Despite India being one of the countries of the Gondwanaland, its mining industry contributes much less to its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in percentage. Discuss.
Question source: insightsonindia.com
Write a timed answer in the appCurrent affairs to use in your answer
Nearly 40% of coal power plants are critically low on fuel · 22 September 2026 · Covers one part · use it in the example
Shows that India's mineral wealth is held back by extraction and evacuation bottlenecks, using coal as the example.
- India produces over a billion tonnes of coal a year and Coal India held about 76 million tonnes at pitheads in early September, yet 74 plants ran critically low.
- Cite limited rail rakes and congested routes between mines in the east and plants in the north and west.
- Monsoon rains flood mines and slow output, and discom dues to generators and of generators to Coal India limit purchases.
The missing measure in India's rare-earth magnet mission · 21 September 2026 · Covers one part · use it in the example
Shows why mineral endowment does not become value added: India has rare-earth deposits but lacks downstream processing stages.
- India has mining, separation and oxide-refining capacity but lacks the oxide-to-metal, metal-to-alloy and alloy-to-magnet stages, according to official documents.
- India's rare earths occur mainly in beach sand monazite, which contains thorium, so mining is tightly regulated; IREL is the main public sector producer.
- The author notes a statistical gap, with the domestic magnet market put at about ₹750 crore while trade data show much higher imports.