SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 16 September 2025, Shift 2 · General Awareness · Question 22 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 13 September 2026.

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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.

Read the statements carefully and choose the correct option: Assertion (A): Aluminium smelting is the most important metallurgical industry in India. Reason (R): Aluminium is used in the manufacture of aircraft, wires, and utensils.

(a)Both A and R are true, and R is the correct explanation of A
(b)Both A and R are true, but R is not the correct explanation of A
(c)A is true, but R is false
(d)A is false, but R is true

Answer

Why

Correct — D. A is false. NCERT's Class 10 geography calls aluminium smelting the second most important metallurgical industry in India. Iron and steel is the basic industry the others depend on.

R is true. Aluminium is light, resists corrosion and conducts heat well, and NCERT lists aircraft, utensils and wires among its uses.

A false, R true → option (d).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
Both A and R are true, and R is the correct explanation of A — A is false, so (a) cannot stand. NCERT ranks aluminium smelting second among India's metallurgical industries, behind iron and steel.
(b)
Both A and R are true, but R is not the correct explanation of A — A is false, so no both-true option works. NCERT says second most important, not the most important.
(c)
A is true, but R is false — R is true and A is the false one. This option reverses them: aluminium really is used for aircraft, wires and utensils.

Concept

Metallurgical industries turn mineral ores into metals. NCERT's Class 10 chapter Manufacturing Industries treats iron and steel as the basic industry, since heavy, medium and light industries all depend on it for machinery.

Aluminium smelting comes second. Its raw material is bauxite, a bulky, dark reddish rock. Plants need a regular supply of electricity and an assured source of cheap raw material.

The item turns on one word: most where NCERT says second most.

Key facts

NCERT calls aluminium smelting the second most important metallurgical industry in India.
Iron and steel is the basic industry, since all other industries depend on it for machinery.
Bauxite is the raw material used in aluminium smelters.
Regular electricity and an assured source of cheap raw material are the prime factors in locating an aluminium plant.

Study next

Bauxite-producing States, led by OdishaClassification of industries: basic, consumer, heavy and lightCopper deposits of Balaghat, Khetri and Singbhum

Common traps

Accepting most important because aluminium is so widely used: NCERT ranks it second, after iron and steel.
Marking (a) because R sounds like a reason: once A is false, whether R explains it does not arise.

NCERT's industry chapter also appears at 14 Sep 2025, 09:00, GA Q.21, where aluminium smelting is a basic industry set against the keyed consumer good, toothpaste.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

Topic: Economic Scene — all 144 SSC CGL questions on it, every solved shift.