Consider the following statements: 1) India has joined the Minerals Security Partnership as a member. 2) India is a resource-rich country in all the 30 critical minerals that it has identified. [2025]

Consider the following statements:

India has joined the Minerals Security Partnership as a member.
India is a resource-rich country in all the 30 critical minerals that it has identified.
The Parliament in 2023 has amended the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957 empowering the Central Government to exclusively auction mining lease and composite license for certain critical minerals.

The Minerals Security Partnership (MSP) is a global initiative spearheaded by the United States to strengthen critical mineral supply chains essential for clean energy technologies. It focuses on diversifying sources and encouraging sustainable and responsible mining practices.
India became the 14^th member of the Mineral Security Partnership (MSP) in June 2023. The other member countries are United States, Australia, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Norway, the Republic of Korea, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the European Union (represented by the European Commission).

While India has identified a list of 30 critical minerals, it is not resource-rich in all of them. Many are under-explored or entirely import-dependent. For example, India relies fully on imports for lithium, cobalt and nickel.
30 Critical Minerals include: Antimony, Beryllium, Bismuth, Cobalt, Copper, Gallium, Germanium, Graphite, Hafnium, Indium, Lithium, Molybdenum, Niobium, Nickel, PGE, Phosphorous, Potash, REE,Rhenium, Silicon, Strontium, Tantalum, Tellurium, Tin, Titanium, Tungsten, Vanadium, Zirconium, Selenium and Cadmium.
The Government of India launched the National Critical Mineral Mission (NCMM) in 2025 to establish a robust framework for self-reliance in the critical mineral sector. Under this mission, the Geological Survey of India (GSI) has been tasked with conducting 1,200 exploration projects from 2024-25 to 2030-31.

The Central Government has amended the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957, through the MMDR Amendment Act, 2023, with effect from 17.08.2023. Through the amendment, the Central Government has been empowered to exclusively auction mining leases and composite licences for 24 critical and strategic minerals listed in Part D of the First Schedule to the said Act.

Statement II can be eliminated first because it makes a broad/exaggerated claim that India is resource-rich in all 30 critical minerals, which is unlikely; India is import-dependent for many of them. Once Statement II is eliminated, only option (c) is left.