In India, the steel production industry requires the import of
- (a) saltpetre
- (b) rock phosphate
- (c) coking coal ✓ UPSC's answer
- (d) All of the above
Why the answer is (c)
• Steel-making in blast furnaces needs coking (metallurgical) coal; India's coal is mostly high-ash non-coking coal, so it imports 50–60 million tonnes of coking coal a year, mainly from Australia — option (c).
• Saltpetre (a) is used in gunpowder and fertiliser; rock phosphate (b) is imported for phosphatic fertilisers — neither is a steel input.
• Hence option (c).
Why the other options are wrong
- (a) saltpetre
- Saltpetre is not used in steel production.
- (b) rock phosphate
- Rock phosphate is a fertiliser input, not steel.
- (d) All of the above
- Only coking coal is a steel input.
Asked in the GS Paper I of the UPSC Civil Services Preliminary Examination 2015, held on 23 August 2015. Question and answer key: Union Public Service Commission. Explanation: UPSC Answer Check.