CDS (II) 2022 General Knowledge · Question 5 of 120

Correct — C, Andhra Pradesh. Statement 2 is what decides the question. The Indian Bureau of Mines puts India's chrysotile asbestos resources at 831,905 tonnes as on 1 April 2020, and Andhra Pradesh's entire state total of 797,995 tonnes falls in that grade — roughly 96 per cent of the country's chrysotile, occurring in the Anantapur belt and historically worked around Cuddapah and Pulivendla. Rajasthan holds far more asbestos in bulk, 13.61 million tonnes of a national 22.90 million, and Karnataka 8.28 million, but their material is tremolite, actinolite and mixed amphibole rather than chrysotile. Statement 3 points the same way: the Central Water Commission's National Register of Large Dams carries entry AP01VH0059 as 'Srisailam Project (N.S.R.S.P)' — the Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy Sagar project — on the Krishna, completed in 1984 and registered in the Andhra Pradesh series.

• (a)Jharkhand — Its mineral reputation rests on the Chhotanagpur coal, iron ore, copper and mica. It does hold a little asbestos, about 154,893 tonnes around Singhbhum (East), but that is a fraction of Andhra Pradesh's chrysotile, and there is no Neelam Sanjiva Reddy Sagar project in the state.
• (b)Rajasthan — The strongest trap, because Rajasthan does hold the largest asbestos resources in the country. The variety is wrong. Its Ajmer, Pali, Rajsamand and Udaipur occurrences are tremolite, actinolite and mixed amphibole minerals; the statement asks specifically about chrysotile.
• (d)Chhattisgarh — A coal, iron ore, bauxite, limestone and tin state. It does not appear in the Bureau of Mines state table for asbestos at all, and it has no project of the name given in statement 3.

Asbestos is a trade name for six fibrous silicates in two mineral families. Serpentine asbestos is chrysotile; the amphibole family covers tremolite, actinolite, anthophyllite, amosite and crocidolite. The Bureau of Mines calls chrysotile 'far superior in physical properties, and hence, more valuable' — its fibres are longer, more flexible and more easily spun. That is why a question about the largest deposits of chrysotile has a different answer from a question about the largest deposits of asbestos.

Three statements are offered but only two of them discriminate. The first, that the state is well known globally for its variety of rocks and minerals, is too loose to separate four mineral-rich states and should be set aside rather than argued over; it is scene-setting. Work the second and third instead, and each independently gives Andhra Pradesh. If the mineral clue does not land, the project name will: Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy was the President of India from Andhra Pradesh, and the Srisailam reservoir on the Krishna carries his name in the official register. Two present-day qualifications belong on this card. The Bureau of Mines records that there is at present no working asbestos mine in India, so the figures describe resources in the ground rather than production. And since the 2014 bifurcation the Srisailam dam spans the Krishna gorge between Nandyal district in Andhra Pradesh and Nagarkurnool district in Telangana; the register notes it as common to both states, while keeping it in the Andhra Pradesh series.

• India's chrysotile asbestos resources stood at 831,905 tonnes as on 1 April 2020, of which Andhra Pradesh accounted for 797,995 tonnes.
• Rajasthan holds 13.61 million tonnes and Karnataka 8.28 million tonnes of the national 22.90 million tonnes of asbestos, but in amphibole varieties.
• Chrysotile is serpentine asbestos; tremolite, actinolite, anthophyllite, amosite and crocidolite are the amphiboles.
• There is presently no working asbestos mine in India, on the Bureau of Mines' own record.
• The Srisailam project on the Krishna is registered by the Central Water Commission as Srisailam Project (N.S.R.S.P), completed 1984, 145 m high and 512 m long.

• Answering the asbestos statement with Rajasthan because it leads on total asbestos; the statement names chrysotile.
• Reading statement 1 as a real clue — it fits any mineral-rich state and is not what the item turns on.
• Forgetting that Srisailam is now shared between Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, and treating the whole project as belonging to one side.

As an identify-the-state item built from two or three characteristics, as a mineral-to-state match, or as a dam-to-river pair.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The Srisailam project, officially named Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy Sagar, is built on which one of the following rivers?

  • (a)Godavari
  • (b)Krishna
  • (c)Tungabhadra
  • (d)Pennar

  Answer(b) Krishna — the dam stands in the Nallamala hills on the Krishna, between Nandyal district of Andhra Pradesh and Nagarkurnool district of Telangana.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Which one of the following is a serpentine-group asbestos mineral?

  • (a)Crocidolite
  • (b)Amosite
  • (c)Chrysotile
  • (d)Tremolite

  Answer(c) Chrysotile — it is the only serpentine asbestos; crocidolite, amosite and tremolite all belong to the amphibole group.