RAS question
In the workshop, urban mining was highlighted mainly through recycling of which materials?
Correct answer: (D) Electronic waste and end-of-life batteries.
In the Ministry of Mines workshop, urban mining was highlighted mainly through recycling electronic waste and end-of-life batteries.
Explanation
The PIB release places the workshop in the context of developing India’s critical minerals value chain, with a strong focus on secondary resources and recycling. Within that frame, it says the deliberations emphasised the growing importance of urban mining, particularly through recycling e-waste and end-of-life batteries. That is why option D is the best answer: it identifies the two recycling streams named for urban mining in the workshop. The other options either refer to unrelated materials or to freshly mined inputs, while the release’s logic is about recovering value from waste and end-of-life streams rather than extracting new raw material.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) Agricultural residues and canal silt are not the materials named in the release for explaining urban mining at the workshop.
- (B) Limestone and river sand do not match the release’s focus on urban mining through recycling e-waste and end-of-life batteries.
- (C) Freshly mined coal and iron ore run against the cited idea of urban mining, which the release links to recycling and secondary resources.
Concept
This tests the Environment and Ecology theme of circular economy and resource recovery. It recurs in RAS because critical minerals, recycling, and waste-to-resource policy connect environmental governance with industrial development.