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Geography Optional 300+ Score Pack · Model answer

Why are critical minerals essential for the economic development and national security in India?

  • UPSC 2023
  • Resources

Criticality is not scarcity. A mineral is critical when it combines high economic importance with high supply risk — that is, when substitution is difficult, the deposit base is geographically concentrated, and processing is concentrated further still.

You are reading the opening of the model answer. The full answer is part of the Geography Optional 300+ Score Pack.

What the full answer covers

  • What makes a mineral critical
  • Why they are essential to economic development
  • 1. They are the physical basis of the energy transition
  • 2. They determine whether manufacturing policy succeeds
  • 3. They shift where value accrues
  • Why they are essential to national security
  • …and 4 more sections, with a conclusion

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