Cabinet clears commercial mining of Lithium

Cabinet clears commercial mining of Lithium

Subject :Geography

Section: Economic Geography

In News: The government has cleared amendments to the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957, to allow commercial mining of lithium and other critical minerals, including beryllium, titanium, niobium, tantalum and zirconium.

Key Points:

• The government will be able to grant a single exploration licence to companies through such auctions. A single exploration licence is expected to encourage more private investment in the sector, where currently private presence is limited.
• The amendment effectively paves the way for withdrawal of the ban on lithium mining by private players and also on these other critical minerals.
• Mining companies are likely to get exploration rights on the basis of available baseline survey data. These companies explore the area from the reconnaissance stage and bring it up to the level required for starting mining operations.
• Recently, the Mines Ministry compiled the first ever report on identification of Critical Minerals for India. Some 30-odd critical minerals identified include the likes of titanium, tungsten, vanadium, zircon, niobium, germanium, nickel, graphite, silicon, antimony, beryllium, bismuth, among others.
• Critical minerals refer to those that are at risk of supply shortage, which may have a larger impact on the economy compared to that of other raw materials.
• The government has also come up with a production-linked incentive scheme (PLI) for advanced chemistry cells. Another for niche batteries manufactured with newer chemistries is also in the works.
• The Geological Survey of India has found the presence of significant lithium reserves totalling 5.9 million tonnes in the Reasi district of Jammu and Kashmir. Another reserve has been found in Rajasthan.
• After the recent lithium finds in Jammu and Kashmir and Rajasthan, the Geological Survey of India (GSI) has begun six projects on lithium investigation in Chhattisgarh, Meghalaya, Jammu & Kashmir, and Andhra Pradesh.
• India has been import dependent on some of these key critical minerals like lithium, nickle, copper, cobalt and others. In FY23, India’s lithium import bill was around ₹23,171 crore; and covered electric accumulators, including separators.

NITI composite water management index

Key Points:

• NITI Aayog first launched and conceptualised the Composite Water Management Index in 2018 as a tool to instil the sense of cooperative and competitive federalism among the states.
• The CWMI is an important tool to assess and improve the performance of States/ Union Territories in efficient management of water resources.
• This has been done through a first of its kind water data collection exercise in partnership with the Ministry of Jal Shakti, Ministry of Rural Development and all the States/ Union Territories.
• NITI Aayog has ranked all states in the index on the composite water management, comprising 9 broad sectors/themes with 28 different indicators covering various aspects of ground water, restoration of water bodies, irrigation, farm practices, drinking water, policy and governance.
• The index would provide useful information for the States and also for the concerned Central Ministries/Departments enabling them to formulate and implement suitable strategies for better management of water resources.
• As per the NITI Aayong documents about 820 million people in India, living in twelve river basins across the country have per capita water availability close to or lower than 1000m3 – the official threshold for water scarcity as per the Falkenmark Index.

Key Findings:

• CWMI 2.0 was released in Aug, 2019. It ranks various states for the reference year 2017-18 as against the base year 2016-17.
• Gujarat hold on to its rank one in the reference year (2017-18), followed by Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Goa, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
• In North Eastern and Himalayan States, Himachal Pradesh has been adjudged number 1 in 2017-18 followed by Uttarakhand, Tripura and Assam.
• The Union Territories have for the first time submitted their data and Puducherry has been declared as the top ranker.
• In terms of incremental change in index (over 2016-17 level), Haryana holds number one position in general States and Uttarakhand ranks at first position amongst North Eastern and Himalayan States.
• On an average, 80% of the states assessed on the Index over the last three years have improved their water management scores, with an average improvement of +5.2 points.