UPSC Prelims 2015 · Question 58 of 98
UPSC Prelims 2015 question on Coking Coal Imports
- ExamUPSC CSE
- Year2015
- PaperGeneral Studies Paper I
- SubjectGeography
- TopicIndian Geography
- DifficultyMedium
- TypeDirect
In India, the steel production industry requires the import of
Show answer
Answer: C. coking coal
Verdict
The answer is coking coal. Indian steel production depends on imported coking coal.
Analysis
Coking coal is the reducing agent and fuel in blast furnace ironmaking, and Indian reserves are largely of high ash, poor coking quality, so the industry imports substantial quantities from Australia and elsewhere. Saltpetre is potassium nitrate, used in fertiliser and explosives rather than steelmaking, and India produces it domestically. Rock phosphate is a fertiliser input and India does import it heavily, but it has no role in steel. Since two of the three listed items are not steel inputs at all, the fourth option fails as well.
How to crack it
Ask what the industry physically consumes before asking what the country imports, because the question joins two separate facts and only the first one filters the options. Steelmaking needs iron ore, coking coal, limestone and energy; fertiliser inputs are irrelevant to it. India is rich in iron ore and poor in coking coal, which is why the import dependence falls on exactly one item. Pair each major industry with the one input India must import, since that pairing is what UPSC tests. The PDF gives no usable source for this row.