Explain the key challenges for India's energy security. What measures do you suggest for ensuring energy security along with…

Explain the key challenges for India's energy security. What measures do you suggest for ensuring energy security along with economic growth and sustainability? (Answer in 250 words) 15 marks

हिंदी में प्रश्न पढ़ें

भारत की ऊर्जा सुरक्षा की प्रमुख चुनौतियों को समझाइए। आर्थिक संवृद्धि तथा संधारणीयता के साथ, ऊर्जा सुरक्षा को सुनिश्चित करने हेतु आप किन उपायों का सुझाव देंगे? (उत्तर 250 शब्दों में दीजिए)

The question as printed in the 2026 General Studies paper

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Model answer

Drafted with AI by UPSC Answer Check against this question's marking rubric, to the 250-word length. UPSC does not publish answers for Mains — this is one way to score well, not an official key. How we build rubrics and answers.

Energy security, meaning reliable, affordable and clean supply, underpins India's growth while it moves towards net zero by 2070.

Key Challenges to Energy Security

Import dependence: India imports nearly 90% of its crude oil (FY26), about half its natural gas and most of its coking coal, exposing it to imported inflation and balance-of-payments stress.
Geopolitical risk: West Asian instability and the Russia-Ukraine war disrupt sea lanes and cause price volatility.
Grid and transition stress: Coal still supplies about three-fourths of electricity, while intermittent solar and wind need storage that is not yet affordable at scale; loss-making discoms deter investment.
Supply-chain concentration: Solar modules, batteries and critical minerals such as lithium depend largely on China.

Measures for Secure, Sustainable Growth

Short term: Expand Strategic Petroleum Reserves (Visakhapatnam, Mangaluru, Padur), diversify crude suppliers and overseas assets, and move beyond the E20 blending achieved in 2025.
Efficiency: The PAT scheme and the Carbon Credit Trading Scheme under the Energy Conservation (Amendment) Act, 2022 lower the energy intensity of growth.
Medium term: PLI schemes for high-efficiency solar modules and Advanced Chemistry Cell batteries, battery storage tenders, and the National Green Hydrogen Mission for hard-to-abate industry.
Long term: Nuclear expansion towards 100 GW by 2047 through Bharat Small Reactors and private participation under the SHANTI Act, 2025.
Global: The ISA's One Sun One World One Grid initiative and the National Critical Mineral Mission (2025) build resilient supply chains.

Combining strategic reserves, domestic clean-tech manufacturing and non-fossil baseload power can reconcile growth, security and decarbonisation.

How this answer will be evaluated

Framework: Situation > Analysis > Measures: legal, institutional, developmental > Assessment

What earns full marks: Identifies 3-4 specific challenges and maps implementable measures to them, addressing growth and sustainability.

Evaluation rubric

Each sub-part is marked on its own, against the marks and word limit printed on the paper.

The answer Explain the key challenges to India's energy security and suggest measures that ensure energy security together with economic growth and sustainability. 15 marks · 250 words

challenges— 3-4 challenges → solutions mapped to them → conclusion
Must cover
- Identify 3-4 distinct challenges (e.g., import dependence, infrastructure gaps).
- Suggest measures mapped to the identified challenges.
- Address economic growth and sustainability in the measures.
- Measures must be implementable, not aspirational.
Loses marks
- Newspaper summary style without analysis.
- Aspirational solutions without implementation details.
- Ignoring the sustainability aspect of the question.
Earns more
- Mention the energy mix (coal, oil, gas, renewables, nuclear) with current import-dependence figures
- Reference specific policy frameworks (SPR, ethanol blending, Green Hydrogen Mission, PLI, SHANTI Act 2025, Critical Mineral Mission)
- Discuss demand-side efficiency and storage/grid technology
- Mention international cooperation (ISA/OSOWOG, supplier diversification, overseas assets)
Extra mark
- One current scheme or target with a number (e.g., 500 GW non-fossil by 2030, 100 GW nuclear by 2047)
- Simple flowchart illustrating energy security strategy

What "Explain" is asking you to do

Make the working of something clear — what sets it off, what follows from what, and what it produces. Explain is the Commission's mechanism word: it dominates the technical papers and the “explain why” stems, where the marks sit in the causal chain and not in the label.

Structure that answers it

State what it is → the initiating condition → the chain of cause, step by step → an instance where it plays out → what the chain produces

Where marks are lost

Describing what something looks like instead of why it works that way. Naming the stages without linking them reads as description too.

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