Match List-I with List-II and select the correct answer using the codes given below the lists : List-I (Minerals): (i) Copper (ii) Diamond (iii) Slate (iv) Bauxite; List-II (Main area): 1. Mandsaur 2. Shahdol 3. Baihar 4. Hinota Codes :
- (a)(i)-2, (ii)-1, (iii)-4, (iv)-3
- (b)(i)-3, (ii)-4, (iii)-1, (iv)-2
- (c)(i)-4, (ii)-3, (iii)-2, (iv)-1
- (d)(i)-2, (ii)-4, (iii)-1, (iv)-3
Correct — B, (i)-3, (ii)-4, (iii)-1, (iv)-2. Copper–Baihar: Balaghat district is India's copper heartland, and the Malanjkhand deposit in the Baihar belt of Balaghat — worked by Hindustan Copper Ltd — is the country's largest copper ore body. Diamond–Hinota: Panna district's diamonds come out of kimberlite pipes, and the Majhgawan–Hinota pipe is the diamond-bearing body of that belt, India's only organised diamond-mining area. Slate–Mandsaur: Mandsaur, in western Madhya Pradesh, is the district associated with the state's slate deposits. Bauxite–Shahdol: Shahdol, on the Amarkantak plateau, is one of MP's principal lateritic bauxite districts, alongside Anuppur, Katni and Mandla.
- (a)(i)-2, (ii)-1, (iii)-4, (iv)-3 — All four pairs fail. It sends copper to Shahdol (a bauxite district) and bauxite to Baihar (the copper belt) — a straight inversion of the two easiest pairs — and additionally places diamond at Mandsaur and slate at Hinota.
- (c)(i)-4, (ii)-3, (iii)-2, (iv)-1 — It puts diamond at Baihar (Balaghat) — precisely the error UPSC itself planted in 2007 with 'Balaghat is known for its diamond mines' — and copper at Hinota, which is the Panna diamond locality. Slate and bauxite are misplaced too.
- (d)(i)-2, (ii)-4, (iii)-1, (iv)-3 — The near-miss that draws the most marks. Diamond–Hinota and slate–Mandsaur are right, but copper and bauxite are swapped: copper is given to Shahdol and bauxite to Baihar. One pair of districts separates this from the key.
Madhya Pradesh's mineral map rests on a few distinct geological settings, and once you attach the deposit type to the district the matching becomes automatic. Malanjkhand in Balaghat is a granitoid-hosted copper deposit — India's largest — and the reason MP figures at the very top of the country's copper-ore output. Panna's diamonds sit in kimberlite pipes (Majhgawan–Hinota), the only organised diamond mining in India. Bauxite in MP is lateritic and clusters on the Amarkantak plateau across Shahdol, Anuppur, Katni and Mandla. Slate is a western-MP occurrence, associated with Mandsaur.
Two anchors settle the whole question: copper = Balaghat (Malanjkhand / Baihar) and diamond = Panna (Majhgawan–Hinota). Every wrong option breaks at least one of them. If you can hold only one fact, hold copper–Balaghat — MPPSC itself keyed Madhya Pradesh as India's number-one copper producer in 2021–22, and Balaghat is the reason. Note the printed Codes block is a bare digit grid under the (i)(ii)(iii)(iv) headers, so read the option in that column order.
- Copper: Malanjkhand, in the Baihar belt of Balaghat district — Hindustan Copper Ltd's project and India's largest copper deposit.
- Diamond: the Majhgawan–Hinota kimberlite pipe in Panna district — India's only organised diamond-mining belt.
- Bauxite: Shahdol and the Amarkantak plateau districts (Anuppur, Katni, Mandla) — lateritic bauxite.
- Slate: Mandsaur district, western Madhya Pradesh.
The two highlighted pairs alone eliminate every wrong option: (a), (c) and (d) each misplace copper or diamond.
- Balaghat is copper, not diamond — UPSC built an entire 2007 question around that exact confusion.
- Hinota and Majhgawan both lie in the Panna diamond belt; do not read Hinota as a district in its own right.
- Shahdol is bauxite. The copper district (Balaghat) and the bauxite districts (Shahdol, Katni, Anuppur) are routinely swapped inside options.
Mineral ↔ place is a standing MPPSC format — Malanjkhand in 2021, MP's copper rank in 2023, bauxite in 2024, this four-pair match in 2025. UPSC asks it either as a mineral ↔ location match or as a two-statement pair designed to swap two districts.
Consider the following statements : 1. Balaghat is known for its diamond mines. 2. Majhgawan is known for its manganese deposits. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
- (a) 1 only
- (b) 2 only
- (c) Both 1 and 2
- (d) Neither 1 nor 2
Answer(d) Neither 1 nor 2 — Balaghat is a copper district and Majhgawan is a diamond locality.
UPSC built a whole question out of the two errors this match-set punishes: Balaghat is copper, not diamond, and Majhgawan (Panna) is diamond, not manganese.
Match List I (Minerals) with List II (Location) and select the correct answer: List I (A) Coal (B) Copper (C) Manganese (D) Lignite List II 1. Giridih 2. Jayankondam 3. Alwar 4. Dharwar
- (a) A-1 B-4 C-3 D-2
- (b) A-2 B-3 C-4 D-1
- (c) A-1 B-3 C-4 D-2
- (d) A-2 B-4 C-3 D-1
Answer(c) A-1 B-3 C-4 D-2 — Coal–Giridih, Copper–Alwar, Manganese–Dharwar, Lignite–Jayankondam
The identical mineral ↔ location matching format, asked at the national scale rather than within Madhya Pradesh.
Hindustan Copper Ltd.’s copper project is in which town of Madhya Pradesh, which is also known as the ‘Copper City’?
- (a) Jagandheri
- (b) Chakharia
- (c) Imaliya
- (d) Malanjkhand
Answer(d) Malanjkhand
The same copper locality — Malanjkhand in Balaghat is the deposit that stands behind the Copper–Baihar pair in this question.
Which position did Madhya Pradesh hold in copper production in India during the year 2021 – 22 ?
- (a) Fourth
- (b) Second
- (c) First
- (d) Third
Answer(c) First
Same copper-in-MP theme from the output angle — MP's leading position rests on the Balaghat/Malanjkhand belt matched here.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Malanjkhand, the site of India's largest copper deposit, lies in which district of Madhya Pradesh?
- (a)Balaghat
- (b)Shahdol
- (c)Panna
- (d)Mandsaur
Answer(a) Balaghat — Hindustan Copper Ltd's Malanjkhand project is in the Baihar belt of Balaghat district.
- practice — not a real PYQ
India's only organised diamond mining is carried out from kimberlite pipes located in which district?
- (a)Chhatarpur
- (b)Panna
- (c)Satna
- (d)Rewa
Answer(b) Panna — the Majhgawan–Hinota kimberlite pipes.