Australia, Africa, South America, Indian sub continent and Antarctica were part of the ancient supercontinent ‘Gondwana’ that broke up and moved away about 180 million years ago. Gondwana concept explains India’s geological similarity with Eastern Africa, Western Australia and South America. But despite its rich mineral potential, India, unlike these regions, has not been able to uncover its mineral wealth.
Global economy, today, is defined by modern technology. Assured supply of mineral raw materials is becoming increasingly critical for every industry and manufacturing activity. High import dependence for raw materials, especially of strategic and critical minerals, renders a country vulnerable. Japanese were given a measure of their raw material vulnerability by China when they temporarily stopped Rare Earths supply to Japan in 2010 as retaliation to the Senkaku incident. Closer home, in early 2021, India witnessed a brief tightening of Covid vaccine raw material supply by United States.
