MP Minerals and Energy: Panna Diamonds and Singrauli

Madhya Pradesh sits on the old crystalline and Gondwana rocks of peninsular India, and that is why it is one of the richest mineral states of the country while its neighbours in the plains have almost nothing. It is the only state that produces diamonds, it holds the largest copper deposit worked in India, it is a leading producer of manganese, limestone and coal, and the coal in turn has made its eastern corner one of the great power regions of the country. The chapter is asked as a set of pairs, a mineral with its district and a power station with its river or coalfield, so the whole of it can be learnt from two tables.

The mineral belts

Minerals occur in three belts: the Vindhyan and Bundelkhand rocks of the north, where diamonds, limestone and pyrophyllite lie; the Gondwana basins of the east, which carry coal; and the ancient rocks of the Satpura and the Maikal range in the south east, which hold copper, manganese and bauxite. The state has no petroleum or natural gas of its own.

The diamonds of Panna

Panna is the one place in India where diamonds are mined in any quantity. They occur in kimberlite pipes and in the gravels washed out of them, and the mine at Majhgawan near Panna town is worked by the National Mineral Development Corporation, while shallow pits are leased to local diggers who bring what they find to a government office for valuation and auction. Candidates should also know the Bunder deposit in Chhatarpur district, the other diamond bearing ground of Bundelkhand, which is being developed.

Energy: coal, water and sun

Singrauli is called the energy capital of India, and the name belongs to both sides of the state border: the coal is in the Singrauli district of Madhya Pradesh and in Sonbhadra of Uttar Pradesh, and the power stations stand around the coalfield and the Rihand reservoir. The largest of them is Vindhyachal in Singrauli, the biggest thermal power station in India, and the state has other large coal fired stations at Sarni in Betul, called Satpura, at Birsinghpur in Umaria, at Chachai near Amarkantak and at Dongalia in Khandwa.

Water power comes from the Narmada above all. Indira Sagar at Punasa in Khandwa district is the largest reservoir of the state and the key storage of the Narmada valley plan, with Omkareshwar and Maheshwar below it and Bargi near Jabalpur above. Bansagar on the Son in Shahdol and Sidhi, Tawa in Narmadapuram, Gandhi Sagar on the Chambal in Mandsaur and Rajghat on the Betwa, shared with Uttar Pradesh, are the other projects worth naming. Madhya Pradesh has no nuclear power station, which is a favourite negative question.

Solar power is the newest chapter. The Rewa solar park in Rewa district was one of the largest single site solar parks in the country when it was commissioned and its power is bought partly by the Delhi Metro, the first such sale of solar power to a customer outside the state. Further parks have come up at Neemuch, Agar and Shajapur, and the Narmada canals carry floating and canal top solar panels.

Why the pattern matters

Minerals explain where industry sits in Madhya Pradesh. Cement works cluster at Satna, Katni, Damoh and Neemuch because the limestone is there; the copper smelter and concentrator are at Malanjkhand because the ore is there; the aluminium and refractory units follow the bauxite of Katni and Jabalpur; and the power stations sit on the coalfields of the east rather than near the cities that use the electricity. For the examination, keep Panna for diamonds, Balaghat for copper and manganese, Satna for limestone and cement, Singrauli for coal and Vindhyachal, Khandwa for Indira Sagar and Rewa for solar.