Mention any two major regions of concentration of minerals in India.

OR

Mention any two main ‘non-conventional’ energy sources, mainly used in India.

The metallic minerals are mostly concentrated in the peninsular plateau region of India. More than 97% of the coal reserves occur in the Damodar, Sone, Mahanadi and Godavari valleys. The sedimentary basins of Assam, Gujarat and Mumbai High are major sources of petroleum reserves. There are 3 broad belts in India where minerals are concentrated. These major regions are as follows:

1. North-Eastern Plateau Region – This belt extends from Chhotanagpur in Jharkhand, Odisha Plateau, West Bengal and some parts of Chattisgarh. It is a source for a variety of minerals like iron ore, coal, manganese, bauxite and mica.

2. South-Western Plateau Region – This belt covers southern parts of the country like Karnataka, Goa and contiguous Tamil Nadu uplands and Kerala. It is a rich source of iron ore, manganese and limestone. Apart from this, deposits of monazite, thorium and bauxite clay are found in Kerala and that of iron ore are found in Goa.

OR

Energy that is generated by using elements of nature that are renewable and inexhaustible are known as non-conventional energy sources. These sources do not cause harm to the environment and also do not involve huge expenditure after the initial cost is incurred. Conventional sources like coal, petroleum, natural gas and nuclear energy are all exhaustible. Non-conventional energy sources include solar energy, wind energy, hydro-geothermal energy and biomass. These sources are also distributed equally and environment friendly. The two main non-conventional energy sources are as follows:

Solar energy – It is produced by tapping sun rays in photovoltaic cells and converting it to energy.

Wind energy – This source involves tapping the kinetic energy of wind in turbines and converting it into electrical energy.