What is the total outlay approved for the National Green Hydrogen Mission?

The correct answer is C, Diu. Diu, on the coast of Gujarat, was declared the first union territory in India to run entirely on solar power. It built a solar park on rocky waste land near the coast and added rooftop plants on government buildings, and together these meet its full daytime demand, so the territory no longer draws power from outside during the day. Option A is wrong because the Andaman and Nicobar Islands have long depended on diesel generation and are now adding solar and diesel hybrid systems island by island. Option B is wrong because Chandigarh is promoted as a model solar city with compulsory rooftop installation on larger buildings, but it still draws most of its power from the northern grid. Option D is wrong because Puducherry has rooftop and solar pump programmes but was never declared fully solar powered.

The correct answer is C, Electrolysis of water using renewable electricity. Hydrogen is called green only when the electricity that splits the water comes from a renewable source such as solar or wind, so that no carbon dioxide is released in making it. Option A is wrong because steam reforming of natural gas is the route for grey hydrogen, which is the cheapest and the most widely used route today and releases carbon dioxide to the air; the same route with carbon capture gives blue hydrogen. Option B is wrong because gasification of coal or lignite gives brown or black hydrogen, the route with the highest emissions of all. Option D is wrong because fractional distillation separates petroleum into fractions such as petrol, kerosene and diesel and is not a method of producing hydrogen at all.

The correct answer is B, Blue hydrogen. Blue hydrogen is made by the same fossil route as grey hydrogen, usually steam reforming of natural gas, but the carbon dioxide produced is captured and stored underground instead of being released, so its emissions are much lower though not zero. Option A is wrong because grey hydrogen is exactly the same process without capture, which is why reading the words carbon capture in the question decides the answer. Option C is wrong because pink hydrogen, also called purple hydrogen, is made by electrolysis using electricity from a nuclear plant, which is a non-fossil route. Option D is wrong because turquoise hydrogen is made by pyrolysis of methane, where the carbon leaves the process as a solid that can be stored or sold rather than as a gas that has to be captured.

The correct answer is B, 2 kg of carbon dioxide equivalent per kg of hydrogen. The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy notified the Green Hydrogen Standard for India in August 2023, fixing the limit at two kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalent for each kilogram of hydrogen, averaged over twelve months, and covering the whole chain from water treatment through electrolysis, purification, drying and compression up to the plant gate. Both electrolysis and biomass routes may qualify. Option A is wrong because one kilogram is stricter than the notified Indian limit. Option C is wrong because five kilograms is close to what an efficient grey hydrogen plant emits, which is precisely what the standard is meant to exclude. Option D is wrong because ten kilograms is in the range of coal-based hydrogen and far above any green threshold.

The correct answer is B, At least 5 million metric tonnes a year. The mission aims to build a green hydrogen production capacity of at least five million metric tonnes a year by 2030, with the potential to rise further if an export market develops, and this is the single figure most often asked from the mission. Option A is wrong because one million metric tonnes is well below the stated target. Option C is wrong because fifty million metric tonnes is the quantity of carbon dioxide emissions the mission expects to avert each year, not the hydrogen it expects to produce, and swapping the two is the standard trap. Option D is wrong because one hundred and twenty-five is the figure in gigawatts of renewable electricity capacity that the mission expects to be added alongside, not a tonnage of hydrogen.