated very close to cotton growing area. This ensures easy
availability of raw material. The climate is ideal for spinning and weaving. The flat terrain
and easy availability of land is suitable for the establishment of the mills. The densely
populated states of Gujarat and Maharashtra provide both skilled and semi-skilled labour.
Well-developed road and railway network permits easy transportation of textiles to
different parts of the country, thus providing easy access to the market. Mumbai port
nearby facilitates import of machinery and export of cotton textiles.

But in the recent years, Ahmedabad textile mills have been having some problems. Several
textile mills have closed down. This is primarily due to the emergence of new textile centres
in the country as well as non- upgradation of machines and technology in the mills of
Ahmedabad.

Why Osaka? It is an important textile centre of Japan, also known as the ‘Manchester of
Japan’. The textile industry developed in Osaka due to several geographical factors. The
extensive plain around Osaka ensured that land was easily available for the growth of cotton
mills. Warm humid climate is well suited to spinning and weaving. The river Yodo provides

44 © Yuvraj IAS 2019

sufficient water for the mills. Labour is easily available. Location of port facilitates import of
raw cotton and for exporting textiles. The textile industry at Osaka depends completely
upon imported raw materials. Cotton is imported from Egypt, India, China and USA. The
finished product is mostly exported and has a good market due to good quality and low
price. Though it is one of the important textile cities in the country, of late, the cotton textile
industry of Osaka has been replaced by other industries, such as iron and steel, machinery,
shipbuilding, automobiles, electrical equipment and cement.

Information Technology (IT)

The information technology industry deals in the storage, processing and distribution of
information. Today, this industry has become global. This is due to a series of technological,
political, and socio-economic events. The main factors guiding the location of these
industries are resource availability, cost and infrastructure. The major hubs of the IT
industry are the Silicon Valley, California and Bangalore, India.

Why Silicon Valley? Silicon Valley is a part of Santa Clara Valley, located next to the Rocky
Mountains of North America. The area has temperate climate with the temperatures rarely
dropping below 0 degrees centigrade.

Why Bangalore? Bangalore is located on the Deccan Plateau from where it gets the name
‘Silicon Plateau’. The city is known for its mild climate throughout the year. There are other
emerging information technology hubs in metropolitan centres of India such as Mumbai,
New Delhi, Hyderabad and Chennai. Other cities such as Gurgaon, Pune, Thiruvanthapuram,
Kochi and Chandigarh are also important centres of the IT industry. However, Bangalore has
always had a unique advantage, as a city with highest availability of middle and top
management talent.

Iron Ore in the World

Factors that influence the location of Iron and Steel industry

• Raw materials – iron ore, coal, limestone, etc.

• Transportation and other infrastructure – road, rail, ports etc.
• Investment and Entrepreneurship = banking facilities, human capital for managerial
roles.
• Labour – unskilled to semi-skilled workforce for manual operations, skilled workforce
for technical operations.
• Market – construction industry, automobile industry etc.
• Government policy – Development agenda, land acquisition, ease of doing business =
labor laws, unambiguous and fair taxation policy, least government interference, less
red tapeism, quick environmental clearance

Iron Ore – Raw Material

The below data is important for Prelims [Will be helpful to answer some logic based
questions in mains]

• To understand about the factors that influence the location of Iron and Steel Industry,
we have to understand about iron ore smelting.
• Smelting is a process of converting ore to metal by removing impurities.

45 © Yuvraj IAS 2019

Commonly found impurities in Iron Ore

Silicon

• Found in small quantities.

• Slightly raises the Strength and Hardness of Steel.
• Acts as a de-oxidizing Agent ==> small quantities is good. [Oxides decrease the strength
of Iron]

Sulphur

• A VERY harmful element.

• Forms Iron Sulphide which is a very brittle
• Greatly reducing the Strength of Steel ==> very bad.

Phosphorous

• Combines with Iron to form a Phosphide.

• It increases the hardness and Tensile strength of Steel.
• It SERIOUSLY affects the ductility and resistance to shock or impact ==> bad.

Lead

• Added to all classes of Steel to improve the machinability of the Steel.

• It improves tool life ==> small quantities is good.

Manganese

• A powerful and most effective de-oxidant.

• Has a good effect on Sulphur ==> small quantities is good.

Tin

• It forms a low melting point brittle film round the grain boundaries making the
Steel practically useless ==> very bad.

Oxygen

• Has a bad influence on the properties of steel ==> very bad. [Oxides make Iron and
steel weak]

Of the impurities, some are beneficial when present in small quantities while the others are
harmful no matter what their proportion is.

So, the unwanted impurities must be removed and this is done by smelting iron ore in a
blast furnace.

46 © Yuvraj IAS 2019

What exactly happens in a blast furnace?

• In a blast furnace, fuel (coke), iron ore, and flux (limestone) are continuously supplied
through the top of the furnace.
• A hot blast of air (sometimes with oxygen enrichment) is blown into the lower section.
• In a blast furnace, iron oxides are converted into liquid iron called “hot metal”.

[Oxides make iron brittle. To make iron strong the oxides need to be removed]

Inputs in to blast furnace

• Ore == iron ore,

• Fuel == coke,
• Flux == limestone,

Output

• Final product è liquid slag, liquid iron (pig iron) and gases.

Beneficiation = Improve Concentration of Iron

• Ore is either Hematite (Fe2O3) or Magnetite (Fe3O4) and the iron content ranges from
50% to 70%.
• This iron rich ore can be charged directly into a blast furnace without any further
processing.
• Iron ore that contains a lower iron content must be processed or beneficiated to
increase its iron content.

[Beneficiation è Improves the concentration of iron ore]

Why coke and not coal in smelting?

• To separate impurities, iron needs to be melted.

• The coke is the fuel that melts iron.
• Coal has many impurities and the most dangerous one is sulphur.
• Coal is cooked to produce coke. This process is called destructive distillation.
• Coke is a fuel with few impurities and a high carbon content.
• The cooked coal, called coke contains 90 to 93% carbon, some ash and sulfur but
compared to raw coal is very strong.

Role of limestone = Remove Sulphur

• It is acts as flux (a substance mixed with a solid to lower the melting point, especially
in smelting).
• Limestone melts and reacts with Sulphur to form Slag (All solid and liquid impurities).

[Limestone marries Sulphur and takes it away from Iron == Very Good]

CaCO3 = CaO + CO2

The CaO formed from this reaction is used to remove sulfur from the iron.

47 © Yuvraj IAS 2019

FeS + CaO + C = CaS + FeO + CO

• The CaS [newly married couple] becomes part of the slag.

• The slag is also formed from any remaining Silica (SiO2), Alumina (Al2O3), Magnesia
(MgO) or Calcia (CaO) that entered with the iron ore or coke.
• The liquid slag then trickles to the bottom of the furnace where it floats on top of the
liquid iron since it is less dense.

Reduction = Remove Oxygen

• Oxygen in the iron oxides is reduced (removed) by a series of chemical reactions.

• 3Fe2O3 + CO = CO2 + 2Fe3O4
• Fe3O4 + CO = CO2 + 3 FeO
• FeO + CO = CO2 + Fe

CO or CARBON MONOXIDE is produced by burning coke.

So CO and CO2 are the gaseous pollutants coming out of blast furnace.

Pig Iron

• Pig iron is the intermediate product of smelting iron ore.

• Iron (Fe) = 93.5 – 95.0%
• Silicon (Si) = 0.30 – 0.90%
• Sulfur (S) = 0.025 – 0.050%
• Manganese (Mn) = 0.55 – 0.75%
• Phosphorus (P) = 0.03 – 0.09%
• Titanium (Ti) = 0.02 – 0.06%
• CARBON (C) = 4.1 – 4.4% [The strength of steel can be varied by varying the carbon
content]

Cast iron

• Carbon content greater than 2%.

• Carbon (C) and silicon (Si) are the main alloying elements.
• Cast iron tends to be
• Applications: automotive industry parts, cast iron pan.

Steel

• Carbon content is up to 2.1% (by weight).

Stainless steel

• Steel alloy with a minimum of 5% chromium content by mass.

• Nickel is another important element of steel alloy.
• Also contains manganese, molybdenum, and other metals.
• Stainless steel does not readily corrode, rust or stain with water as ordinary steel does.

48 © Yuvraj IAS 2019

Wrought iron

• Cast iron assumes its finished shape the moment the liquid iron alloy cools down in the
mold.
• Wrought iron is a very different material made by mixing liquid iron with some slag.
• The result is an iron alloy with a much lower carbon content.
• Wrought iron is softer than cast iron and much less tough, so you can heat it up to
shape it relatively easily, and it’s also much less prone to rusting.
• Wrought iron is what people used to use before they really mastered making steel in
large quantities in the mid-19th century.

Iron Ore Distribution in India | Types of Iron Ore

Types of Iron Ore

• Haematite, Magnetite, Limonite & Siderite.

Haematite

• Reddish; best quality; 70 per cent metallic content.

• Found in Dharwad and Cuddapah rock systems of the peninsular India.
• 80 per cent of haematite reserves are in Odisha, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Andhra
Pradesh.
• In the western section, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Goa has this kind of ore.

Magnetite

• Black ore; 60 to 70 per cent metallic content.

• Dharward and Cuddapah systems.
• Magnetic quality.
• Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

Limonite

• Inferior ores; yellowish in colour; 40 to 60 per cent iron metal.

• Damuda series in Raniganj coal field, Garhwal in Uttarakhand, Mirzapur in Uttar
Pradesh and Kangra valley of Himachal Pradesh.
• Advantage == open cast mines == easy and cheap mining.

Siderite

• ‘Iron carbonate’; inferior quality; less than 40 per cent iron.

• Contains many impurities {previous post}; mining is not economically variable.
• However, it is self-fluxing due to presence of lime.

Iron Ore Distribution in India

• Hematite and magnetite are the two most important iron ores in India

49 © Yuvraj IAS 2019

 Exact Numbers not
important.
Remember 1st and Haematite Magnetite
2nd position.

~18,000 million tonnes

Which type of iron ore is

abundant in India?
~10,500 million tonnes
Reserves
1. Haematite

2. Magnetite

Karnataka 73%
Odisha 33%
Andhra Pradesh 14%
Jharkhand 26%
Rajasthan 5%
Chhattisgarh 18%
Major states
TN 4.9%
Rest in Andhra Pradesh,
Assam, Bihar, Maharashtra, Rest in Assam, Bihar, Goa,
MP, Rajasthan, UP Jharkhand, Kerala, MH,
Meghalaya and Nagaland

Iron Ore in Orissa

• The ores are rich in haematites.

• India’s richest haematite deposits are located in Barabil-Koira valley.
• Others: Sundargarh, Mayurbhanj, Cuttack, Sambalpur, Keonjhar and Koraput districts.

Iron Ore in Chhattisgarh

• Bailadila mine is the largest mechanised mine in Asia [Ore benefication only done here]
• A 270 km long slurry (a semi-liquid mixture) pipeline from the Bailadila to Vizag plant
transports the ore slurry.
• Smelting is done in Vizag [Vishakhapatnam] iron and steel factory.
• Bailadila’s high grade ore is exported through Vishakhapatnam to Japan [No iron ore in
Japan. But market is huge due to automobile industry] and other countries.
• The Dalli-Rajhara range is 32 km long [ferrous content 68-69 per cent] range with
significant reserves.

Iron Ore in Jharkhand

• 25 per cent of reserves.

• First mine in Singhbhum district in 1904.

50 © Yuvraj IAS 2019

• Iron ore of here is of highest quality and will last for hundreds of years.
• Noamandi mines in Singhbhum are the richest.
• Magnetite ores occur near Daltenganj in Palamu district.

Iron Ore in Karnataka

• Iron ores are widely distributed.

• High grade ore deposits are those of Kemmangundi in Bababudan hills of Chikmagalur
district and Sandur and Hospet in Bellary [Lot of Mining Mafia].
• Most of the ores are high grade haematite and magnetite.

Iron Ore in other states

• Andhra Pradesh (1.02%): Kurnool, Guntur, Cuddapah, Ananthapur, Nellore.

• Maharashtra (0.88%): Chandrapur, Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg.
• Madhya Pradesh (0.66%).
• Tamilnadu: Salem, Tiruchirapalli, Coimbatore, Madurai etc.
• Rajasthan: Jaipur, Alwar, Sikar, Bundi, Bhilwara.
• Uttar Pradesh: Mirzapur.
• Uttaranchal: Garhwal, Almora, Nainital.
• Himachal Pradesh: Kangra and Mandi.
• Haryana: Mahendragarh.
• West Bengal: Burdwan, Birbhum, Darjeeling.
• Jammu and Kashmir: Udhampur and Jammu.
• Gujarat: Bhavnagar, Junagadh, Vadodara.
• Kerala: Kozhikode.

Coal | Types of Coal: Peat, Lignite, Bituminous Coal & Anthracite Coal
Coal

• Also called black gold.

• Found in sedimentary strata [layers of soil].
• Contains carbon, volatile matter, moisture and ash [in some
cases Sulphur and phosphorous]
• Mostly used for power generation and metallurgy.
• Coal reserves are six times greater than oil and petroleum reserves.

Carboniferous Coal

• Most of the world’s coal was formed in Carboniferous age [350 million years ago][Best
quality coal].
• Carboniferous age: In terms of absolute time, the Carboniferous Period began
approximately 358.9 million years ago and ended 298.9 million years ago. Its duration is
approximately 60 million years.
• The name Carboniferous refers to coal-bearing strata.

Formation of Coal

Amount of oxygen, nitrogen and moisture content decreases with time while
the proportion of carbon increases [The quantity of carbon doesn’t increase, only its
proportion increases due to the loss of other elements].

51 © Yuvraj IAS 2019

Capacity of coal to give energy depends upon the percentage or carbon content [Older the
coal, much more is its carbon content].

Percentage of carbon in coal depends upon the duration and intensity of heat and pressure
on wood. [carbon content also depends on depth of formation. More depth == more
pressure and heat == better carbon content].

• Coal formed millions of years ago when the earth was covered with huge swampy
[marshy] forests where plants – giant ferns and mosses – grew.
• As the plants grew, some died and fell into the swamp waters. New plants grew up to
take their places and when these died still more grew.
• In time, there was thick layer of dead plants rotting in the swamp. The surface of the
earth changed and water and dirt washed in, stopping the decaying process.
• More plants grew up, but they too died and fell, forming separate layers. After millions
of years many layers had formed, one on top of the other.
• The weight of the top layers and the water and dirt packed down the lower layers of
plant matter.
• Heat and pressure produced chemical and physical changes in the plant layers
which forced out oxygen and left rich carbon deposits. In time, material that had been
plants became coal.
• Coals are classified into three main ranks, or types: lignite, bituminous coal, and
anthracite.
• These classifications are based on the amount of carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen
present in the coal.
• Coals other constituents include hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, ash, and sulfur.
• Some of the undesirable chemical constituents include chlorine and sodium.
• In the process of transformation (coalification), peat is altered to lignite, lignite is
altered to sub-bituminous, sub-bituminous coal is altered to bituminous coal, and
bituminous coal is altered to anthracite.

Types of Coal

• Peat, Lignite, Bituminous & Anthracite Coal.

• This division is based on carbon, ash and moisture content.

Peat

• First stage of transformation.

• Contains less than 40 to 55 per cent carbon == more impurities.
• Contains sufficient volatile matter and lot of moisture [more smoke and more
pollution].
• Left to itself, it burns like wood, gives less heat, emits more smoke and leaves a lot of
ash.

Lignite

• Brown coal.
• Lower grade coal.
• 40 to 55 per cent carbon.
• Intermediate stage.
• Dark to black brown.
• Moisture content is high (over 35 per cent).

52 © Yuvraj IAS 2019

• It undergoes SPONTANEOUS COMBUSTION [Bad. Creates fire accidents in mines]

Bituminous Coal

• Soft coal; most widely available and used coal.

• Derives its name after a liquid called bitumen.
• 40 to 80 per cent carbon.
• Moisture and volatile content (15 to 40 per cent)
• Dense, compact, and is usually of black colour.
• Does not have traces of original vegetable material.
• Calorific value is very high due to high proportion of carbon and low moisture.
• Used in production of coke and gas.

Anthracite Coal

• Best quality; hard coal.

• 80 to 95 per cent carbon.
• Very little volatile matter.
• Negligibly small proportion of moisture.
• Semi-metallic lustre.
• Ignites slowly == less loss of heat == highly efficient.
• Ignites slowly and burns with a nice short blue flame. [Complete combustion == Flame
is BLUE == little or no pollutants. Example: LPG]
• In India, it is found only in Jammu and Kashmir and that too in small quantity.

Distribution of Coal in India: Gondwana Coalfields & Tertiary Coalfields

Distribution of Coal in India

• Gondwana coal fields [250 million years old]

• Tertiary coal fields [15 – 60 million years old]

Gondwana Coal

• Gondwana coal makes up to 98 per cent of the total reserves and 99 per cent of the
production of coal in India. Satpuras, denudation [weathering + erosion] has exposed
coal bearing Gondwana strata.
• The carbon content in Gondwana coal [250 million years old] is less compared to
the Carboniferous coal [350 million years old][Almost Absent in India] because of its
much younger age.
• Gondwana coal forms India’s metallurgical grade as well as superior quality coal.
• The Damuda series (i.e. Lower Gondwana) possesses the best worked coalfields
accounting for 80 per cent of the total coal production in India. 80 out of 113 Indian
coalfields are located in the rock systems of the Damuda series [lower Gondwana Age].
• Coking as well as non-coking and bituminous as well as sub-bituminous coal are
obtained from Gondwana coal fields.
• Anthracite is generally not found in the Gondwana coal fields.
• The volatile compounds and ash (usually 13 – 30 per cent) and doesn’t allow Carbon
percentage to rise above 55 to 60 per cent. [It requires few million years more if the
quality has to get better. Remember Gondwana coal is 100 million years younger than
Carboniferous coal].
• Gondwana coal is free from moisture, but it contains Sulphur and Phosphorous.

53 © Yuvraj IAS 2019

• These basins occur in the valleys of certain rivers viz., the Damodar (Jharkhand-West
Bengal); the Mahanadi (Chhattisgarh-Odisha); the Son (Madhya Pradesh Jharkhand);
the Godavari and the Wardha (Maharashtra-Andhra Pradesh); the Indravati, the
Narmada, the Koel, the Panch, the Kanhan and many more.

Distribution of Gondwana Coal in India

• First coal mine was opened in 1774 at Raniganj in West Bengal.

• Coal industry was nationalized in 1973-74. [The present government made some
serious changes during the last year [2015] by allowing private sector to play a bigger
role in coal production].
• India is now the third largest coal producer in the world after China and the USA.
• Coal industry provides employment to nearly seven lakh persons.
• Gondwana Coalfields == exclusively found in the Peninsular plateau of India.

Gondwana Coalfields in Chhattisgarh

Coalfield Extent

Korba coalfield Korba district.

Birampur coalfield

Hasdo-Arand coalfield
Surguja district.
Chirmiri coalfield

Lakhanpur coalfield

Jhilmili coalfield Shandol district & Koriya district

Johilla coalfield Johilla valley

Sonhat coalfield Surguja district

Tatapani-Ramkota coalfields Surguja district

54 © Yuvraj IAS 2019

Gondwana Coalfields in Jharkhand

• 1st in reserves [28%].

• 2nd in production [20%].
• Most of the coal fields are located in a narrow belt running in east-west direction.
• Major coalfields are present in Dumka (Santhal Parganas), Hazaribagh, Dhanbad and
Palamu.
• Jharia, Bokaro, Girdih and Karanpura are the major coal fields

One of the oldest and the richest coalfields of

Jharia coalfield India; store house of the best metallurgical
coal [coking coal]
Danbad
district
Jayanti
inferior quality and has high ash content
coalfields

Bokaro coalfield

West Bokaro
It is a long but narrow strip in the catchment
[900 m deep]
area of the Bokaro river.
East Bokaro
[600 m deep]

Hazaribagh
district
Girdih
Gives out of the finest coking coal in India for
(Karharbari)
metallurgical purposes.
coalfield

Karanpura and
Ramgarh
coalfields

55 © Yuvraj IAS 2019

 Auranga
coalfield

Palamu inferior quality; used in cement furnaces and

Hutar coalfield
district brick kilns

Deltenganj
coalfield

Devgarh Dumka
inferior quality
coalfields district

Rajmahal
Rajmahal hills inferior quality
coalfield

Coalfield locations can be asked in Prelims.

Gondwana Coalfields in Odisha

Ranks second in reserves (24,374 million

tonnes) after Raniganj;
Talcher town to
Rairkhol in Coal from this field is most suitable for
Talcher field
Dhenkanal and steam and gas production.
Sambalpur districts
Most of the coal is utilised in thermal
power and fertilizer plants at Talcher.

Coal occurs here in middle and lower

Rampur-
Sambalpur and Barakar seams.
Himgir
Sundargarh
coalfields
inferior quality

Ib river Sambalpur and

Much of the coal is of inferior quality.
coalfield Jharsuguda district

56 © Yuvraj IAS 2019

Gondwana Coalfields in Madhya Pradesh

largest coalfield of Madhya Pradesh

Jhingurda, Panipahari, Khadia, Purewa and

Turra are important coal seams
Singrauli
Sidhi and Shandol
(Waidhian)
districts Jhingurda with a total thickness of 131 m
coalfield
is the richest coal seam of the country.

thermal power plants at Singrauli and

Obra

Pench-Kanhan- Chhindwara Ghoravari seam in Kanhan field is 4.6 m

Tawa district thick and contains coking coal

Sohagpur
Shandol district
coalfield

inferior quality with high percentage of

Umaria coalfield Umaria district
moisture and ash.

Gondwana Coalfields in Andhra Pradesh

• 6th in reserves [7.07 %].

• 5th in production [9.69 %].
• Most of the coal reserves are in the Godavari valley.
• Adilabad, Karimnagar, Warangal, Khammam, East Godavari, and West Godavari.
• The actual workable collieries are situated at Singareni and Kothagudam.
• Almost the entire coal is of non-coking variety.
• These are the southern most coalfields of India and a source of coal supply to most of
south India.

Gondwana Coalfields in Maharashtra

• 3 per cent reserves.

• 7 per cent of the production.

Gondwana Coalfields in West Bengal

• 4 % of India’s coal.
• 11 % of the coal reserves.
• Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri are the chief producing districts.
• RANIGANJ is the largest coalfield of West Bengal.
• Raniganj == Barddhaman, Bankura and Purulia districts; Small part of this field is in
Jharkhand state.

57 © Yuvraj IAS 2019

• The coal here is non-coking steam coal.
• Dalingkot coalfield == Darjeeling district.

Gondwana Coalfields in Uttar Pradesh

• Do not possess coal reserves.

• A small portion of the Singrauli field of Madhya Pradesh falls within Mirzapur district.
• A high grade coal seam, about 1 to 1.5 m thick occurs near Kotah.

Tertiary Coal

• Tertiary coal 15 to 60 million years old. Carbon content is very low.

• Mainly confined to the extra-Peninsula [Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Assam,
Arunachal Pradesh etc.]
• Coal generally has low carbon and high percentage of moisture and Sulphur.[It takes
few hundred million years for the carbon content to improve].
• Important areas of Tertiary coal include parts of Assam, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh,
Nagaland, Himalayan foothills of Darjeeling in West Bengal, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttar
Pradesh, Rajasthan, Kerala,
• Tamil Nadu and the union territory of Pondicherry also bear tertiary coal reserves
[exceptions].

Tertiary Coalfields in Assam

• Makum, Nazira, Mikir Hills, Dilli-Jeypore and Lakhuni.

• Makum coalfield in Sibsagar district is the most developed field.
• Assam coals contain very low ash and high coking qualities but the sulphur content is
high, as a result of which this coal is not suitable for metallurgical purposes.
• But these coals are best suited for hydrogenation process and are used for making
liquid fuels.

Tertiary Coalfields in Arunachal Pradesh

• Upper Assam Coal belt extends eastwards as Namchick-Namrup coalfield.

• High in volatiles and in sulphur.

Tertiary Coalfields in Meghalaya

• Garo, Khasi and Jaintia hills.

• Darrangiri field == Garo hills.
• Siju, Cherrapunji, Liotryngew, Maolong and Langrin coalfields == Khasi and Jaintia hills.

Tertiary Coalfields in Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh

• Kalakot and surrounding regions in Jammu, south of Pirpanjal.

• Himachal Pradesh == Chamba district.

Tertiary Coal – Lignite

• Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Jammu and Kashmir, Kerala, Rajasthan, West Bengal and
Puducherry.

58 © Yuvraj IAS 2019

• Tamil Nadu excels all other states regarding reserves and production of lignite.

Lignite in Tamil Nadu

• 90 per cent of the reserves.

• 57 per cent of the production.
• Neyveli Lignite fields of Cuddalore district.
• These are the largest deposits of lignite in south – east Asia.
• Neyveli mines suffer from the artesian structure [mining goes deep and deep].
• Mining in Lignite coalfields is risky due to SPONTANEOUS COMBUSTION of lignite.

Lignite in Gujarat and Rajasthan

• Kachchh district and Dharuch district; poor quality.

• Rajasthan == Palana in Bikaner district; The 250 MW thermal plant at Bikaner wholly
depends upon lignite as the basic fuel.

Tertiary Coal – Peat

• Confined to a few areas only.

• Occurs in Nilgiri hills.
• Kashmir valley, peat occurs in the alluvium of the Jhelum.
• In West Bengal peat beds are noted in Kolkata and its suburbs.
• In the Ganga delta, there are layers of peat which are composed of forest and rice
plants.

Problems of Coal Mining in India

• The distribution of coal is uneven.

• High ash content and low caloric value.
• Large percentage of coal is taken out from underground mines. [Very few open cast
mines]
• Heavy losses due to fires in the mines.
• Pilferage at several stages also adds to losses – bad transportation infrastructure.
• Serious problem of environmental pollution. High ash, moisture == more smoke.
• Safety measures against environmental pollution are very costly. Clean coal technology
== Complex technology.
• Misuse of good quality coal for burning into transport and industries.
• Short life of metallurgical coal.
• Selective mining leading to large scale wastage of raw coal
• Unscientific method of extraction of coal.

Measures to be taken

• Coking coal should be used for metallurgical industry only.

• Low grade coal should be washed and blended with superior quality coal in requisite
proportion and used in industries. [Clean Coal Technology]
• Selective mining should be discouraged and all possible coal from the mines should be
taken out.
• New reserves should be discovered and new techniques should be adopted.
• Alternative energy sources should be encouraged.

59 © Yuvraj IAS 2019

Coal Reserves in India by State

Name of the state Reserves in billion tonne % of total reserves

1. JHARKHAND 80.71 26.76

2. ODISHA 75.07 24.89

3. CHATTISHGARH 52.53 17.42

4. WEST BENGAL 31.31 10.38

5. MADHYA PRADESH 25.67 8.51

6. ANDHRA PRADESH 22.48 7.45

7. MAHARASTRA 10.98 3.64

8. OTHERS 2.81 0.95

Coal Production in India by State

• All data from 2013-2014. For latest data you must follow newspapers or Reports
published by Ministry of Coal.
• Remember top 3 positions in all data below.

Coking Coal Production by State

• Jharkhand [More than 90% of India’s Coking coal comes from Jharkhand]
• West Bengal
• Madhya Pradesh

Non Coking Coal Production By State

• Chhattisgarh
• Odisha
• Madhya Pradesh
• Jharkhand
• Andhra Pradesh

60 © Yuvraj IAS 2019

Total Coal Production By State

• Chhattisgarh
• Jharkhand
• Odisha
• Madhya Pradesh
• Andhra Pradesh

Major Coalfields in India

Major Coalfields in India
1. Singrauli
2. Karanpura Bokaro
3. Jharia
4. Raniganj
5. Ib & Talcher
6. Pench & Kanhan
7. Singareni – Godavari Velley
8. Lignite: TN, Gujrat And Rajasthan

Distribution of Petroleum and Mineral Oil in India

Petroleum and Mineral Oil

• Petra == rock; Oleum == oil.

• Petroleum or Mineral oil is obtained from sedimentary rocks of the earth.
• Petroleum fuels on burning gives little smoke and leaves no ash. So they are better than
coal.

Constituents of Petroleum and Mineral Oil

• 90 to 95 per cent Hydrocarbons.

• 5 – 10% organic compounds containing oxygen, nitrogen, sulphur and traces of
organometallic compounds.

Formation of Petroleum and Mineral Oil

• All sedimentary rocks do not contain oil.

• An oil reservoir must have three prerequisite conditions.

1. Porosity [tiny gaps in soil] so as to accommodate sufficiently large amounts of oil;

2. permeability [allowing liquids or gases to pass through it.] to discharge oil and/or gas
when well has been drilled;
3. the porous sandstone beds or fissured limestone containing oil should be capped
below by impervious beds [not allowing fluid to pass through].

• Most of the oil gets collected in the anticlines or fault traps.

• Oil on a commercial scale is usually found in crests of anticlines [where the
sedimentary rock strata are inclined and folded].

61 © Yuvraj IAS 2019

Distribution of Petroleum and Mineral Oil in India

• Process began in tertiary period [3 million years ago].

• Most of the oil reserves in India are associated with anticlines and fault traps in the
sedimentary rock formations of tertiary times.
• In tertiary period, aquatic life was abundant in various forms, especially the minor
microscopic forms of flora and fauna.
• Conditions for oil formation were favourable especially in the lower and middle Tertiary
period.
• Dense forests and sea organisms flourished in the gulfs, estuaries, deltas and the land
surrounding them during this period.

Extent of Oil Bearing Strata in India

• 1 lakh sq km or 42 per cent of India covered with sedimentary rocks.

• 10 lakh sq km form marine basins of Mesozoic and Tertiary times.
• Total continental shelf of probable oil bearing rocks amounts to 2 lakh sq km.
• The total sedimentary area including both on shore and offshore comprises 27 basins.
• Mumbai High, the Khambhat Gulf and the Assam are the most productive areas.

On-shore Oil Production In India

• Brahmaputra valley of north-east India.

• Barmer area of Rajasthan.
• Gujarat coast in western India.
• Cauvery on-shore basin in Tamil Nadu.
• Andhra Pradesh has both on-shore and offshore oil reserves.

Assam Oilfields

• Oldest oil producing state in India

• The main oil bearing strata extend for a distance of 320 km in upper Assam along the
Brahmaputra valley.
• Oilfields of Assam are relatively inaccessible and are distantly located from the main
consuming areas.
• Oil from Assam is therefore, refined mostly in the refineries located at Digboi,
Guwahati, Bongaigaon, Barauni and

62 © Yuvraj IAS 2019

 Tipam hills, Dibrugarh
Oldest oil field of India
The Digboi field district

32 km southwest of Digboi
Left bank of Burhi Dihing
The Naharkatiya Oil from this area is sent to oil
river
field refineries at Noonamati in
Assam (443 km) and Barauni in
Bihar (724 km) through pipeline.

40 km south-west of
The Moran-Hugrijan
Naharkatiya
field

Gujarat Oilfields

• Ankleshwar, Khambhat or Lunej, Ahmedabad and Kalol, Nawgam, Kosamba, Kathana,

Barkol, Mahesana and Sanand are important oilfields of this region.
• Ankleshwar: Oil from this field is sent to refineries at Trombay and Koyali.

Rajasthan Oilfields

• One of the largest inland oil discoveries was made in Banner district of Rajasthan.
• Other important discoveries == Mangala oil field, Sarswati and Rajeshwari.
• Rajasthan is the largest on shore oil producing state of India.

Off-Shore Production in India

Western Coast

• Mumbai High, Bassein and Aliabet.

• Mumbai High: 1974; rock strata of Miocene age.
• Sagar Samrat, Bassein: south of Mumbai High.
• Aliabet: Aliabet island in the Gulf of Khambhat.

Eastern Coast

• The basin and delta regions of the Godawari, the Krishna and the Cauvery rivers hold
great potential for oil and gas production.
• The Rawa field in Krishna-Godawari off-shore basin is an important one.
• The Narimanam and Kovilappal oilfields in the Cauvery on-shore basin are also
important.

Petroleum Refining

63 © Yuvraj IAS 2019

• India’s first oil refinery started working way back in 1901 at Digboi in Assam.
• 1954: another refinery at Tarapur (Mumbai).
• Refinery hub and refining capacity exceeds the demand. Excess refined oil and other
petroleum products are exported.
• Oil from wells is transported to nearest refineries through pipelines.

Advantages of Pipeline

• Ideal to transport liquids and gases.

• Pipelines can be laid through difficult terrains as well as under water.
•
• It needs very little maintenance.
• Pipelines are safe, accident-free and environmental friendly.

Disadvantages of Pipelines

• It is not flexible, i.e., it can be used only for a few fixed points.
• Its capacity cannot be increased once it is laid.
• It is difficult to make security arrangements for pipelines.
• Detection of leakage and repair is also difficult.

Crude Oil Pipelines

• Salaya-Mathura Pipeline (SMPL)

• Paradip-Haldia-Barauni Pipeline (PHBPL)
• Mundra-Panipat Pipeline (MPPL)

Petroleum Product Pipelines

Remember locations of Oil Refineries and Major Oil producing centers. Pipeline are the ones
that connect these centers.

• Guwahati-Siliguri Pipeline (GSPL)

• Koyali-Ahmedabad Pipeline (KAPL)
• Barauni-Kanpur Pipeline (BKPL)
• Panipat-Delhi Pipeline (PDPL)
• Panipat-Rewari Pipeline (PRPL)
• Chennai – Trichy – Madurai Product Pipeline (CTMPL)
• Chennai-Bangalore Pipeline
• Naharkatia-Nunmati-Barauni Pipeline == first pipeline constructed in India
• Mumbai High-Mumbai-Ankleshwar-Koyali Pipeline.
• Hajira-Bijapur-Jagdishpur (HBJ) Gas Pipeline == world’s largest underground pipeline
• Jamnagar-Loni LPG Pipeline == longest LPG pipeline in the world
• Kochi-Mangalore-Bangalore pipeline
• Vishakhapatnam Secunderabad pipeline
• Mangalore-Chennai pipeline
• Vijayawada-Vishakhapatnam pipeline

Natural Gas Distribution: India

Natural gas

64 © Yuvraj IAS 2019

• Consists primarily of methane and
• Propane, butane, pentane, and hexane are also present.
• Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) == Mixture of butane and propane.
• Commonly occurs in association with crude oil.
• Natural gas is often found dissolved in oil or as a gas cap above the oil.
• Sometimes, pressure of natural gas forces oil up to the surface. Such natural gas is
known as associated gas or wet gas.
• Some reservoirs contain gas and no oil. This gas is termed non-associated gas or dry
gas.
• Often natural gases contain substantial quantities of hydrogen sulfide or other organic
sulfur compounds. In this case, the gas is known as “sour gas.”
• Coalbed methane is called ‘sweet gas’ because of its lack of hydrogen sulfide.

Oil + Gas == Associated Gas – Wet Gas,

Only Gas == Non-Associated Gas – Dry Gas,

Hydrogen Sulphide in gas == Sour Gas,

Coalbed Methane == Sweet Gas.

• On the market, natural gas is usually bought and sold not by volume but by calorific
value.
• In practice, purchases of natural gas are usually denoted as MMBTUs (millions of British
thermal unit (BTU or Btu)) = ~1,000 cubic feet of natural gas.

Natural Gas Formation

• Similar to the formation of Petroleum.

• Natural gas was formed millions of years ago when plants and tiny sea animals were
buried by sand and rock.
• Layers of mud, sand, rock, plant, and animal matter continued to build up until the
pressure and heat turned them into oil and natural gas.

Uses of Natural Gas

• Electric power generation.

• Industrial, domestic, and commercial usage.
• Many buses and commercial automotive fleets now operate on CNG.
• It is an ingredient in dyes and inks .
• Used in rubber compounding operations.
• Ammonia is manufactured using hydrogen derived from methane. Ammonia is used to
produce chemicals such as hydrogen cyanide, nitric acid, urea, and a range of fertilizers.

Importance of Natural Gas to India

• Power stations using gas accounted for nearly 10 per cent of India’s electricity.
• Despite the country reeling under a power crisis, gas power stations are lying idle due
to lack of feedstock.
• The Government has frozen the construction of new gas plants until 2015-16 because
of gas shortages.

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• Existing plants are operating below capacity on expensive imported liquefied natural
gas (LNG).
• India’s oil reserves are insufficient for its growing energy needs and situation is made
worse by policy paralysis which increases the gestation period of the projects.
• We need to diversify our energy basket through alternate fuels so that we need not
have to bear the brunt of external shocks.

World Distribution of Natural Gas

Natural Gas in Russia

• Russia has the largest natural gas reserves in the world (1,680 Trillion Cubic Feet (tcf)).
• It periodically changes place with the United States as the world’s largest or second
largest producer.
• Some of the world’s largest gas fields occur in a region of West Siberia and east of
the Gulf of Ob on the Arctic Circle.
• The world’s largest gas field is
• Volga-Urals region also has significant gas reserves.

Natural Gas in Europe

• Dutch coast and the North Sea (off the coast of Norway) have proven reserves.

Natural Gas in North America

• The United States has proven natural gas reserves of 273 tcf.
• Its largest gas field, Hugoton extends through the Oklahoma, Texas and Kansas.
• Canada has an estimated 62 tcf of proven natural gas reserves.
• The largest gas field is in Alberta.
• Much of Mexico’s natural comes from Gulf of Mexico.

Natural Gas in Africa

• Central basin of Algeria and Niger Delta have proven reserves.

Natural Gas in Middle East

• There is an enormous gas potential in the Middle East associated with the major oil
fields in the Arabian-Iranian basin.
• Iran and Qatar have the second and third largest natural gas reserves in the world,
behind Russia.

Natural Gas in Asia

• The largest gas field in Asia is in the North Sumatra basin of Indonesia.

OPEC – Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries

• 12 member oil supply cartel.

• Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, and later joined by Qatar, Indonesia, UAE,
Libya, Algeria, Nigeria, Gabon and Angola.

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• This group bargains with international Oil Companies so that profit margin will be high.
• They control production and supply [for better profit margin] of crude oil to keep it
below international demand.
• It is only recently that Crude oil’s prices have crashed due to shale boom in US –– the
largest importer of oil and gas.

Distribution of Natural Gas in India

• KG basin, Assam, Gulf of Khambhat, Cuddalore district of Tamil Nadu, Barmer in

Rajasthan etc.

Upstream Sector

• Oil exploration, prospection and extraction/production from oil wells.

New Exploration Licensing Policy, 1997

• Promote exploration by providing a level playing field to private players against public
enterprises.
• Oil blocks are allotted under ‘Production Sharing Contracts’.
• In ‘Production Sharing Contracts’, investment and revenues is shared with government.
• The private companies exaggerated or inflated their investment accounts and gobbled
up public funds.

Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP)

• There are demands to replace NELP with OALP.

• Under OALP, oil blocks will be available throughout for sale. [government makes money
by selling oilfields]
• It allows ample time for explorer to study the fields and bid for block of his choice.
• ‘National Data Repository’ is prerequisite for functioning of OALP.
• It will be a ‘hydrocarbon data center’ which facilitate prospection of resources.

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Revenue Sharing Contracts

• Seen as a better alternative to OALP and NELP.

• Government gets share in revenue from the very beginning.
• In contrast PSC (Production Sharing Contracts), allows government to have revenue
share only after costs are recovered by the explorer.
• In PSC, explorers inflate investment by classifying revenue expenditure (salaries,
maintenance etc.) as capital expenditure (equipment, technology etc.).
• This resulted in lower government share. It delays revenue to the government by
decades.

Kelkar Committee Recommendations

• Deep sea offshore Blocks – Production Sharing Contracts should be adopted.

• Onshore and Shallow blocks – Revenue Sharing Model should be adopted.

Rangarajan Committee Recommendations

• Suggested linking gas price to price of imported gas and gas prices prevailing in
exchanges of USA, UK and Japan (weighted average) so as to bring it at parity with
international prices.
• This would result in increase of price from $ 4.2 mmbtu to$ 8.4 mmbtu, this formulae
was not implemented (it will do serious damage to vote bank).

Midstream sector

• This sector involves transportation of oil and gas from blocks to refineries and from
refineries to distribution centers.
• Most cost effective way is through pipeline, in comparison to road and railways which
higher economic and environmental costs.
• Current pipeline infrastructure is skewed in favor of North and West India, which
accounts for 60% of gas pipelines and 80 % of gas consumptions.
• To remedy this, central government has proposed to set up National Gas Grid under
which additional 15000 km of pipelines will be laid down.
• It will be executed under PPP model and will be eligible for ‘Viability Gap Funding’.
• Further, Gas Distribution networks are available in only few cities. In most of cities gas
is transferred through bottling plants and distribution agency. This result in wastage by
leakages and theft.

Viability Gap Funding

• In some PPP projects in India, Central and state governments undertake to provide
support funding to successful bidders.
• Projects are awarded to those whose requirement for state funding is least.
• Indian Oil Corporation and Gas Authority of India are involved in this sector.

Storage

• Government is building underground storage capacity of 15 million metric tons for

petroleum and related products.

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• The first phase construction is in progress in Vishakhapatnam, Mangalore and Padur [All
coastal cities].
• Storage facilities are essential for safeguard against shortages or supply disruptions.

Downstream sector

• This sector involves refining, processing and marketing of products and byproducts of
crude oil.

Unconventional Gas Resources: Shale Gas & Coalbed Methane

Unconventional Gas Reservoirs

• Conventional reservoirs of oil and natural gas are found in permeable sandstone.
• Unconventional Gas Reservoirs occur in relatively impermeable sandstones, in joints
and fractures or absorbed into the matrix of shales [Shale is a Sedimentary Rock], and
in coal.
• Given current economic conditions and state of technology, they are more expensive to
exploit.
• Example: Tight gas, shale gas, and coalbed methane.

Coalbed Methane

• Considerable quantities of methane is trapped within coal seams.

• A significant portion of this gas remains as free gas in the joints and fractures of the
coal seam.
• Large quantities of gas are adsorbed on the internal surfaces of the micropores within
the coal itself.
• This gas can be accessed by drilling wells into the coal seam and pumping large
quantities of water that saturate the seam. [water will occupy the gaps and pores and
will push out the gas]
• It is now becoming an important source of natural gas.
• Unlike much natural gas from conventional reservoirs, coalbed methane contains very
little heavier hydrocarbonssuch as propane or butane.
• The presence of this gas is well known from its occurrence in underground coal mining,
where it presents a serious safety risk.

Fire Accidents in Coal Mines are mainly due to Coalbed Methane, and Lignite deposits
which undergo spontaneous combustion.
Coalbed Methane in India

• With one of the largest proven coal reserves, and one of the largest coal producer in
the world, India holds significant prospects for commercial recovery of coalbed
methane.
• The country has an estimated 700-950 billion cubic metre of coalbed methane.

Problems in Exploration, Extraction of Coalbed Methane in India

• The state-run firms are holding mines in joint venture with private companies and the
latter do not have rights to explore coalbed methane [private sector companies at
present have no rights to extract unconventional gas reservoirs –– coalbed methane
and shale gas].

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• CBM extraction falls under Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas whereas coal mining
falls under Ministry of Coal. Contractors are not allowed to mine gas from coal seams
or coal bed methane (CBM) and coal in the same block due to the turf war [common
feature of Indian Bureaucracy] between the two ministries and other associated
bureaucratic hurdles.
• Extracting unconventional gas is a capital intensive process and at the present levels of
gas prices, the companies cannot recover their investments.
• The technology required is very advanced and the public sector companies have very
weak organizational setup to efficiently handle such technologies and extract gas
economically.
• Private sector companies have necessary financial capabilities and managerial skills but
there is no hope due to restricting laws and low gas prices.

In India, gas pricing is a contentious issue. It has never been easy satisfying all the
stakeholders involved [consumer, government, gas companies]. Gas pricing will be critical
for private companies before they can invest in unconventional gas projects so that they can
calculate their profit margin.
Shale Gas – Shale Gas Formation

• Shales are fine-grained sedimentary rocks formed of organic-rich mud at the bottom of
ancient seas.
• Subsequent sedimentation and the resultant heat and pressure transformed the mud
into shale and also produced natural gas from the organic matter contained in it.
• Over long spans of geologic time, some of the gas migrated to adjacent sandstones and
was trapped in them, forming conventional gas accumulations.
• The rest of the gas remained locked in the nonporous shale.

Shale Gas Reserves in India

• Basins of preliminary interest identified by Indian geologists are the Cambay Basin in
Gujarat, the Assam-Arakan basin in northeast India, and the Gondwana Basin.

• Indian engineers have gathered experience on fracking – the technology to find shale
gas – by spending time in the US and are now able to hunt for the scarce resource on
their own.
• Fracking technology sends high pressure streams of water, sand and chemicals into
shale formations to bring up the oil and gas.
• Environmentalists have objected to fracking because of the damage to forest cover and
possible contamination of ground water.
• One estimate by Indian scientists places potential reserves at as high as 527 tcf.

70 © Yuvraj IAS 2019

Extraction of Shale Gas

• Shale gas occurs frequently at depths exceeding 1,500 metres (5,000 feet).
• Extraction is done through horizontal drilling through the shale seam, followed
by hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, of the rock by the injecting of fluid at extremely
high pressure.

Hydro-fracturing or Fracking

• Shale rock is sometimes found 3,000 metres below the surface.

• After deep vertical drilling, there are techniques to drill horizontally for considerable
distances in various directions to extract the gas-rich shale.
• A mixture of water, chemicals, and sand is then injected into the well at very high
pressures to create a number of fissures in the rock to release the gas.
• The process of using water for breaking up the rock is known as ‘hydro-fracturing’ or
‘fracking’.
• The chemicals help in water and gas flow and tiny particles of sand enter the fissures to
keep them open and allow the gas to flow to the surface.

Guar gum

• Can quickly turn water into a very thick gel.

• Adding guar gum increases viscosity of water and makes high-pressure pumping and
the fracturing process more efficient.
• High viscosity water is much more effective at suspending sand grains and carrying
them into the fractures.
• The guar been is grown mainly by farmers in Rajasthan and Haryana.
• Earlier, guar gum was used mainly as an additive in ice creams and sauces.
• But with the discovery of its use in shale gas extraction, its price shot up enormously.

Problems Associated With Shale Gas Exploitation

• Environmentalists have objected to fracking because of the damage to forest cover

and possible contamination of ground water.
• However, industry officials say that the treated water can be re-used for further
fracking and need not be disposed of at all.

71 © Yuvraj IAS 2019

Solutions

• All the water required must be obtained from rain water harvesting.
• Recycling and reusing of water utilized for fracking should be the preferred method for
water management.
• Enforcing clear and practical legislation on environmental and water issues.
• Coal bed methane (CBM), which is extracted from coal beds, is also an
unconventional gas and, in terms of depth, occurs much closer to the land surface
than shale gas.

Shale Gas Extraction Issues in India – If US can then why can’t India?

• India suffers from physical and economic water scarcity whereas the U.S. do not have
the same water worries.
• In the US, the natural gas department is exempt from scrutiny for chemical injection in
the ground (it exempts companies from disclosing the chemicals used during hydraulic
fracturing). There is no such legislation in India.
• In US, the citizen or resident owns the resources that lie beneath the ground. In India,
soil below the land is a public property and the companies must follow all the necessary
rules to acquire it.
• The US has mapped all its shale reserves. In India there is clarity on the exact
recoverable shale reserves.
• The population density is much lower in the US and they can afford to do it.
• Government-issued leases for conventional petroleum exploration do not include
unconventional sources such as shale gas.
• All locations in US is well connected with gas pipelines. Bulk of the reserves in eastern
India lack the necessary network of pipelines to transport the gas–a task that many
private operators are wary about undertaking.

Manganese Ore Distribution across India & World

Manganese

• Manganese is not found as a free element in nature.

• It is often found in combination with iron.
• The most important manganese ore is pyrolusite.
• Manganese is primarily used in iron and steel industry.
• It is the basic raw material for manufacturing steel alloys.
• 6 kilograms of manganese ore is required for manufacturing one tonne of steel.
• It is also used in the manufacturing of bleaching powder, insecticides, paints, and
batteries.

Manganese Ore Distribution in India

• India processes second largest reserves in the world after Zimbabwe; 430 million
tonnes
• India is the world’s fifth largest producer after China, Gabon, South Africa and
Australia.
• Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka are the major
manganese ore producing states.
• Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh together produce more than half of India’s
manganese

72 © Yuvraj IAS 2019

State wise reserves of Manganese

• Odisha (44%),
• Karnataka (22%),
• Madhya Pradesh (13%),
• Maharashtra (8%),
• Andhra Pradesh (4%)
• Jharkhand and Goa (3% each),
• Rajasthan, Gujarat and West Bengal (remaining 3 per cent).

Maharashtra

• Produces about 27.66 per cent of Indian manganese.

• The main belt is in Nagpur and Bhandara districts.
• High grade ore is found in Ratnagiri district also.

Madhya Pradesh

• Produces about 27.59 per cent of India’s manganese ore.

• The main belt extends in Balaghat and Chhindwara districts.
• It is just an extension of the Nagpur Bhandara belt of Maharashtra.

Odisha

• 24 per cent production. [1st in reserves but 3rd in prduction]

• Gondite [regional names] deposits occur in Sundargarh district
and Kodurite and Khondolite deposits in Kalahandi and Koraput Districts.
• Manganese is also mined from the lateritic deposits in Bolangir and Sambalpur districts

Andhra Pradesh

• 13% of India’s manganese production.

• Srikakulam and Vishakhapatnam districts.
• Srikakulam district has the distinction of being the earliest producer (1892) of
manganese ore in India.
• Cuddapah, Vijayanagaram and Guntur are other manganese producing districts.

Karnataka

• 6 per cent of India’s manganese.

• Uttara Kannada, Shimoga, Bellary, Chitradurg and Tumkur districts.

Other producers

• Goa,
• Panchmahals and Vadodara in Gujarat,
• Udaipur and Banswara in Rajasthan and
• Singhbhum and Dhanbad districts in Jharkhand are other producers of manganese.

Export of Manganese

73 © Yuvraj IAS 2019

• Four-fifths of the total production is consumed domestically.
• Exports constantly decreasing due to increasing domestic demand.
• Japan is the largest buyer of Indian manganese.
• The other buyers are the USA, UK, Germany, France, Norway.

World Manganese Ore Distribution

Gold & Silver Distribution across India & World

Gold Reserves in India

• Gold usually occurs in auriferous [(of rocks or minerals) containing gold] rocks.
• It is also found in sands of several rivers.
• Gold is also known as international currency.

Resources in terms of the metal ore (primary) are located in

1. Bihar (45 per cent)

2. Rajasthan (23 per cent)
3. Karnataka (22 per cent)
4. West Bengal (3 per cent)
5. Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh (2 per cent each)

Resources in terms of metal content

1. Karnataka,
2. Rajasthan,
3. Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, etc.

• Kolar Gold Field, Hutti Gold Field and Ramgiri Gold Field are the most important gold
fields.

Karnataka

• Karnataka is the largest producer of gold in India.

• Gold mines are located in Kolar [Kolar Gold Field], Dharwad, Hassan and Raichur [Hutti
Gold Field] districts.

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• Kolar Gold Fields is one of the deepest mines of the world. [Usually, gold mines are the
deepest mines in the world. Mponeng Gold Mine in South Africa is the deepest mine in
the world (3.9 km deep)]
• Hutti mines are exploited to their maximum levels and the ore left behind is of very low
grade. The mining has almost ceased due to little or no profitability.
• The Kolar Gold Field has also run out of quality reserves and is on the verge of closure.

Andhra Pradesh

• Second largest producer of gold in India.

• Ramagiri in Anantapur district is the most important gold field in AP.
• Alluvial Gold [gold scattered in silt] and Placer deposits [gold bearing rocks] in small
quantity are widely spread in a large number of rivers

Jharkhand

• Sands of the Subarnarekha (gold streak) river have some alluvial gold.
• Sona nadi in Singhbhum district is important.
• Sonapat valley is another major site with alluvial gold.

Kerala

• The river terraces along the Punna Puzha and the Chabiyar Puzha have some alluvial
gold.

Gold Distribution Across the World

• Countries with significant deposits: South Africa, Australia, Indonesia, Canada, Ghana,
Chile, China, USA, Russia etc.

Countries with highest gold deposits

75 © Yuvraj IAS 2019

Major Gold Producing Countries

Silver Distribution – India & World

• Used in chemicals, electroplating, photography and for colouring glass, etc.

• The chief ore minerals of silver are agentite, stephanite, pyrargyrite and proustite.
• It is found mixed with several other metals such as copper, lead, gold, zinc, etc.
• India is not a major producer of silver in the world.
• Zawar mines in Udaipur district of Rajasthan is the major producer of silver [smelting
of galena ore in Hindustan Zinc Smelter].
• The Tundoo Lead Smelter in Dhanbad district of Jharkhand is another major silver
producer.
• Some silver is produced by Kolar Gold Fields and Hutti gold mines.
• The Hindustan Copper Ltd. at Maubhandar smelter in Singhbhum district of Jhakhand
obtains silver from copper slimes.
• Silver is also produced by Vizag Zinc smelter in Andhra Pradesh from the lead
concentrates.

Copper, Nickel & Chromite Distribution across India & World

Chromite

• Chromite is an oxide of iron and chromium = Combination of chromium, iron and

oxygen.
• It is the only economic ore of chromium.
• The chromium extracted from chromite is used in chrome plating and alloying for
production of corrosion resistant super alloys, nichrome, and stainless steel.
• Used in many other metallurgical, refractories and chemical industries.

Chromite Ore Distribution In India

• Reserves of chromite in India is estimated at 203 MT.

• 93 per cent of the resources are in ODISHA [Sukinda valley in Cuttack and Jajapur]
• Minor deposits are spread over Manipur, Nagaland, Karnataka, Jharkhand,
Maharashtra, TN & AP.

76 © Yuvraj IAS 2019

Chromite in Odisha

• Odisha is the sole producer [99 per cent] of chromite ore.

• Over 85 per cent of the ore is of high grade [Keonjhar, Cuttack and Dhenkanal].

Chromite in Other States

• Karnataka is the second largest producer.

• The main production comes from Mysore and Hassan districts.
• Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh, Tamenglong and Ukhrul districts of Manipur are
other producers

Chromite Ore Distribution Across the World

Copper

• Copper is a good conductor of electricity and is ductile [able to be drawn out into a thin
wire].
• It is an important metal used by automobile and defense industries.
• Alloyed with iron and nickel to make stainless steel.
• Alloyed with nickel to make ‘morel metal’.
• Alloyed with aluminium to make ‘duralumin’.
• When alloyed with zinc it is known as ‘brass’ and with tin as ‘bronze’.

Iron + Nickel + Copper + Chromite +…..== Stainless Steel.

Copper + Nickel == Morel Metal.

Copper + Aluminium == Duralumin.

Copper + Zinc == Brass.

Copper + Tin == Bronze.

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• Copper ore is found in ancient as well as in younger rock formations and occurs as veins
and as bedded deposits
• Mining for copper is costly and tedious affair because most of the copper ores contain
a small percentage of the metal.
• India has low grade copper ore [less than 1% metal content][international average
2.5%]
• The major part of supply comes from the USA, Canada, Zimbabwe, Japan and Mexico.

Copper Reserves in India

• 46 million tonnes.
• Rajasthan (50%)
• Madhya Pradesh (24%)
• Jharkhand (19%)
• The rest 7 per cent in AP, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka etc.

Madhya Pradesh

• 1st in production [59.85 %].

• Malanjkhand copper mines of Balaghat district are the most important ones.
• Reserves of moderate size are also found in Betul district.

Rajasthan

• 2nd in production [28%]

• Found along the Aravali range.
• Ajmer, Alwar, Bhilwara, Chittaurgarh, Dungarpur, Jaipur, Jhunjhunu, Pali, Sikar, Sirohi
and Udaipur districts.
• Khetri-Singhana belt in Jhunjhunu district is the most important copper producing area.

Jharkhand

• 3rd in production [11 %].

• Singhbhum is the most important copper producing district.
• Found in Hazaribagh district, Santhal Parganas and Palamu districts.

Nickel

• Nickel does not occur free in nature.

• It is found in association with copper, uranium and other metals.
• Important alloying material.

Iron + Nickel == stainless steel.

• It is hard and has great tensile strength.

• Hence nickel steel is used for manufacturing armoured plates, bullet jackets
• Nickel + Copper or Silver == Coins.
• Nickel-aluminium alloys are used for manufacturing aeroplanes and internal
combustion engines.
• Metallic nickel is used for making storage batteries and as a catalyst for hydrogenation
or hardening of fats and oils intended for use in soap and foodstuffs and in making
vanaspati.

78 © Yuvraj IAS 2019

• Important occurrences of nickeliferous limonite are found in the Sukinda valley of
Jajapur district, Odisha. Here it occurs as oxide.
• Nickel also occurs in sulphide form along with copper mineralization in east Sighbhum
district, Jharkhand.
• In addition, it is found associated with uranium deposits at Jaduguda, Jharkhand.
• Other important occurrences of nickel are in Karnataka, Kerala and Rajasthan.
• Polymetallic sea nodules are another source of nickel.
• About 92 per cent resources are in Odisha.
• The remaining 8 per cent resources are distributed in Jharkhand, Nagaland and
Karnataka.

Bauxite, Lead & Zinc, Tungsten & Pyrites Distribution across India and World
Bauxite

• 80 % of bauxite [ore of aluminium] ore is used for making aluminium.

• Found mainly as hydrated aluminium oxides.
• Total resources == 3,480 million tonnes == 84 per cent resource are of metallurgical
grade

Bauxite Distribution in India

• Odisha alone accounts for 52 per cent

• Andhra Pradesh 18 per cent
• Gujarat 7 per cent
• Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra 5 per cent each
• Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand 4 per cent.
• Major bauxite resources are in the east coast in Odisha and Andhra Pradesh.
• India manages to export small quantities of bauxite.
• Major importers are Italy (60%), U.K. (25%), Germany (9%) and Japan (4%).

Odisha

• Largest bauxite producing state.

• One-third of the total production of India.
• Kalahandi and Koraput districts.
• Extends further into Andhra Pradesh
• The main deposits occur in Kalahandi, Koraput, Sundargarh, Bolangir and Sambalpur
districts.

Chhattisgarh

• Second largest producer.

• Maikala range in Bilaspur, Durg districts and the Amarkantak plateau regions of Surguja,
Raigarh and Bilaspur are some of the areas having rich deposits of bauxite.

Maharashtra

• Third largest producer.

• Largest deposits occur in Kolhapur district.
• Kolhapur district contain rich deposits with alumina content 52 to 89 per cent.
• Other districts: Thane, Ratnagiri, Satara and Pune.

79 © Yuvraj IAS 2019

Jharkhand

• Ranchi, Lohardaga, Palamu and Gumla districts.

• High grade ore occurs in Lohardaga.

Gujarat

• Jamnagar, Junagadh, Kheda, Kachchh, Sabarkantha, Amreli and Bhavnagar.

• The most important deposits occur in a belt lying between the Gulf of Kachchh and the
Arabian sea through Bhavnagar, Junagadh and Amreli districts.
• Amarkantak plateau area, the Maikala range in Shandol, Mandla and Balaghat districts
and the Kotni area of Jabalpur district are the main producers.

Bauxite Distribution – World

• Australia (31.34%),
• China (18.41%),
• Brazil (13.93%),
• Guinea (8.36%), etc.

Lead

• Malleable [can be hammered into thin sheets], soft, heavy and bad conductor.
• Lead is a constituent in bronze alloy and is used as an anti-friction metal.
• Lead oxide is used in cable covers, ammunition, paints, glass making and rubber
industry.
• It is also made into sheets, tubes and pipes which are used as sanitary fittings.
• It is now increasingly used in automobiles, aeroplanes, and calculating machines.
• Lead nitrate is used in dyeing and printing.
• Lead does not occur free in nature. It occurs as a cubic sulphide known as GALENA.
• Galena is found in veins in limestones, calcareous slates and sandstones.

Zinc

• Zinc is a mixed ore containing lead & zinc.

• Zinc is found in veins in association with galena, chalcopyrites, iron pyrites and
other sulphide ores.

80 © Yuvraj IAS 2019

• It is mainly used for alloying and for manufacturing galvanized sheets.
• It is also used for dry batteries, electrodes, textiles, die-casting, rubber industry and for
making collapsible tubes containing drugs, pastes and the like.

Distribution of Lead and Zinc ores – India and World

• Rajasthan is endowed with the largest resources of lead-zinc ore (88.61 per cent),
• Andhra Pradesh (3.31 per cent),
• Madhya Pradesh (2.16 per cent),
• Bihar (1.67 per cent)
• Maharashtra 9 (1.35 per cent).
• Almost the entire production comes from Rajasthan.

Tungsten

• Ore of Tungsten is called

• Most important property is that of self-hardening which it imparts to steel.
• Over 95 per cent of the worlfram is used by the steel industry.
• Steel containing the requisite proportion of tungsten is mainly used in manufacturing
amunitions, armour plates, heavy guns, hard cutting tools, etc.
• Tungsten is easily alloyed with chromium, nickel, molybdenum, titanium, etc. to yield a
number of hard facing, heat and corrosion resistant alloys.
• It is also used for various other purposes such as electric bulb filaments, paints,
ceramics, textiles, etc.

Distribution of Wolfram

• Karnataka (42 per cent)

• Rajasthan (27 per cent)
• Andhra Pradesh (17 per cent)
• Maharashtra (9 per cent)
• Remaining 5 per cent resources are in Haryana, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand and West
Bengal
• Domestic requirements are met by imports.

Pyrites

• Pyrite is a sulphide of iron.

• Chief source of sulphur.
• High proportion of sulphur is injurious to iron. Hence is it removed and used to produce
sulphur.
• Sulphur is very useful for making sulphuric acid which in turn is used in several
industries such as fertilizer, chemicals, rayon, petroleum, steel, etc.
• Elemental sulphur is useful for manufacturing explosives, matches, insecticides,
fungicides and for vulcanizing rubber
• Pyrites occur in Son Valley in Bihar, in Chitradurga and Uttar Kannada districts of
Karnataka and the pyritous coal and shale of Assam coalfields.
• It is widely distributed and scattered across the country.

81 © Yuvraj IAS 2019

Nuclear Fission, Components of Nuclear Reactor, Types of Nuclear Reactors

Nuclear fission

• The discovery of nuclear fission began with the discovery of the neutron in 1932
by James Chadwick in England.
• Nuclear fission of heavy elements was discovered in 1938 by German Otto
Hahn and Fritz Strassmann.
• It was explained theoretically in 1939 by Lise Meitner and Otto Robert Frisch.
• In nuclear physics, nuclear fission is a radioactive decay process in which the nucleus of
an atom splits into smaller parts [lighter nuclei].
• The fission process often produces free neutrons and gamma photons [gamma rays],
and releases a very large amount of energy [exothermic reaction].

[When urea is dissolved in water, the temperature of water solution falls. This reaction is
called endothermic reaction].

Exothermic == Liberation of Heat during a reaction. [CaCO3(calcium carbonate or lime) +

H2O (water) → Ca(OH)2(calcium hydroxide) + CO2 + HEAT]

Endothermic == Absorption of Heat during a reaction. [Urea + Water]

• The nuclear fission process may take place spontaneously in some cases or may be
induced by the excitation of the nucleus with a variety of particles (neutrons, protons,
deuterons, or alpha particles) or with electromagnetic radiation in the form of gamma
rays.
• In the fission process, radioactive products are formed, and several neutrons are
emitted.
• These neutrons can induce fission in a nearby nucleus of fissionable material and
release more neutrons causing a chain reaction.

Fissionable material → That can undergo nuclear fission chain reaction.

Fissile → That can undergo Controlled or Self-Sustained nuclear fission chain Reaction.

• If controlled in a nuclear reactor, such a chain reaction can be used to generate power.
If uncontrolled [atomic bomb], it can lead to an enormous explosion.
• Uranium is the most common fissile used in nuclear reactors and nuclear weapons.
• Uranium isotopes in natural uranium are Uranium-238 or U-238 or 238U (99.27%) and
Uranium 235 or U-235 or 235U (0.72%).

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• Uranium-235 can undergo fission when bombarded with slow neutrons only.
• A fast neutron will not be captured, so neutrons must be slowed down by moderation
to increase their capture probability in fission reactors.
• The other isotope can undergo fission upon slow-neutron bombardment is uranium-
233.
• Uranium-238 can undergo fission when bombarded with fast neutrons only.
• U-238 has a small probability for spontaneous fission and also a small probability of
fission when bombarded with fast neutrons, but it is not useful as a nuclear fuel
source.
• The nuclei of other heavy elements, such as thorium also fissionable, but with fast
neutrons.

How Nuclear Fission Releases Energy?

• Nuclei consist of nucleons [neutrons + protons = mass number].

• The actual mass of a nucleus is always less than the sum of the masses of nucleons.
• This difference is known as the mass defect and is a measure of the total binding
energy (and, hence, the stability) of the nucleus.
• This binding energy is released during the formation of a nucleus.
• This conversion of mass to energy follows Einstein’s equation, E = mc2, where E is the
energy equivalent of a mass, m, and c is the velocity of light.

Common Fissile Material

• Uranium-233, Uranium-235, Plutonium-239, Plutonium-241, etc. are the common

fissile material.
• Natural uranium is composed of 0.72% U-235 (the fissionable isotope), 99.27% U-238,
and a trace quantity 0.0055% U-234.
• The 0.72% U-235 is not sufficient to produce a self-sustaining critical chain reaction.
• For light-water reactors, the fuel must be enriched to 2.5-3.5% U-235.
• Plutonium-239 can be produced by “breeding” it from uranium-238.
• Thorium-232 is a fertile material able to absorb a neutron and undergo transmutation
into the fissile nuclide uranium-233, which is the basis of the thorium fuel cycle.

Uranium Enrichment

• Natural uranium is only 0.7% U-235, the fissionable isotope.

• The other 99.3% is U-238 which is not fissionable.
• The uranium is usually enriched to 2.5-3.5% U-235 for use in light water reactors.
• Centrifugal separators are used in uranium enrichment.
• The enriched uranium fuel used in fission reactors cannot be used to make a bomb.
• It takes enrichment to over 90% to obtain the fast chain reaction necessary for
weapons applications.
• Enrichment to 15-30% is typical for breeder reactors.

Nuclear Reactor

• A nuclear reactor is a system that contains and controls sustained nuclear chain
reactions.

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• Fuel [Enriched uranium-235 or Plutonium-239] is placed into the reactor vessel along
with a small neutron source.
• The neutrons start a chain reaction where each atom that splits releases more neutrons
that cause other atoms to split.
• Each time an atom splits, it releases large amounts of energy in the form of heat.
• The heat is carried out of the reactor by coolant, which is most commonly just plain
water.
• The coolant heats up and goes off to a turbine to spin a generator or drive shaft.
• The coolant is the material that passes through the core, transferring the heat from the
fuel to a turbine. It could be water, heavy-water, liquid sodium, helium, or something
else.
• The turbine transfers the heat from the coolant to electricity, just like in a fossil-fuel
plant.
• The containment is the structure made of steel-reinforced concrete that separates the
reactor from the environment. Chernobyl did not have a strong containment structure.

Nuclear Reactor Coolant

• A nuclear reactor coolant — usually water or molten salt — is circulated past the
reactor core to absorb the heat that it generates.
• The heat is carried away from the reactor and is then used to generate steam.

Neutron Moderator

• A neutron moderator is a medium that reduces the speed of fast neutrons, thereby
turning them into thermal neutrons capable of sustaining a nuclear chain reaction.
• When a large fissile atomic nucleus such as uranium-235 or plutonium-239 absorbs a
neutron, it may undergo nuclear fission.
• The heavy nucleus splits into two or more lighter nuclei, (the fission products), releasing
kinetic energy, gamma radiation, and free neutrons.
• A portion of these neutrons may later be absorbed by other fissile atoms and trigger
further fission events, which release more neutrons, and so on. This is known as
a nuclear chain reaction.
• To control such a nuclear chain reaction, neutron poisons and neutron moderators can
change the portion of neutrons that will go on to cause more fission
• Commonly-used moderators include regular (light) water (in 74.8% of the world’s
reactors), solid graphite (20% of reactors), heavy water (5% of reactors) and

Control Rods or Reactivity control

• The power output of the reactor is adjusted by controlling how many neutrons are able
to create more fissions.
• Control rods that are made of a neutron poison are used to absorb neutrons.

Moderators slow down neutrons

Control Rods absorb neutrons

Moderators are like accelerators

Control Rods are like brakes

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 • Absorbing more neutrons in a control rod means that there are fewer neutrons
available to cause fission.
• So pushing the control rod deeper into the reactor will reduce its power output, and
extracting the control rod will increase it.
• Control rods are composed of chemical elements such as boron, silver, indium and
cadmium.

Critical mass

• A critical mass is the smallest amount of fissile material needed for a sustained nuclear
chain reaction.
• The critical mass of a fissionable material depends upon its nuclear properties, its
density, its shape, its enrichment, its purity, its temperature, and its surroundings.
• When a nuclear chain reaction in a mass of fissile material is self-sustaining, the mass is
said to be in a critical statein which there is no increase or decrease in power,
temperature, or neutron population.

Criticality

• Criticality is a nuclear term that refers to the balance of neutrons in the system.
• Balance of neutrons can be achieved using moderators and control rods.
• “Subcritical” refers to a system where the loss rate of neutrons is greater than the
production rate of neutrons and therefore the neutron population decreases as time
goes on.
• “Supercritical” refers to a system where the production rate of neutrons is greater than
the loss rate of neutrons and therefore the neutron population increases.
• When the neutron population remains constant, this means there is a perfect balance
between production rate and loss rate, and the nuclear system is said to be “critical.”
• When a reactor is starting up, the neutron population is increased slowly in a controlled
manner, so that more neutrons are produced than are lost, and the nuclear reactor
becomes supercritical.
• When the desired power level is achieved, the nuclear reactor is placed into a critical
configuration to keep the neutron population and power constant.
• Finally, during shutdown, the reactor is placed in a subcritical configuration so that the
neutron population and power decreases.
• Therefore, when a reactor is said to have “gone critical,” it actually means it is in a
stable configuration producing a constant power.

Supercritical == Car [nuclear reactor] is accelerating.

Critical == Car is going at a constant speed.

Sub critical == Car is slowing down.

Neutron poison

• A neutron poison (also called a neutron absorber or a nuclear poison) is a substance

with a large neutron absorption cross-section, in applications such as nuclear reactors.

85 © Yuvraj IAS 2019

Types of Nuclear Reactors

• There are various types of reactors based on moderators, coolants, technologies used.
• All commercial power reactors are based on nuclear fission.
• They generally use uranium and its product plutonium as nuclear fuel, though a
thorium fuel cycle is also possible.
• Fission reactors can be divided roughly into two classes, depending on the energy of
the neutrons that sustain the fission chain reaction: thermal reactors and fast neutron
reactors.

Thermal Reactors and Fast Neutron Reactors [Breeder Reactors]

Thermal Reactors Fast Neutron Reactors

Thermal reactors (the most common type

of nuclear reactor) use slowed or thermal Fast neutron reactors use fast
neutrons to keep up the fission of their neutrons to cause fission in their fuel.
fuel.

Almost all current reactors are of this type. Very rare due to complexity and costs.
They are more difficult to build and
Comparatively easy to build and operate. more expensive to operate.

These contain
They do not have a neutron
neutron moderator materials that slow
moderator, and use less-moderating
neutrons. The moderator is often also the
coolants.
coolant, usually water under high pressure.

Maintaining a chain reaction requires

High probability of fission due to slow the fuel to be more highly enriched in
neutrons. 2-5% Enriched fissile is sufficient fissile material (about 20% or
to sustain a chain reaction. more)due to the relatively lower
probability of fission.

Fast reactors have the potential to

produce less radioactive
More radioactive waste waste because all fissile is fissionable
with fast neutrons [fuel is highly
enriched in fissile material].

Breeder reactors operate with fast

Boiling water reactors (BWR), Pressurized neutrons [moderators are not
water reactors (PWR) and Heavy water required]

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 reactors (HWR) operate with thermal
neutrons [moderators used]

Light-water reactor (LWR)

• Light Water Reactors [LWR] and Hard Water reactors [HWR] are reactors based on
Coolant and Moderator.
• The light-water reactor (LWR) is a type of thermal-neutron reactor that uses NORMAL
WATER, as opposed to heavy water, as both its coolant and neutron moderator.
• Thermal-neutron reactors are the most common type of nuclear reactor, and light-
water reactors are the most common type of thermal-neutron reactor.
• There are three varieties of light-water reactors: the pressurized water reactor (PWR),
the boiling water reactor (BWR), and (most designs of) the supercritical water reactor
(SCWR).

Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR)

• The PWR uses regular water as a coolant.

• The primary cooling water is kept at very high pressure so it does not boil.
• Pressurized water reactors (PWRs) constitute the large majority of all Western nuclear
power plants.
• In a PWR, the primary coolant (water) is pumped under high pressure to the reactor
core where it is heated by the energy generated by the fission of atoms.
• The heated water then flows to a steam generator where it transfers its thermal energy
to a secondary system where steam is generated and flows to turbines which, in turn,
spin an electric generator.
• In contrast to a boiling water reactor, pressure in the primary coolant loop prevents the
water from boiling within the reactor.
• PWRs were originally designed to serve as nuclear marine propulsion for nuclear
submarines

Advantages of Pressurized water reactor (PWR)

• Very stable due to their tendency to produce less power as temperatures increase.
Easier to operate from a stability standpoint.
• PWR turbine cycle loop is separate from the primary loop, so the water in the
secondary loop is not contaminated by radioactive materials.
• The control rods are held by electromagnets and fall by gravity during power failure.
Full insertion safely shuts down the primary nuclear reaction.
• PWRs are compact reactors that fit well in nuclear submarines and nuclear ships.

Disadvantages of Pressurized water reactor (PWR)

• The coolant water must be highly pressurized to remain liquid at high temperatures.
• This requires high strength piping and a heavy pressure vessel and hence increases
construction costs.
• The higher pressure can increase the consequences of a loss-of-coolant accident.
• The high temperature water coolant with boric acid dissolved in it is corrosive to carbon
steel (but not stainless steel) and can lead to radiation exposure.

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• It is necessary to enrich [2-5%] the uranium fuel, which significantly increases the costs
of fuel production.
• The requirement to enrich fuel for PWRs also presents a serious proliferation risk.
• PWRs are not scalable.

Boiling Water Reactor (BWR)

• It is the second most common type of electricity-generating nuclear reactor after the
pressurized water reactor (PWR).
• The main difference between a BWR and PWR is that in a BWR, the reactor core heats
water, which turns to steam and then drives a steam turbine. In a PWR, the reactor
core heats water, which does not boil.
• This hot water then exchanges heat with a lower pressure water system, which turns to
steam and drives the turbine.

Advantages of Boiling Water Reactor (BWR)

• The reactor vessel and associated components operate at a substantially lower

pressure compared to PWR.
• Pressure vessel is subject to significantly less irradiation compared to a PWR.
• Operates at a lower nuclear fuel temperature.
• Fewer components due to no steam generators and no pressurizer vessel.
• Lower risk (probability) of a rupture causing loss of coolant compared to a PWR.
• Can operate at lower core power density levels using natural circulation without forced
flow.
• BWRs do not use boric acid to control fission burn-up to avoid the production of tritium
leading to less possibility of corrosion within the reactor vessel and piping.
• BWRs are ideally suited for peaceful uses like power generation, and desalinization, due
to low cost, simplicity, and safety focus, which come at the expense of larger size and
slightly lower thermal efficiency.

Disadvantages of Boiling Water Reactor (BWR)

• BWRs require more complex calculations for managing consumption of nuclear fuel.
This also requires more instrumentation in the reactor core.
• There have been concerns raised about the pressure containment ability
after Fukushima I nuclear accidents.
• Control rods are inserted from below for current BWR designs. In case of power failure,
the reactor core can undergo significant damage and turn catastrophic.

Supercritical Water Reactor (SCWR)

• The supercritical water reactor (SCWR) uses supercritical water as the working fluid.

Supercritical water oxidation or SCWO is a process that occurs in water at temperatures and
pressures above a mixture’s thermodynamic critical point.

Under these conditions water becomes a fluid with unique properties that can be used to
advantage in the destruction of hazardous wastes.

88 © Yuvraj IAS 2019

• SCWRs resemble light water reactors (LWRs) but operate at higher pressure and
temperature like the pressurized water reactor (PWR) and with a direct once-through
cycle like a boiling water reactor (BWR).
• The SCWR is a promising advanced nuclear system because of its high thermal
efficiency and simpler design.
• It is still in development stage.

Advantages of Supercritical Water Reactor (SCWR)

• Supercritical water has excellent heat transfer properties allowing a high power density,
a small core, and a small containment structure.
• As a BWR is simpler than a PWR, a SCWR is a lot simpler and more compact than a less-
efficient BWR.
• There are no steam separators, steam dryers, internal recirculation pumps, or
recirculation flow inside the pressure vessel.
• The stored thermal and radiologic energy in the smaller core would also be less than
that of either a BWR’s or a PWR’s.
• Water is liquid at room temperature, cheap, non-toxic and transparent, simplifying
inspection and repair.
• A fast SCWR could be a breeder reactor, like the proposed Clean And Environmentally
Safe Advanced Reactor.
• A heavy-water SCWR could breed fuel from thorium (4x more abundant than uranium),
with increased proliferation resistance over plutonium breeders.

Pressurized Heavy-Water Reactor (PHWR)

• Uses heavy water (deuterium oxide D2O) as its coolant and neutron moderator.
• The heavy water coolant is kept under pressure, allowing it to be heated to higher
temperatures without boiling, much as in a pressurized water reactor.
• While heavy water is significantly more expensive than ordinary light water, it
creates greatly enhanced neutron economy, allowing the reactor to operate without
fuel-enrichment facilities (offsetting the additional expense of the heavy water) and
enhancing the ability of the reactor to make use of alternate fuel cycles.

Advantages of Pressurized Heavy-Water Reactor (PHWR)

• It can be operated without expensive uranium enrichment facilities.

• The mechanical arrangement places most of the moderator at lower temperatures. The
resulting thermal neutrons are “more thermal” making PHWR more efficient. So, PHWR
uses fuel more efficiently.
• Since unenriched uranium fuel accumulates a lower density of fission products than
enriched uranium fuel, it generates less heat, allowing more compact storage.

Disadvantages of Pressurized Heavy-Water Reactor (PHWR)

• The reduced energy content of natural uranium as compared to enriched uranium

necessitates more frequent replacement of fuel.
• The increased rate of fuel movement through the reactor also results in higher volumes
of spent fuel than in LWRs employing enriched uranium.

89 © Yuvraj IAS 2019

Nuclear proliferation and PHWR

• Opponents of heavy-water reactors suggest that such reactors pose a much greater risk
of nuclear proliferation than comparable light water reactors.
• Natural Uranium-238 fissile [because enrichment is not required] of a heavy-water
reactor is converted into plutonium-239, a fissile material suitable for use in nuclear
weapons.
• As a result, if the fuel of a heavy-water reactor is changed frequently, significant
amounts of weapons-grade plutonium can be chemically extracted from the irradiated
natural uranium fuel by nuclear reprocessing [Pakistan is pretty good at this].
• In this way, the materials necessary to construct a nuclear weapon can be obtained
without any uranium enrichment.
• In addition, the use of heavy water as a moderator results in the production of small
amounts of tritium when the deuterium nuclei in the heavy water absorb neutrons.
• Tritium is essential for the production of boosted fission weapons, which in turn enable
the easier production of thermonuclear weapons, including neutron bombs.
• The proliferation risk of heavy-water reactors was demonstrated when India produced
the plutonium for Operation Smiling Buddha, its first nuclear weapon test, by extraction
from the spent fuel of a heavy-water research reactor known as the CIRUS reactor [Oh
no!!].

Uranium & Thorium Distribution across India & World

Atomic Minerals

• Uranium and Thorium are the main atomic minerals. Other atomic minerals are
beryllium, lithium and zirconium.
• Uranium deposits occur in Singhbhum and Hazaribagh districts of Jharkhand, Gaya
district of Bihar, and in the sedimentary rocks in Saharanpur district of Uttar Pradesh.
• But the largest source of uranium comprise the monazite sands.
• Monazite sands occur on east and west coasts and in some places in Bihar. But the
largest concentration of monazite sand is on the Kerala coast.
• Over 15,200 tonnes of uranium is estimated to be contained in monazite.
• Some uranium is found in the copper mines of Udaipur in Rajasthan.
• India produces about 2 per cent of world’s uranium. The total reserves of uranium are
estimated at 30,480 tonnes.
• Thorium is also derived from monozite. The other mineral carrying thorium is
thorianite.
• The known reserves of thorium in India are estimated to be between 457,000 and
508,000 tonnes. Kerala, Jharkhand, Bihar, Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan are the main
producers.
• Beryllium oxide is used as a ‘moderator’ in nuclear reactors. India has sufficient
reserves of beryllium to meet her requirement of atomic power generation.
• Lithium is a light metal which is found in lepidolite and spodumene. Lepidolite is widely
distributed in the mica belts of Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.
• Zirconium is found along the Kerala coast and in alluvial rocks of Ranchi and Hazaribagh
districts of Jharkhand.

Uranium

• Uranium is a silvery-gray metallic radioactive chemical element. It is only naturally

formed in supernova explosions.

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• Uranium, thorium, and potassium are the main elements contributing to natural
terrestrial radioactivity.
• Uranium has the chemical symbol U and atomic number 92.
• Uranium isotopes in natural uranium are 238U (99.27%) and 235U (0.72%).
• All uranium isotopes are radioactive and fissionable. But only 235U is fissile (will support
a neutron-mediated chain reaction).
• Traces of Uranium are found everywhere. Commercial extraction is possible only in
locations where the proportion of Uranium is adequate. There are very few such
locations.

Distribution of Uranium Across the World

• Largest viable deposits are found in Australia, Kazakhstan, and Canada.

• Olympic Dam and the Ranger mine in Southern Australia are important mines in
Australia.
• High-grade deposits are only found in the Athabasca Basin region of Canada.
• Cigar Lake, McArthur River basin in Canada are other important uranium mining sites.
• The Chu-Sarysu basin in central Kazakhstan alone accounts for over half of the country’s
known uranium resources.

Uranium in India

• India has no significant reserves of Uranium. All needs are met through imports.
• India imports thousands of tonnes of uranium from Russia, Kazakhstan, France, and

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• India is trying hard to import uranium from Australia and Canada. There are some
concerns regarding nuclear proliferation and other related issues which India is trying
to sort out.
• Some quality reserves were recently discovered in parts of Andhra Pradesh and
Telangana between Seshachalam forest and Sresailam [Southern edge of Andhra to
Southern edge of Telangana].

Thorium

• Thorium is a chemical element with symbol Th and atomic number 90.

• It is one of only two significantly radioactive elements that still occur naturally in large
quantities [other being uranium].
• Thorium metal is silvery and tarnishes black when exposed to air.
• Thorium is weakly radioactive: all its known isotopes are unstable, with the seven
naturally occurring ones (thorium-227, 228, 229, 230, 231, 232, and 234).
• Thorium-232 is the most stable isotope of thorium and accounts for nearly all natural
thorium, with the other five natural isotopes occurring only in traces.
• Thorium is estimated to be about three to four times more abundant than uranium in
the Earth’s crust, and is chiefly refined from monazite sands [Monazite contains 2.5%
thorium][Monazite is a widely scattered on the Kerala Coast].
• Thorium is predicted to be able to replace uranium as nuclear fuel in nuclear reactors,
but only a few thorium reactors have yet been completed.

Monazite – Rare Earth Metals

• Monazite is a reddish-brown phosphate mineral containing rare earth metals.

• Rare earths are a series of chemical elements found in the Earth’s crust that are vital to
many modern technologies, including consumer electronics, computers and networks,
communications, clean energy, advanced transportation, health care, environmental
mitigation, national defense, and many others.
• Because of their unique magnetic, luminescent, and electrochemical properties, these
elements help make many technologies perform with reduced weight, reduced
emissions, and energy consumption; or give them greater efficiency, performance,
miniaturization, speed, durability, and thermal stability.
• There are 17 elements that are considered to be rare earth elements. [Scandium,
Yttrium etc. –– (names are very strange and hence I am avoiding them)]

Advantages of Thorium

• Proliferation is not easy: Weapons-grade fissionable material (U-233) is harder to

retrieve safely from a thorium reactor [U-233 produced by transmuting thorium also
contains U-232, a strong source of gamma radiation that makes it difficult to work with.
Its daughter product, thallium-208, is equally difficult to handle and easy to detect].
• Thorium reactors produce far less waste than present-day reactors.
• Thorium produces 10 to 10,000 times less long-lived radioactive waste [minuscule
waste that is generated is toxic for only three or four hundred years rather than
thousands of years].
• They have the ability to burn up most of the highly radioactive and long-lasting minor
actinides [fifteen radioactive metallic elements from actinium (atomic number 89) to
lawrencium (atomic number 103) in the periodic table] that makes nuclear waste from
Light Water Reactors a nuisance to deal with.
• Thorium reactors are cheaper because they have higher burn up.

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• Thorium mining produces a single pure isotope, whereas the mixture of natural
uranium isotopes must be enriched[enriching is costly] to function in most common
reactor designs.
• Thorium cannot sustain a nuclear chain reaction without priming, so fission stops by
default in an accelerator driven reactor.
• And five, thorium reactors are significantly more proliferation-resistant than present
reactors. This is because the

The mainstreaming of thorium reactors worldwide thus offers an enormous advantage to

proliferation-resistance as well as the environment.

For India, it offers the added benefit that it can enter the export market [India has the
largest reserves of thorium].

Scientists predict that the impact of climate change will be worse on India. Advancing the
deployment of thorium reactors by four to six decades via a plutonium market might be
the most effective step towards curtailing carbon emissions.

Thorium Distribution

• Thorium is several times more abundant in Earth’s crust than all isotopes of uranium
combined and thorium-232 is several hundred times more abundant than uranium-235.
• United States, Australia, and India have particularly large reserves of thorium.
• India and Australia are believed to possess more than half of world’s thorium reserves.

India’s Three-Stage Nuclear Power Programme

• India’s three-stage nuclear power programme was formulated by Homi Bhabha in the
1950s to secure the country’s long term energy independence, through the use
of uranium and thorium reserves found in the monazite sands of coastal regions of
South India.

The ultimate focus of the programme is on enabling the thorium reserves of India to be
utilized in meeting the country’s energy requirements.

• Thorium is particularly attractive for India, as it has only around 1–2% of the global
uranium reserves, but one of the largest shares of global thorium reserves.
• However, at present thorium is not economically viable because global uranium prices
are much lower.
• The recent Indo-US Nuclear Deal and the NSG waiver, which ended more than three
decades of international isolation of the Indian civil nuclear programme, have created
many hitherto unexplored alternatives for the success of the three-stage nuclear power
programme.
• Thorium itself is not a fissile material, and thus cannot undergo fission to produce
energy.
• Instead, it must be transmuted to uranium-233 in a reactor fueled by other fissile
materials [plutonium-239 or uranium-235].
• The first two stages, natural uranium-fueled heavy water reactors and plutonium-
fueled fast breeder reactors, are intended to generate sufficient fissile material from
India’s limited uranium resources, so that all its vast thorium reserves can be fully
utilized in the third stage of thermal breeder reactors.

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Stage I – Pressurized Heavy Water Reactor [PHWR]

• In the first stage of the programme, natural uranium fuelled pressurized heavy water
reactors (PHWR) produce electricity while generating plutonium-239 as by-product.

[U-238 → Plutonium-239 + Heat]

[In PWHR, enrichment of Uranium to improve concentration of U-235 is not required. U-238
can be directly fed into the reactor core]

[Natural uranium contains only 0.7% of the fissile isotope uranium-235. Most of the
remaining 99.3% is uranium-238 which is not fissile but can be converted in a reactor to the
fissile isotope plutonium-239].

[Heavy water (deuterium oxide, D 2O) is used as moderator and coolant in PHWR].

• PHWRs was a natural choice for implementing the first stage because it had the
most efficient reactor design [uranium enrichment not required] in terms of uranium
utilisation.
• India correctly calculated that it would be easier to create heavy water production
facilities (required for PHWRs) than uranium enrichment facilities (required for LWRs).
• Almost the entire existing base of Indian nuclear power (4780 MW) is composed of first
stage PHWRs, with the exception of the two Boiling Water Reactor (BWR) units at

Stage II – Fast Breeder Reactor

• In the second stage, fast breeder reactors (FBRs)[moderators not required] would use
plutonium-239, recovered by reprocessing spent fuel from the first stage, and natural
uranium.

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• In FBRs, plutonium-239 undergoes fission to produce energy, while the uranium-238
present in the fuel transmutes to additional plutonium-239.

Why should Uranium-238 be transmuted to Plutonium-239?

Uranium-235 and Plutonium-239 can sustain a chain reaction. But Uranium-238 cannot
sustain a chain reaction. So it is transmuted to Plutonium-239.

But Why U-238 and not U-235?

Natural uranium contains only 0.7% of the fissile isotope uranium-235. Most of the
remaining 99.3% is uranium-238.

• Thus, the Stage II FBRs are designed to “breed” more fuel than they consume.
• Once the inventory of plutonium-239 is built up thorium can be introduced as a blanket
material in the reactor and transmuted to uranium-233 for use in the third stage.
• The surplus plutonium bred in each fast reactor can be used to set up more such
reactors, and might thus grow the Indian civil nuclear power capacity till the point
where the third stage reactors using thorium as fuel can be brought online
• As of August 2014, India’s first Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor at Kalpakkam had been
delayed – with first criticality expected in 2015, 2016..and it drags on.

Stage III – Thorium Based Reactors

• A Stage III reactor or an Advanced nuclear power system involves a self-sustaining

series of thorium-232-uranium-233 fuelled reactors.
• This would be a thermal breeder reactor, which in principle can be refueled – after its
initial fuel charge – using only naturally occurring thorium.
• According to replies given in Q&A in the Indian Parliament on two separate occasions,
19 August 2010 and 21 March 2012, large scale thorium deployment is only to be
expected 3 – 4 decades after the commercial operation of fast breeder reactors. [2040-
2070]
• As there is a long delay before direct thorium utilisation in the three-stage programme,
the country is now looking at reactor designs that allow more direct use of thorium in
parallel with the sequential three-stage programme
• Three options under consideration are the Accelerator Driven Systems (ADS), Advanced
Heavy Water Reactor (AHWR) and Compact High Temperature Reactor

Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor at Kalpakkam

• The Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR) is a 500 MWe fast breeder nuclear reactor
presently being constructed at the Madras Atomic Power Station in Kalpakkam, India.
• The Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR) is responsible for the design of
this reactor.
• As of 2007 the reactor was expected to begin functioning in 2010 but now it is expected
to achieve first criticality in March-April 2016.
• Construction is over and the owner/operator, Bharatiya Nabhikiya Vidyut Nigam
Limited (BHAVINI), is awaiting clearance from the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board
(AERB).
• Total costs, originally estimated at 3500 crore are now estimated at 5,677 crore.

95 © Yuvraj IAS 2019

• The Kalpakkam PFBR is using uranium-238 not thorium, to breed new fissile material,
in a sodium-cooled fast reactor design.
• The surplus plutonium or uranium-233 for thorium reactors [U-238 transmutes into
plutonium] from each fast reactor can be used to set up more such reactors and grow
the nuclear capacity in tune with India’s needs for power.
• The fact that PFBR will be cooled by liquid sodium creates additional safety
requirements to isolate the coolant from the environment, since sodium explodes if it
comes into contact with water and burns when in contact with air.

What Hinders Deployment of Thorium-Fuelled Reactors In India?

• Most people would assume that it is a limitation of technology. But instead, it is due
to shortage of uranium fuelthat is needed to convert fertile fuel [thorium] into
fissile [fuel that can undergo sustained chain reaction].
• Scientists at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre have successfully tested all relevant
thorium-related technologies in the laboratory.
• In fact, if pressed, India could probably begin full-scale deployment of thorium reactors
in ten years.
• The single greatest hurdle, to answer the original question, is the critical shortage of
fissile material.

What is a fissile material?

• A fissile material is one that can sustain a chain reaction upon bombardment by
neutrons.
• Thorium is by itself fertile, meaning that it can transmute into a fissile radioisotope [U-
233] but cannot itself keep a chain reaction going.
• In a thorium reactor, a fissile material like uranium or plutonium is blanketed by
thorium.
• The fissile material, also called a driver in this case, drives the chain reaction to produce
energy while simultaneously transmuting the fertile material into fissile material.
• India has very modest deposits of uranium and some of the world’s largest sources of
thorium. It was keeping this in mind that in 1954, Homi Bhabha envisioned India’s
nuclear power programme in three stages to suit the country’s resource profile.

1. In the first stage, heavy water reactors fuelled by natural uranium would
produce plutonium [U-238 will be transmuted to Plutonium 239 in PHWR];
2. the second stage would initially be fuelled by a mix of the plutonium from the first
stage and natural uranium. This uranium would transmute into more plutonium and
once sufficient stocks have been built up, thorium would be introduced into the fuel
cycle to convert it into uranium 233 for the third stage [thorium will be transmuted to
U-233 with the help plutonium 239].
3. In the final stage, a mix of thorium and uranium fuels the reactors. The thorium
transmutes to U-233 which powers the reactor. Fresh thorium can replace the depleted
thorium [can be totally done away with uranium which is very scares in India] in the
reactor core, making it essentially a thorium-fuelled reactor [thorium keeps
transmuting into U-233. It is U-233 that generates the energy].

Present State of India’s Three-Stage Nuclear Power Programme

• After decades of operating pressurized heavy-water reactors (PHWR), India is finally

ready to start the second stage.

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• A 500 MW Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR) at Kalpakkam is set to achieve
criticality any day now and four more fast breeder reactors have been sanctioned, two
at the same site and two elsewhere.
• However, experts estimate that it would take India many more FBRs and at least
another four decades before it has built up a sufficient fissile material inventory to
launch the third stage.

Solution to India’s Fissile Shortage Problem – Procuring Fissile Material Plutonium

• The obvious solution to India’s shortage of fissile material is to procure it from the
international market.

Favourable Conditions for Plutonium Trade

• As yet, there exists no commerce in plutonium though there is no law that expressly
forbids it.
• In fact, most nuclear treaties such as the Convention on the Physical Protection of
Nuclear Material address only U-235 and U-233.
• This is because Plutonium has so far not been considered a material suited for peaceful
purposes.
• The Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) merely mandates that special fissionable material —
which includes plutonium — if transferred, be done so under safeguards.
• Thus, the legal rubric for safeguarded sale of plutonium and safety procedures for
moving radioactive spent fuel and plutonium already exists but it is not too complicated
as in case Uranium.
• Japan and the U.K. who are looking to reduce their stockpile of plutonium will certainly
be happy to sell it to India.

What compelling reason does the world have to accommodate India?

• India’s FBRs that are tasked for civilian purposes and can be brought under
international safeguards in a system similar to the Indo-U.S. nuclear deal.
• FBRs and large quantities of fissile material can easily be redirected towards weapons
programme. But India has shown no inclination to do so until now.

Obstacles

• The U.S. could perhaps emerge as the greatest obstacle to plutonium commerce.
• S. cannot prevent countries from trading in plutonium, it has the power to make it
uncomfortable for them via sanctions, reduced scientific cooperation, and other
mechanisms.
• The strong non-proliferation lobby in the U.S. would not like a non-signatory of the NPT
[India] to open and regulate trade in plutonium.
• The challenge for Delhi is to convince Washington to sponsor rather than oppose such a
venture.

Diamond & Graphite Distribution across India & World

Graphite

• Graphite is a naturally-occurring form of crystalline carbon.

• It is also known as plumbago or black lead.
• The carbon content in Graphite is never less than 95%.

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• Graphite may be considered the highest grade of coal, just above anthracite.

Carbon content in Peat < Lignite < Bituminous < Anthracite < Graphite < Diamond

• It is not normally used as fuel because it is difficult to ignite.

• It is found in metamorphic and igneous rocks.
• Graphite is extremely soft, cleaves [splits into layers] with very light pressure.
• It is extremely resistant to heat and is highly unreactive.
• Most of the graphite is formed at convergent plate boundaries where organic-rich
shales and limestones were subjected to metamorphism due to heat and pressure.
• Metamorphism produces marble, schist and gneiss that contains tiny crystals and flakes
of graphite.
• Some graphite forms from the metamorphism of coal seams. This graphite is known as
“amorphous graphite”.
• Graphite is a non-metal and it is the only non-metal that can conduct electricity.

Applications of Graphite

• Natural graphite is mostly consumed for refractories, batteries, steelmaking, expanded

graphite, lubricants etc.
• A refractory material is one that retains its strength at high temperatures.
• Natural and synthetic graphite are used to construct the anode of all major battery
technologies
• The lithium-ion battery utilizes roughly twice the amount of graphite than lithium
carbonate.
• Natural graphite in this end use mostly goes into carbon raising in molten steel. [to
make steel stronger]
• Natural amorphous graphite are used in brake linings for heavier vehicles, and became
important with the need to substitute for asbestos.
• Graphite lubricants are specialty items for use at very high or very low temperatures.
• Modern pencil lead is most commonly a mix of powdered graphite and clay.

• Major Producers of Graphite – India & WorldIndia is a major global producer of flake
graphite.

Total Indian Graphite Resources

1. Arunachal Pradesh (43%),

2. Jammu & Kashmir (37%),
3. Jharkhand (6%),
4. Tamil Nadu (5%) and
5. Odisha (3%)

Operational Indian Graphite Resources

Most of the Graphite Production is concentrated in these states

• Tamil Nadu (37%),

• Jharkhand (30%), [Palamu district in Jharkhand is the most important]
• Odisha (29%).

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Graphite Production Across the World

1. China (more than 50%)

2. India (20%)
3. Brazil

• Graphite is not mined in the United States. U.S. substitutes graphite with synthetic
graphite.

Diamonds

• Diamond is the hardest naturally occurring substance found on Earth.

• Diamonds are formed in mantle. They brought to the earth’s crust due to volcanism.
Most of the diamonds occur in dykes, sill etc. [Volcanic Landforms].
• Diamond is the Diamonds are used in ornaments, polishing the surfaces of metals and
in gem cutting.
• The most important industrial use of diamonds is in cutting-edges of drills used for
exploration and mining of minerals [Diamond is the hardest substance and it can break
other substances without itself getting broken].

Diamonds in India

• The Vindhayan system have diamond bearing regions from which Panna and Golconda
diamonds have been mined.

1. Panna belt in Madhya Pradesh;

2. Wajrakarur Kimberlite pipe in Anantapur district and
3. Gravels of the Krishna river basin in Andhra Pradesh.

• Reserves have been estimated only in Panna belt and Krishna Gravels in Andhra
Pradesh.
• The new kimberlite fields are discovered recently in Raichur-Gulbarga districts of
Karnataka.
• Reserves of diamonds in India are not yet exhausted and modern methods are being
applied for intensive prospecting and mining.
• Cutting and polishing of diamonds is done by modem techniques at important centres
like Surat, Navasari, Ahmedabad, Palampur etc.

Diamonds Across the World

• The leading producers of natural diamond are Russia, Botswana, Canada, Australia,
South Africa, Russia and Zaire [Congo].
• Other important producers include Namibia, Ivory Coast, Sierra Leone, Venezuela,
Brazil etc.
• US is the largest producer of synthetic industrial diamonds
• Russia holds what is believed to be the world’s largest and richest diamond resources.
• Botswana is the leading diamond-producing country in terms of value, and the second
largest in terms of volume. The two important ones are Orapa and Jwaneng, two of the
most prolific diamond mines in the world.
• Botswana’s resources produce the full range of diamonds, in all sizes, colors and
clarities.

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• Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is also one of the Africa’s largest diamond
producer.
• Australia is the leading producer of color diamonds. Australia is famous for its pink,
purple and red diamonds.
• South Africa has the most diverse range of diamond deposits in the world. Deposits
include open pit and underground kimberlite pipe/dyke/fissure mining.

Mica, Limestone & other Non-Metallic Minerals in India

Mica

• Mica is a naturally occurring non-metallic mineral that is based on a collection

of silicates.
• Mica is a very good insulator that has a wide range of applications in electrical and
electronics industry.
• It can withstand high voltage and has low power loss factor.
• It is used in toothpaste and cosmetics because of its glittery appearance. It also acts as
a mild abrasive in toothpaste.
• India is one of the foremost suppliers of mica to the world. Mica-bearing igneous rocks
occur in AP, Bihar, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Rajasthan.

Mica Reserves in India

1. Andhra Pradesh (41 per cent)

2. Rajasthan (21 per cent)
3. Odisha (20 per cent)
4. Maharashtra (15 per cent)
5. Bihar (2 per cent)
6. Jharkhand (Less than 1 per cent)

Mica Distribution and Production in India

• India has a near monopoly in the production of mica [60 % of world’s total].
• Production decreased in recent times due to fall in demand in the international market.
Fall in demand is due to better synthetic alternatives that are available.

Andhra Pradesh

• 1st in production [93 %].

• The mica belt lies in Nellore district [Gudur Mica mines].
• Vishakhapatnam, West Godavari and Krishna are other important mica producing
districts.

Rajasthan

• 2nd in production [6.3 %].

• The main mica belt extends from Jaipur to Udaipur [Along Aravalis].

Jharkhand

• 3rd in production.

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• Mica is found in a belt extending for about 150 km in length and 32 km in width from
Gaya district of Bihar to Hazaribagh and Koderma districts of Jharkhand. This belt
contains the richest deposits of high quality ruby mica.
• Koderma is a well-known place for mica production in Jharkhand.

Mica Exports

• India is the largest exporter of mica.

• Certain grades of Indian mica are and will remain vital to the world’s electrical
industries.
• Major exports are carried out through Kolkata and Vishakhapatnam ports.
• Important imports of Indian mica are Japan (19%), the USA (17%), U.K, etc.

Limestone

• Limestone rocks are composed of either calcium carbonate, the double carbonate of
calcium and magnesium, or mixture of both.
• Limestone also contains small quantities of silica, alumina, iron oxides, phosphorus and
sulphur.
• Limestone deposits are of sedimentary origin and exist in all the geological sequences
from Pre-Cambrian to Recent except in Gondwana.
• 75 per cent Limestone is used in cement industry, 16 per cent in iron and steel
industry [It acts as flux] and 4 per cent in the chemical industries.
• Rest of the limestone is used in paper, sugar, fertilizers, etc.
• Almost all the states of India produce some quantity of limestone.
• Over three-fourths of the total limestone of India is produced by Madhya Pradesh,
Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh and Tamil Nadu.

Madhya Pradesh

• Madhya Pradesh is the largest producer of limestone [16 per cent].

• Large deposits occur in the districts of Jabalpur, Satna, Betul, etc.

Rajasthan

• Rajasthan has about 6 per cent of the reserves and produces over 16 per cent of the
total limestone of India. Production occurs in almost all districts.

Andhra Pradesh

• Andhra Pradesh possesses about one-third of the total reserves of the cement grade
limestone in the country.
• Extensive deposits occur in Cuddapah, Kumool, Guntur, etc.

Gujarat

• Gujarat produces only about 11 per cent of the total limestone of India.
• High grade limestone deposits occur in Banaskantha district.

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Chhattisgarh

• Chhattisgarh accounts for more than nine per cent of total limestone of India .Deposits
of limestone occur in Bastar, Durg and surrounding districts.

Tamil Nadu

• Large scale reserves in Ramnathapuram, Tirunelveli, Salem, Coimbatore and Madurai

districts.

Karnataka

• Gulbarga, Bijapur and Shimoga districts.

Dolomite

• Limestone with more than 10 per cent of magnesium is called dolomite.

• When the percentage rises to 45, it is true dolomite.
• Dolomite is mainly used as blast furnace flux, as a source of magnesium salts and in
fertilizer and glass industries.
• Iron and Steel industry is the chief consumer of dolomite [90 per cent] followed by
fertilizer, ferro-alloys and glass.
• Dolomite is widely distributed in the all parts of the country.
• Orissa, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Rajasthan and Karnataka are the main
producing states and contribute more than 90 per cent of the total production.
• Orissa and Chhattisgarh together account for about 57 per cent dolomite of India.

Orissa

• Orissa is the largest producer of dolomite [29 per cent].

• The main deposits occur in Sundargarh, Sambalpur and Koraput districts.

Chhattisgarh

• Closely following Orissa is the state of Chhattisgarh which produces about 28 per cent
dolomite of India.
• The main deposits occur in Bastar, Bilaspur, Durg and Raigarh districts.

Jharkhand

• Dolomite occurs in bands to the north of Chaibasa in Singhbhum district and Palamu
district.

Rajasthan

• Ajmer, Alwar, Bhilwara, Jaipur, Jaisalmer etc. are the main producing districts.

Karnataka

• Belgaum, Bijapur, Chitradurga, Mysore, etc.

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Asbestos

• Two quite different minerals are included under this name; one, a variety of amphibole,
and the other, more important, a fibrous variety of serpentine (chrysotile).
• Chrysotile is more important variety and accounts for 80 per cent of the asbestos of
commercial use.
• Asbestos has great commercial value due to its fibrous structure, filaments of high
tensile strength and its great resistance to fire.
• It is widely used for making fire-proof cloth, rope, paper, millboard, sheeting, etc.
• It is also used in making aprons , gloves, brake-linings in automobiles etc.
• Asbestos cement products like sheets, pipes and tiles are used for building purposes.
• When asbestos is brittle, it is made into filter pads for filtering acids.
• Mixed with magnesia, it is used for making ‘magnesia bricks’ used for heat insulation.
• Two states of Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh produce almost the whole of asbestos of
India.
• Rajasthan is the largest producer. Important occurrences are known in Udaipur,
Dungarpur, Alwar, Ajmer and Pali districts.
• In Andhra Pradesh, asbestos of fine quality occurs in Pulivendla taluk of Cuddapah
district.
• In Karnataka, the main deposits occur in Hassan, Mandya, Shimoga, Mysore and
Chikmaglur districts.

Magnesite

• It is an alteration product of dunites (peridotite) and other basic magnesian rocks.

• It is primarily used for manufacturing refractory bricks.
• It is also used as a bond in abrasives, manufacture of special type of cement for artificial
stone, tiles and for extraction of the metal magnesium.
• Steel industry also uses magnesite.
• Major deposits of magnesite are found in Uttaranchal, Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan.
• Tamil Nadu is the largest producer [three-fourth] of magnesite in India.
• Tamil Nadu has one of the largest deposits of magnesite in the world and the largest in
India are found at Chalk Hills near Salem town.

Kyanite

• Kyanite occurs in metamorphic aluminous rocks.

• It is primarily used in metallurgical, ceramic, refractory, glass, cement industries due to
its ability to stand high temperatures.
• It is also used in making sparking plugs in automobiles.
• India has the largest deposits of kyanite in the world. All the three grades of kyanite
are found here. Kyanite grades depend on aluminium content. Greater the aluminium
content, greater the quality.
• Jharkhand, Maharashtra and Karnataka produce practically the whole of kyanite of
India.

Jharkhand

• Jharkhand is the largest producer of kyanite [four-fifths].

• Ores with high degree of purity with percentages of aluminium silicate reaching 95 to
97 are found in the Singhbhum district.

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Maharashtra

• Maharashtra [second highest producer of kyanite] produced 14.5 per cent of the total
kyanite in 2002-03.
• Most of the reserves are in Bhandara district.

Karnataka

• Karnataka is the third largest producer [5.6 per cent in 2002-03].

• Commercially, workable deposits occur in Hassan district.

Sillimanite

• The occurrence and uses of sillimanite are almost the same as those of kyanite.
• The main concentration of Sillimanite is found in Tamil Nadu, Orissa, Kerala, Andhra
Pradesh and West Bengal.
• Orissa is the largest producer of sillimanite in India. Ganjam district is an important
sillimanite producing district.
• Kerala is the second largest producing state. The beach sands of Kerala contain 5 to 6
per cent of sillimanite.

Gymsum

• Gypsum is a hydrated sulphate of calcium.

• It is a white opaque or transparent mineral.
• It occurs in sedimentary formations such as limestones, sandstones and shales.
• It is mainly used in making ammonia sulphate fertilizer and in cement industry.
• It makes upto 4-5 per cent of cement.
• It is also used in making plaster of Paris, moulds in ceramic industry, tiles, plastics, etc.
• It is applied as surface plaster in agriculture for conserving moisture in the soil and for
aiding nitrogen absorption.
• Rajasthan is by far the largest producer of gypsum in India [99 per cent of the total
production of India].
• The main deposits occur in the Tertiary clays and shales of Jodhpur, Nagaur and
Bikaner. Jaisalmer, Barmer, Chum, Pali and Ganganagar also have some gypsum bearing
rocks.
• The remaining gypsum is produced by Tamil Nadu [Tiruchirapalli district], Jammu and
Kashmir, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh in order of production.
• Water and phosphoric acid plants are important sources of by product gypsum.
• Marine gypsum is recovered from salt pans during the processing for common salt in
Gujarat and Tamil Nadu.
• Phospho-gypsum is obtained as a byproduct while manufacturing phosphoric acid
whereas fluro-gypsum is obtained while manufacturing aluminium flouride and hydro-
fluoric acid.
• The recovery of by-product phospho-gypsum, fluoro- gypsum, and marine gypsum
together is higher than mineral gypsum.

Salt

• Salt is obtained from sea water, brine springs [salt water springs], wells and salt pans in
lakes and from rocks.

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• Rock salt is taken out in Mandi district of Himachal Pradesh and in Gujarat. It is less
than 1 per cent of the total salt produced in India.
• Sambhar Lake in Rajasthan produces about 10 per cent of our annual production.
• Sea brine is the source of salt in Gujarat, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu.
• Gujarat coast produces nearly half of our salt.

Conservation of Mineral Resources

• Mining is often called the robber industry because of its exploitative nature.
• Mining should be made efficient with better mining and benefication technologies.
• A clear roadmap has to be carved for the better management of mineral resources for
decades. Stringent laws to prevent the plundering of minerals is the need of the hour.
• Transparency must be the priority in extraction of mineral resources. Corrupt practices
have led to mismanagement of mineral resources making mining industry highly
inefficient.
• Recycling of cyclic minerals [iron, aluminium, copper, brass, tin] can help in reducing
the waste.
• Scarce and expensive minerals must be substituted with the abundant ones. Example:
Aluminium substitutes copper in electrical industry.
• Instead of exporting minerals, India should focus on exporting goods manufactured
using these minerals. This would create more jobs locally.
• Innovation and research into synthetic minerals is essential.

Renewable & Non-Conventional Sources Of Energy

Biomass [Conventional Source]

• Biomass is a renewable energy resource derived from plant and animal waste.
• The energy from biomass (biomass conversion) is released on burning or breaking the
chemical bonds of organic molecules formed during photosynthesis.
• Biomass fuels can be used directly or they can be transformed into more convenient
form and then used.

Sources of biomass

• By-products from the timber industry, agricultural crops and their byproducts, raw
material from the forest, major parts of household waste and wood.
• Solid Biomass fuels: Wood logs and wood pellets, charcoal, agricultural waste (stalks
and other plant debris), animal waste (dung), aquatic plants (kelp and water hyacinths)
urban waste (paper, cardboard and other combustible materials).

Conversion to gaseous and liquid biofuels

• Biomass can be converted into alcohol (liquid biofuels) by distillation.

• Liquid Biofuels: Ethanol, Methanol, Gasoho, Biodiesel.
• Gaseous Biofuels: Synthetic natural gas (biogas), Wood gas: Methane – 70% and CO2 –
30%.
• Instead of burning loose biomass directly, it is more practical to compress it into
briquettes (compressing them into blocks of a chosen shape) improve its utility and
convenience of use.
• Such biomass in the biomass briquettes can be used as fuel in place of coal in
traditional furnaces or in a gasifier.

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• A gasifier converts solid fuels into a more convenient-to-use gaseous fuel called
producer gas.

Uses of biomass

• In the developed world biomass is becoming important for applications such as

combined heat and power generation.
• Biomass energy is gaining significance as a source of clean heat for domestic heating
and community heating applications.

Advantages of biomass energy

• Burning of biomass does not increase atmospheric carbon dioxide because to begin
with biomass was formed by atmospheric carbon dioxide and the same amount of
carbon dioxide is released on burning.
• Biomass is an important source of energy and the most important fuel worldwide after
coal, oil and natural gas.
• Biomass is renewable and is abundantly available on the earth in the form of firewood,
agricultural residues, cattle dung, city garbage etc.
• Bio-energy, in the form of biogas, which is derived from biomass, is expected to
become one of the key energy resources for global sustainable development.

Bagasse as biofuel

• Indian sugar mills are rapidly turning to bagasse, the leftover of cane after it is crushed
and its juice extracted, to generate electricity.
• This is mainly being done to clean up the environment, cut down power costs and earn
additional revenue.

Biogas plant

• The biogas plant consists of two components: a digester (or fermentation tank) and a
gas holder.
• The gas holder cuts off air to the digester (anaerobiosis) and collects the gas generated.
• Any biodegradable (that which can be decomposed by bacteria) substance can be
fermented anaerobically (in absence of oxygen) by methane-producing (methanogenic)
bacteria.
• Cowdung or faeces are collected and put in a biogas digester or fermenter (a large
vessel in which fermentation can take place).
• A series of chemical reactions occur in the presence of methanogenic bacteria (CH4
generating bacteria) leading to the production of CH4 and CO2.

Petro crops (Plants)

• Recent researches suggest that hydrocarbon producing plants can become alternative
energy sources, which can be inexhaustible and ideal for liquid fuel.
• These plants called petroplants/petrocrops can be grown on land which are unfit for
agriculture and not covered with forests. Jatropa curcas is an important petro plant.
• Biocrude can be obtained by tapping the latex of Jatropa curcas.
• Biocrude is a complex mixture of liquids, terpenoids, triglycerides, phytosterols waxes,
and other modified isoprenoid compounds.

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• Hydro cracking of biocrude can convert it into several useful products like gasoline
(automobile fuel), gas oil and kerosene.
• Some potential Petro-crop species belong to
family Asclepiadaceae and Euphorbiaceae.

Geothermal Energy

• Geothermal energy is natural heat from the interior of the earth that can be used to
generate electricity as well as to heat up buildings.
• The core of the earth is very hot and it is possible to make use of this geothermal
energy.
• These are areas where there are volcanoes, hot springs, and geysers, and methane
under the water in the oceans and seas.
• In some countries, such as in the USA water is pumped from underground hot water
deposits and used for heating of houses.
• Geothermal resource falls into three major categories: i) Geopressurized zones, ii) hot-
rock zones and iii) Hydrothermal convection zones. Of these three only the first is
currently being exploited on a commercial basis.

Geothermal energy in India

• In India, Northwestern Himalayas and the western coast are considered geothermal
areas.
• The Geological Survey of India has already identified more than 350 hot spring sites,
which can be explored as areas to tap geothermal energy.
• The Puga valley in the Ladakh region has the most promising geothermal field.

Environmental impact of geothermal energy

• Geothermal energy can pose several environmental problems which includes on-site
noise, emissions of gas and disturbance at drilling sites.
• The steam contains hydrogen sulphide gas, which has the odour of rotten eggs, and
cause air pollution.
• The minerals in the steam are also toxic to fish and they are corrosive to pipes, and
equipment, requiring constant maintenance.

Hydrogen Energy

• Many scientists believe that the fuel for the future is hydrogen gas.
• When hydrogen gas burns in the air or in fuel cells, it combines with oxygen gas to
produce non-polluting watervapour and fuel cells directly convert hydrogen into
electricity.
• Widespread use of hydrogen as fuel would greatly reduce the problem of air pollution
and danger of global warming because there will not be any CO2 emission.
• Hydrogen may be a clean source of energy but getting large amount of pure hydrogen
for commercial purposes is a problem because hydrogen is present in combination with
other elements such as oxygen, carbon and nitrogen thus hydrogen has to be produced
from either water or organic compounds like methane etc. requiring large amounts of
energy. This is a very costly proposition.

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• Producing hydrogen from algae in large scale cultures is possible. It may be possible to
control photosynthesis so that green algae are able to produce hydrogen through the
process of photosynthesis.
• Hydrogen is a pollution free, cost effective manner and if technologies such as fuel cells
can be made cost effective, then hydrogen has the potential to provide clean,
alternative energy for diverse uses, including lighting, power, heating, cooling,
transportation and many more.

Fuel Cell Technology

• Fuel cells are highly efficient power-generating systems that produce electricity by
combining fuel (hydrogen) and oxygen in an electrochemical reaction.
• Fuel cells are electrochemical devices that convert the chemical energy of a fuel directly
and very efficiently into electricity (DC) and heat, thus doing away with combustion.
• Hydrogen and phosphoric acid are the most common type of fuel cells, although fuel
cells that run on methanol, ethanol, and natural gas are also available.
• The most suitable fuel for such cells is hydrogen or a mixture of compounds containing
hydrogen.
• A fuel cell consists of an electrolyte sandwiched between two electrodes. Oxygen
passes over one electrode and hydrogen over the other, and they react
electrochemically to generate electricity, water, and heat.
• Though rapid progress has been made; high initial cost is still the biggest hurdle in the
widespread commercialization of fuel cells.
• The rapidly depleting fossil fuel sources of energy and escalating demand of energy
have made it necessary to look for alternative sources of energy that are known as
renewable or inexhaustible. We can define inexhaustible energy resources as ‘those
resources which can be harnessed without depletion’. Most of these resources are free
from pollution and some of them can be used at all places. These renewable energy
resources are also known as non-conventional or inexhaustible or alternate energy
sources. These energy sources are solar, flowing water, wind, hydrogen and
geothermal. We get renewable solar energy directly from the sun and indirectly from
moving water, wind and biomass. Like fossil fuels and nuclear power, each of these
alternatives renewable sources of energy has their own advantages and disadvantages.
We are going to discuss some of them in detail.

Solar Energy

• Direct solar energy can be used as heat, light, and electricity through the use of solar
cells.
• Direct use of solar energy can be used through various devices broadly directed into
three types of systems a) passive, b) active c) photovoltaic.

Passive solar energy

• As you know some of the earliest uses of solar energy were passive in nature such as to
evaporate sea water for producing salt and to dry food and clothes.
• In fact solar energy is still being used for these purposes. The more recent passive uses
of solar energy is for cooking, heating, cooling and for the day lighting of homes and
buildings.

108 © Yuvraj IAS 2019

Active use of solar energy

• Active solar heating and cooling systems rely on solar collectors which are usually
mounted on roofs.
• Such systems also requires pumps and motors to move the fluids or blow air by fan in
order to deliver the captured heat.
• A number of different active solar heating systems are available. The main application
of these systems is to provide hot water, primarily for domestic use.

Solar cells or photovoltaic technology

• Solar energy can be converted directly into electrical energy (direct current, DC) by
photovoltaic (PV) cells commonly called solar cells.
• Photovoltaic cells are made of silicon and other materials. When sunlight strikes the
silicon atoms it causes electrons to eject. This principle is called as ‘photoelectric
effect’.
• A typical solar cell is a transparent wafer that contains a very thin semiconductor.
• Sunlight energizes and causes electrons in the semiconductor to flow, creating an
electrical current.

Tidal energy

• Tidal power projects attempt to harness the energy of tides as they flow in and out.
• The main criteria for a tidal power generation site are that the mean tidal range must
be greater than 5 metres.
• The tidal power is harnessed by building a dam across the entrance to a bay or estuary
creating a reservoir.
• As the tide rises, water is initially prevented from entering the bay. Then when tides are
high and water is sufficient to run the turbines, the dam is opened and water flows
through it into the reservoir (the bay), turning the blades of turbines and generating
electricity.
• Again when the reservoir (the bay) is filled, the dam is closed, stopping the flow and
holding the water in reservoir when the tide falls (ebb tide), the water level in the
reservoir is higher than that in the ocean.
• The dam is then opened to run the turbines (which are reversible), electricity is
produced as the water is let out of the reservoir.
• The dams built to harness the tidal power adversely affect the vegetation and wildlife.

Hydropower Energy

• Hydroelectric power uses the kinetic energy of moving water to make electricity.
• Generation of electricity by using the force of falling water is called hydroelectricity or
hydel power. It is cheaper than thermal or nuclear power.
• Dams are built to store water at a higher level; which is made to fall to rotate turbines
that generate electricity.
• One of the greatest advantages of hydropower is that once the dam is built and
turbines become operative, it is relatively cheap and clean source of energy.
• Hydropower also has some disadvantages, building of dam seriously disturbs and
damages the natural habitats and some of them are lost forever.

Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE)

109 © Yuvraj IAS 2019

 • The ministry was established as the Ministry of Non-Conventional Energy Sources in
1992. It adopted its current name in October 2006.
• The Ministry is mainly responsible for

1. research and development,

2. intellectual property protection, and
3. international cooperation, promotion, and coordination in renewable energy sources
such as wind power, small hydro, biogas, and solar power.

Aim

• To develop and deploy new and renewable energy for supplementing the energy
requirements of India.

Mission

• Bring in Energy Security;

• Increase the share of clean power;
• Increase Energy Availability and Access;
• Improve Energy Affordability; and
• Maximise Energy Equity.

Initiatives

• Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM)

• Remote Village Lighting Programme
• National Biogas and Manure Management Programme (NBMMP)
• Solar Lantern Programme LALA
• Solar thermal energy Demonstration Programme
• National Biomass Cookstoves Initiative (NBCI)[8]
• National Offshore Wind Energy Authority

Key functional area

• Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA)

• Integrated Rural Energy Programme (IREP);
• Commission for Additional Sources of Energy (CASE);

Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM)

• Also known as the National Solar Mission

• Objective

1. To establish India as a global leader in solar energy, by creating the policy conditions for
its diffusion across the country as quickly as possible.
2. To promote ecologically sustainable growth while addressing India’s energy security
challenges.

• Major contribution by India to the global effort to meet the challenges of climate
change.
• One of the several initiatives that are part of National Action Plan on Climate Change.

110 © Yuvraj IAS 2019

• The program was inaugurated in 2010.
• Initial target was 20GW by 2022 and it was increased to 100 GW in 2015 Union budget.
• Long term goal: Global leader in solar energy; maximum in energy production.
• Immediate goal: Setting up an enabling environment for solar technology penetration
in the country.

Targets are set for three phases

1. First phase 2010-13

2. Second phase 2013–17
3. Third Phase 2017–22

• At each stage progress will be reviewed and roadmap for future targets will be
adopted.
• Total target of 100,000 MW by 2022.
• MNRE has proposed to achieve it through 40,000 MW through Rooftop Solar Projects
and 60,000 MW through Large and Medium Scale solar projects.

Domestic content controversy

• Guidelines for the solar mission mandated cells and modules for solar PV projects
based on crystalline silicon to be manufactured in India.
• This accounts to over 60% of total system costs.
• For solar thermal, guidelines mandated 30% project to have domestic content.
• A vigorous controversy emerged between power project developers and solar PV
equipment manufacturers.
• The former camp prefers to source modules by accessing highly competitive global
market to attain flexible pricing, better quality, predictable delivery and use of latest
technologies.
• The latter camp prefers a controlled/planned environment to force developers to
purchase modules from a small, albeit growing, group of module manufacturers in
India.
• Manufacturers want to avoid competition with global players and are lobbying the
government to incentivize growth of local industry.
• US Trade Representative has filed a complaint at World Trade Organization challenging
India’s domestic content requirements citing discrimination against US exports.
• WTO ruled in favor of USA.

Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA)

• IREDA is a Mini Ratna (Category – I) Government of India Enterprise.

• It is under the administrative control of MNRE.
• IREDA is Public Limited Government Company established as a Non-Banking Financial
Institution in 1987 engaged in promoting, developing and extending financial
assistance for setting up projects relating to new and renewable sources of energy and
energy efficiency/conservation with the motto: “Energy For Ever”.

111 © Yuvraj IAS 2019

Objectives

• To give financial support to specific projects and schemes for generating electricity and
/ or energy through new and renewable sources and conserving energy through energy
efficiency.
• To increase IREDA’s share in the renewable energy sector by way of innovative
financing.

112 © Yuvraj IAS 2019

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