Match List I with List II and select the correct answer using the code given below the Lists : List I (Classification of resources) A. Basic inexhaustible resource B. Conventional non-renewable resource C. Non-conventional renewable resource D. Non-conventional non-renewable resource List II (Example) 1. Hydel power 2. Coal 3. Solar energy 4. Natural gas Code : A B C D
- (a)3 2 1 4
- (b)3 1 2 4
- (c)4 1 2 3
- (d)4 2 1 3
Correct — A, the code 3 2 1 4. Two anchors settle the whole match. A basic inexhaustible resource is one that the earth receives whatever we do with it, and of the four examples only solar energy, item 3, fits — the Sun's supply is not depleted by use. A conventional non-renewable resource is coal, item 2 — conventional because it has powered industry and railways for two centuries, non-renewable because its stock took geological time to form. Once A is 3 and B is 2, only option (a) survives, and it assigns hydel power, item 1, to the non-conventional renewable class and natural gas, item 4, to the non-conventional non-renewable class.
- (b)3 1 2 4 — It starts correctly with solar energy but then calls hydel power a conventional NON-RENEWABLE resource. Running water is replenished by the hydrological cycle every year, so hydel power cannot sit in a non-renewable box whatever else you decide about it.
- (c)4 1 2 3 — It puts natural gas in the basic inexhaustible class and solar energy in the non-conventional non-renewable class — both inversions. Gas is a finite fossil fuel; sunlight is the standard example of an inexhaustible flow.
- (d)4 2 1 3 — Coal is placed correctly, but natural gas is again made the basic inexhaustible resource and solar energy is pushed into the non-renewable box. The first pairing alone is enough to reject this code.
Resources are sorted along two independent axes. One asks whether the stock is replenished — renewable flows such as sunlight, wind and running water against non-renewable stocks such as coal, petroleum and natural gas. The other asks how established the technology is — conventional sources such as coal, oil and firewood against non-conventional ones such as solar, wind, tidal and geothermal. Combining the two axes gives the four boxes in List I.
Answer this by anchoring the two pairings you can defend, not by arguing about the other two. Solar is inexhaustible and coal is conventional and non-renewable; those two fix option (a) uniquely. It is worth saying plainly that the remaining two pairings are unusual — in most Indian geography textbooks hydel power and natural gas are both listed under CONVENTIONAL sources, hydel as renewable and gas as non-renewable, so calling them non-conventional here does not follow the standard scheme. The official key marks (a), and the elimination route reaches (a) without needing to endorse that labelling.
- Renewable resources are replenished within a human time-scale; non-renewable stocks such as coal, petroleum and natural gas are not.
- Conventional sources in the Indian classification are firewood, coal, petroleum, natural gas and electricity from thermal and hydel stations.
- Non-conventional sources are solar, wind, tidal, geothermal, biogas and nuclear energy.
- Solar energy is the standard example of an inexhaustible flow, since using it does not reduce the supply.
- Hydel power is renewable because the hydrological cycle restores the water, even though the dam itself is a large fixed structure.
Solar in the first box and coal in the second leave only the code 3 2 1 4, option (a).
- Arguing with a classification instead of anchoring on the pairings that are beyond dispute.
- Treating hydel power as non-renewable because a dam is a permanent structure.
- Assuming every fossil fuel is conventional and every clean source non-conventional — the two axes are independent.
Resource questions come as four-box matches, as 'which is a non-conventional source', or as statements about renewability that must be judged true or false.
With reference to two non-conventional energy sources called 'coalbed methane' and 'shale gas', consider the following statements: 1. Coalbed methane is the pure methane gas extracted from coal seams, while shale gas is a mixture of propane and butane only that can be extracted from fine-grained sedimentary rocks. 2. In India, abundant coalbed methane sources exist, but so far no shale gas sources have been found. 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
The same vocabulary of conventional and non-conventional energy sources, tested on what each source actually is.
Bagalihar, Dulhasti and Salal hydro power projects have been developed on which of the following rivers?
- (a) Chenab and Jhelum
- (b) Chenab and Indus
- (c) Ravi
- (d) Chenab only
Answer(d) Chenab only
The same hydel resource seen from the ground — where India's water power is actually generated.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Which one of the following is an inexhaustible source of energy?
- (a)Coal
- (b)Natural gas
- (c)Solar energy
- (d)Lignite
Answer(c) Solar energy — the supply is not depleted by use, unlike the three fossil fuels listed.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Hydel power is classified as a renewable resource because
- (a)Dams last for a very long time
- (b)The water is replenished by the hydrological cycle
- (c)It produces no electricity at night
- (d)It uses a fossil fuel efficiently
Answer(b) The water is replenished by the hydrological cycle — the stock renews itself within a human time-scale.