With reference to India, consider the following statements:

Answer: (b) 1, 2 and 4 only

REEs ✓, thorium ✓, government-only ✓.

Statement by statement

1. ✓ CORRECT Monazite is a phosphate of light rare earths — cerium, lanthanum, neodymium.

2. ✓ CORRECT It carries about 8–10% thorium — the fuel for stage 3 of India’s nuclear programme.

3. ✗ WRONG — only in patches It is found in the beach sands of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal — not along the ENTIRE coast.

4. ✓ CORRECT Monazite is a “prescribed substance” under the Atomic Energy Act, so only government bodies such as IREL may process or export it.

The idea

A placer deposit forms when flowing water or waves concentrate heavy mineral grains. Its location depends on the parent rocks, sediment supply and coastal sorting, so neighbouring beaches need not contain the same minerals. A thorium-bearing mineral also has a different legal treatment from ordinary building sand.

Parent rock breaks down → Heavy grains enter streams → Sediment reaches selected coasts → Waves concentrate the grains → Heavy-mineral placer develops

Why the others are wrong

(a) Statement 3 is wrong — the deposits are patchy.

(c) Doubts the REE and thorium facts, yet accepts “entire coast” — the one sweeping claim in the question.

(d) Accepts “entire coast”. Monazite is concentrated in patches of the Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Odisha coasts.

The trap

“Entire” — an absolute word. The deposits are rich but patchy, mostly in the south and east.

Elimination technique

Chavara is a deposit, not evidence that every beach has monazite. Rejecting the entire-coast claim removes (a), (c) and (d).

Also know

Chavara in Kerala, Manavalakurichi in Tamil Nadu and the Odisha coast are useful beach-sand anchors. Ilmenite and rutile supply titanium, while zircon supplies zirconium. Rare earths and critical minerals overlap, but the two terms are not identical: criticality includes supply risk and economic importance.