Match List – I with List – II and choose the correct answer using the code given below the lists.
List – I (Iron-ore Mines)
A. Gurumahisani
B. Bailadila
C. Noamundi
D. Kudremukh
List – II (State)
1. J

Question

Match List – I with List – II and choose the correct answer using the code given below the lists.
List – I (Iron-ore Mines)
A. Gurumahisani
B. Bailadila
C. Noamundi
D. Kudremukh
List – II (State)
1. Jharkhand
2. Karnataka
3. Odisha
4. Chhattisgarh
Code :

UnlockIAS · Accepted Answer

Correct — D, A-3, B-4, C-1, D-2. Every pair in this code holds. (A) Gurumahisani — properly Gorumahisani — lies in Rairangpur tahsil of Mayurbhanj district, ODISHA (3); the town is famous for iron-ore mines that are described as the first iron-ore mines developed in India, opened in 1910 by Maharaja Sriram Chandra Bhanj Deo, the ruler of the princely state of Mayurbhanj. (B) Bailadila is a range located near Kirandul town in Dantewada district of southern CHHATTISGARH (4); the hematite raised there is very high grade and is railed to Visakhapatnam port for export to Japan and South Korea, and the deposits are worked by the National Mineral Development Corporation. (C) Noamundi is a census town in West Singhbhum district in JHARKHAND (1), and its mines are run by Tata Steel — a Tata Steel pelletising plant also operated in the town between 1972 and 1986. (D) Kudremukha is a mountain range and peak in Chikmagalur district, KARNATAKA (2), where the state-owned Kudremukha Iron Ore Company Limited (KIOCL) mined for almost thirty years before closing in 2006 on environmental grounds, the Supreme Court having barred the company from operating inside the protected area. Only option (d) puts all four in the right state.

Why the other options are wrong — (a) This is the closest near-miss and the option that catches most candidates. It gets the two eastern mines right — Gurumahisani in Odisha and Bailadila in Chhattisgarh — but then swaps the last pair, putting Noamundi in Karnataka and Kudremukh in Jharkhand. It is the other way round: Noamundi is a town in West Singhbhum district, Jharkhand, and Kudremukh is a Western Ghats peak in Chikmagalur district, Karnataka.  (b) Every one of the four pairs is wrong. It makes both of the possible swaps at once — Gurumahisani is shifted to Chhattisgarh and Bailadila to Odisha, while Noamundi is shifted to Karnataka and Kudremukh to Jharkhand. Correctly, Gurumahisani is in Mayurbhanj district, Odisha, and Bailadila is near Kirandul in Dantewada district, Chhattisgarh.  (c) This option is the mirror image of (a): it fixes the second half correctly — Noamundi in Jharkhand and Kudremukh in Karnataka — but reverses the first pair. Gurumahisani does not belong to Chhattisgarh and Bailadila does not belong to Odisha. Gurumahisani is Odisha's Mayurbhanj-district mine; Bailadila is Chhattisgarh's Bastar-region range, near Kirandul in Dantewada district.

Concept: India's iron ore is concentrated in one broad arc of the peninsular shield, running through Odisha, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh, with a second, separate concentration in Karnataka. Three of the four names in this question sit inside that eastern arc — Gurumahisani in Mayurbhanj (Odisha), Noamundi in West Singhbhum (Jharkhand) and Bailadila in Dantewada (Chhattisgarh) — while Kudremukh is the odd one out, lying far to the south-west in the Western Ghats of Chikmagalur district, Karnataka. Together, these four states supply the overwhelming bulk of India's iron-ore output, which is why UPPSC keeps returning to them.

State PCS 2025 Q96 — Geography PYQ with Answer

State PCS 2025 Q96 — Geography PYQ with Answer