The first sugar industry based on beet-root was established at –

Correct — option (1), Sri Ganganagar.

RPSC's final key gives Sri Ganganagar as the place where the first sugar industry based on beet-root was established.

The Ganganagar District Gazetteer says the town's sugar mill was started in 1937 by a few businessmen of Bikaner, began crushing in 1945-46 as the Bikaner Industrial Corporation, and became a Rajasthan Government controlled undertaking from 1 July 1956.

The company's archived website adds that it was renamed The Ganganagar Sugar Mills Ltd. in January 1957 and Rajasthan State Ganganagar Sugar Mills Ltd. (RSGSM) from 14 May 1993. Its listed objectives include making sugar "from sugarcane and sugar beet".

The crop behind beet sugar is the sugar beet, a cultivar group of the common beet, Beta vulgaris, grown for the sucrose stored in its root.

RPSC's key ties beet sugar to Sri Ganganagar; Bhopalsagar's 1937 mill used sugarcane.

Why the others are wrong

• (2)
  Bhopalsagar — Bhopalsagar, in Chittaurgarh district, is home to the Mewar Sugar Mills Ltd. The Chittaurgarh District Gazetteer dates the factory to 1937 and says it used the sugar-cane grown in the State.

  That makes it an early cane-based mill, not a beet-based one. Its age can make it look like the answer to a "first" question.

• (3)
  Keshoraypatan — Keshoraypatan (also spelt Keshoraipatan), in Bundi district, is the seat of Shri Keshoraipatan Sahkari Sugar Mills Ltd., a co-operative sugar mill named in a schedule of the Rajasthan Legislative Assembly's Rules of Procedure.

  The Bundi District Gazetteer of 1964 still described a large sugar factory at Keshoraipatan as expected in the near future. It is not the beet-sugar site the key names.

• (4)
  Udaipur — Udaipur was the capital of the former Mewar State, per the Chittaurgarh District Gazetteer. Bhopalsagar, home of the cane-based Mewar Sugar Mills, was once a tahsil of Udaipur district; the same Gazetteer records its villages being merged into Kapasan tahsil of Chittaurgarh district.

  The beet-sugar site in RPSC's key is Sri Ganganagar, in the far north of the state.

Sugar is made from two main crops: sugarcane and sugar beet. Sugar beet is a cultivar group of the common beet, Beta vulgaris, whose root holds a high concentration of sucrose; the table beetroot is another cultivar of the same species.

Sugar beet is mainly grown in temperate climates, many of them too cold for sugarcane.

The mills named in the options differ in history. Sri Ganganagar's began in 1937 and became a state undertaking in 1956; the Mewar Sugar Mills at Bhopalsagar dates from 1937 and used cane; Keshoraipatan's is a co-operative.

Key facts

• Per the Ganganagar District Gazetteer, the Sri Ganganagar sugar factory was started in 1937 by Bikaner businessmen and began crushing in 1945-46.
• The Rajasthan Government took control of the Sri Ganganagar mill from 1 July 1956; it became Rajasthan State Ganganagar Sugar Mills Ltd. from 14 May 1993.
• RSGSM's listed objectives include manufacturing sugar from sugarcane and sugar beet.
• The Mewar Sugar Mills at Bhopalsagar, Chittaurgarh district, was established in 1937 and used sugarcane, per the Chittaurgarh District Gazetteer.
• Sugar beet is a cultivar group of the common beet, Beta vulgaris, grown for the sucrose in its root.

Common traps

• Bhopalsagar's mill dates from 1937, so a "first" question can pull towards it. It used sugarcane, and the stem asks about beet.
• The Ganganagar Gazetteer's account of the 1960s describes the Sri Ganganagar mill crushing sugarcane. Its 1937 founding date is no evidence of beet sugar.
• Bhopalsagar was once a tahsil of Udaipur district, and its mill carries the Mewar name. Neither link makes Udaipur a beet-sugar site.

UnlockIAS will link similar questions from RAS Pre 2021 and 2018 here once those papers are published on this site.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The Mewar Sugar Mills, established in 1937, is located at –

  • (a)Bhopalsagar
  • (b)Sri Ganganagar
  • (c)Keshoraipatan
  • (d)Udaipur
  Answer(1) — The Chittaurgarh District Gazetteer places the Mewar Sugar Mills Ltd. at Bhopalsagar and dates it to 1937. Option (2), Sri Ganganagar, has the Ganganagar Sugar Mills. Option (3), Keshoraipatan, has a co-operative mill. Option (4), Udaipur, was Mewar State's capital; Bhopalsagar was once in Udaipur district, but the mill stands at Bhopalsagar.
• practice — not a real PYQ

  Which of the following is a co-operative sugar mill of Rajasthan ?

  • (a)The Mewar Sugar Mills Ltd.
  • (b)Shri Keshoraipatan Sahkari Sugar Mills Ltd.
  • (c)Rajasthan State Ganganagar Sugar Mills Ltd.
  • (d)Shree Sadul Textiles Ltd.
  Answer(2) — Sahkari means co-operative, and the mill's name in the Rajasthan Legislative Assembly's Rules of Procedure carries the word. Option (1), per the Chittaurgarh Gazetteer, began as a private concern and later became a public limited one. Option (3) is a Rajasthan Government undertaking. Option (4) was a cotton textile company at Ganganagar.