SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 15 September 2025, Shift 3 · General Awareness · Question 21 of 100

We transcribed this text from the pictures on a candidate's response sheet for this shift; the answer is the key SSC colour-marked on that sheet. Solution last reviewed 11 September 2026.

Where this paper and its answers come from

SSC does not publish CGL question papers or a public answer key. From 2025 the candidate response sheet prints every question and option as a picture, so the text here is transcribed from those pictures for this shift and checked against them independently; where the layout carries meaning, the picture is shown as well. Each answer is the key SSC colour-marked on that sheet. SSC released a tentative key for challenge and later its final one, both only to candidates behind a login, and the sheet does not say which of the two it carries. The solutions are written by UnlockIAS.

Which of the following pairs correctly represents agro-based industries?

(a)Cement and Petrochemicals
(b)Cotton textiles and Sugar
(c)Jute textiles and Steel
(d)Edible oil and Aluminium

Answer

Why

Correct — B. NCERT's Class 10 chapter on manufacturing classifies industries by source of raw material.

Its agro-based list is cotton, woollen, jute and silk textiles, rubber, sugar, tea, coffee and edible oil.

Cotton textiles run on a fibre crop and sugar on sugarcane, so cotton textiles and sugar are agro-based on both counts: option (b).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
Cement and Petrochemicals — Both are mineral-based. NCERT groups cement and petrochemicals with iron and steel, aluminium and machine tools.
(c)
Jute textiles and Steel — Only half agro-based. Jute textiles use a fibre crop, but steel is mineral-based, made from iron ore.
(d)
Edible oil and Aluminium — Only half agro-based. Edible oil comes from oilseeds, but aluminium is mineral-based, smelted from bauxite.

Concept

NCERT classifies industries several ways: by raw material (agro-based or mineral-based), by main role (basic or consumer), by capital investment, by ownership, and by bulk of raw material (heavy or light).

This question uses only the raw-material test. Ask what goes into the mill, not what comes out of it.

NCERT defines mineral-based industries as those using minerals and metals as raw materials. Petrochemicals fall there because their raw material comes from crude oil and natural gas, not a crop.

Key facts

Agro-based industries (NCERT): cotton, woollen, jute and silk textiles, rubber, sugar, tea, coffee, edible oil.
Mineral-based industries (NCERT): iron and steel, cement, aluminium, machine tools, petrochemicals.
NCERT notes that sugarcane is bulky and its sucrose content falls in haulage.

Study next

Location factors of the jute industry in the Hugli basinWhy sugar mills stay close to cane-growing areasBasic versus consumer industries

Common traps

Filing petrochemicals as agro-based: NCERT lists them as mineral-based.
Accepting a pair because one half is agro-based: jute with steel and edible oil with aluminium each mix the two groups.

Here the classification is tested through pairs, and only option (b) is agro-based on both sides. The sugar industry is examined at 14 Sep 2025, 12:30, GA Q.22, and iron and steel as a heavy industry at 12 Sep 2025, 16:00, GA Q.23.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

Topic: Geography — all 135 SSC CGL questions on it, every solved shift.