With reference to India, consider the following statements :
- 1.Monazite is a source of rare earths.
- 2.Monazite contains thorium.
- 3.Monazite occurs naturally in the entire Indian coastal sands in India.
- 4.In India, Government bodies only can process or export monazite.
Which of the statements given above are correct ?
Show answer
Answer: B. Statement 1 is correct: monazite is a phosphate mineral and a major source of rare earth elements. Statement 2 is correct: it contains thorium, a nuclear fuel. Statement 3 is wrong: it occurs in beach sands of certain states like Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh, not the entire coast. Statement 4 is correct: as a prescribed atomic mineral, only government bodies such as IREL can process or export it. So 1, 2 and 4.
Watch for: Words like 'entire' are a signal; monazite is found only in specific coastal stretches.
Why the other options are wrong
- A. Wrong because monazite is not found along the entire Indian coast.
- C. Wrong because statement 3 is incorrect and 1 and 2 are correct.
- D. Wrong because statement 3 is incorrect.
Source to check: Department of Atomic Energy and IREL (irel.co.in) websites; Atomic Energy Act, 1962 and the 2019 notification on beach sand minerals policy
Answer from the official UPSC key. Written and fact-checked by AI against the official key. Spotted a mistake? Report it.