Mineral and Energy Resources Class 12 NCERT Solutions 2026-27

Each MCQ tests one specific chapter fact. Anchoring on the chapter's named places (Digboi, Tarapur) and the renewable or non-renewable dichotomy is enough to pick up full marks.

• (i) Assam's oilfield story. Digboi struck oil in 1867 and began producing in 1889, making it Asia's oldest commercial oilfield. Naharkatiya and Moran joined in the 1950s. Together they make Assam one of India's top three oil-producing states. Bihar, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu do not feature in the chapter's named-states list for oil. Answer: (a).
• (ii) Tarapur, the first. Tarapur Atomic Power Station (TAPS) began generating commercial nuclear power on 28 October 1969. Two boiling-water reactors of 160 MW each made it not just India's first but Asia's first commercial nuclear plant. Rana Pratap Sagar followed in 1973, Kalpakkam in 1984, Narora in 1989. Answer: (d).
• (iii) Renewable vs non-renewable. The renewable list (solar, wind, hydel, biomass, tidal, geothermal) shares one feature: nature replenishes them on a timescale humans can plan around. Thermal power burns coal or natural gas; both are fossil fuels that took millions of years to form and cannot recharge meaningfully in a human lifetime. Answer: (c).

For energy MCQs, hold two lists in your head: renewables (sun, wind, hydel, biomass, tides, geothermal) and non-renewables (coal, oil, gas, nuclear). The MCQ picks one item and asks which list it belongs to.

(i) (a); (ii) (d); (iii) (c).

For 30-word answers, the trick is two named regions per sub-part and one defining characteristic. That structure alone earns full marks in most CBSE marking schemes.

• (i) Mica in detail. The Koderma belt in Jharkhand is India's principal mica zone; the Nellore belt of Andhra Pradesh is the second; the Bhilwara and Ajmer pockets in Rajasthan add the third. India was the world's largest mica producer for decades; output has fallen as synthetic substitutes have replaced electronic-grade mica.
• (ii) Nuclear power, all six stations. Definition: fission heat boils water to drive a turbine generator. India's six stations: Tarapur (Maharashtra, first, 1969), Rana Pratap Sagar (Rajasthan), Kalpakkam (Tamil Nadu), Narora (UP), Kaiga (Karnataka), Kakrapar (Gujarat). The Department of Atomic Energy operates them through the Nuclear Power Corporation of India. Uranium comes from Jharkhand; thorium from Kerala's monazite sands.
• (iii) Non-ferrous, regional belts. Copper: Khetri (Rajasthan), Singhbhum (Jharkhand), Balaghat (MP). Hindustan Copper Limited runs the smelters. Bauxite: Amarkantak plateau, Maikala range, the Eastern Ghats; Odisha alone holds about half of India's reserves. Lead-Zinc: Zawar (Rajasthan), Sargipalli (Odisha), Rampura-Agucha (Rajasthan). Gold: Kolar (closed) and Hutti (Karnataka).
• (iv) Five non-conventional sources, by region. Solar (Rajasthan, Gujarat, Karnataka); Wind (Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Gujarat); Biomass (Punjab paddy stubble, sugar-mill bagasse, dairy gobar); Tidal (Gulf of Kachchh, Sundarbans); Geothermal (Puga Valley in Ladakh, Manikaran in Himachal). The National Solar Mission and the Wind-Solar Hybrid Policy are the main central schemes.

Examiners reward students who pair each mineral or energy source with a named region. Doing this once builds a state-by-state minerals-and-energy map that you can reuse for short-answer and long-answer questions across the chapter.

Mica: Koderma, Nellore, Bhilwara. Nuclear: controlled fission; six stations (Tarapur first). Non-ferrous: copper (Khetri), bauxite (Amarkantak), lead-zinc (Zawar), gold (Hutti). Non-conventional: solar, wind, biomass, tidal, geothermal.

Q 5.3(i) and Q 5.3(ii) are parallel essays: one on a non-renewable fuel, the other on a renewable electricity source. Use a four-row scaffold for both: reserves or definition, production or history, major sites, and policy or challenges. The 150-word budget falls into place naturally.

• (i) Petroleum, four-row essay.
  • Reserves: Assam basin (Digboi, Naharkatiya), Gujarat basin (Ankleshwar, Kalol), western offshore (Mumbai High), with newer reserves in the Krishna-Godavari and Cauvery basins.
  • Production: India produces roughly 30 million tonnes a year; demand is about 230 million tonnes, so imports cover about 85%.
  • Major sites: Digboi (oldest), Mumbai High (largest), Ankleshwar (largest onshore), and refineries at Mathura, Jamnagar (Reliance, one of the world's largest), Koyali and Paradip.
  • Policy: HELP-2016 unified all hydrocarbons under one licensing regime; the Strategic Petroleum Reserve at Visakhapatnam, Mangalore and Padur stores emergency crude.
• (ii) Hydel power, four-row essay.
  • Definition and origin: hydel power converts the kinetic energy of falling water into electricity via a turbine; Sivasamudram (1902) was India's first plant.
  • Capacity: India's installed hydel capacity is roughly 47 GW (2023), about 11% of total power installed.
  • Major projects, region-wise: Bhakra-Nangal, Tehri (north); Hirakud, DVC (east); Sardar Sarovar, Indira Sagar, Koyna (west and central); Mettur, Sharavati, Idukki, Srisailam, Nagarjunasagar (south).
  • Policy and outlook: the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation leads big-dam projects; small-hydel and pumped-storage are gaining importance as India ramps up solar and wind. Displacement and ecological costs have pushed for community consent and rehabilitation packages.

For Q 5.3(i) name at least three basins, two major fields, one refinery and one policy. For Q 5.3(ii) name at least four major projects across four regions, one capacity figure and one named concern. Examiners reward this kind of state-and-figure precision over generic prose.

India's petroleum is concentrated in Assam (Digboi), Gujarat (Ankleshwar) and the western offshore (Mumbai High), with 80%+ import dependence and big refineries at Jamnagar and Koyali. Hydel power (India's oldest organised electricity from 1902 at Sivasamudram) supplies about 47 GW across Bhakra-Tehri-Hirakud-DVC-Sardar Sarovar-Koyna-Mettur-Sharavati-Idukki-Srisailam.