India Should Lead Rare Earth Output, Says President Murmu

President Droupadi Murmu mentioned the importance of India taking care of its needs completely in the production of rare earth elements (REEs), citing the present geopolitical scenario and the country's dream of becoming a developed nation.

During her speech at the National Geoscience Awards 2024, President Murmu said that REEs self-sufficiency will not only result in a robust national security system but also empower India to take a leading position in the worldwide tech and energy sectors. On the one hand, she explained that rare earths are not rare, still, their detection, and obtaining is a very complicated process. To master these difficulties, she added, it will be important to have our own set of standards.

She also talked about the rising demand for REEs in the context of artificial intelligence, semiconductors, and clean energy technologies, giving examples of their use in smartphones, electric vehicles, and wind power generation.

Also Read: PM Modi launches major solar projects in Rajasthan’s Bikaner

The President appreciated the Ministry of Mines for the zeal shown in sustainability, innovation, and in the adoption of the likes of AI, machine learning, and drones for surveys in the mining sector. She pointed out the ministry’s commitment for green environmental protection through its emphasis on the extraction of recoverable minerals from mine tailings.

Murmu also mentioned disasters. She was very sad about the cloudbursts and landslides that happened this year causing a lot of destruction. She feels that the geoscientific community should take the problem of floods, landslides, earthquakes, and tsunamis more seriously and develop such technologies which would send alerts to the public at the very moment these disasters are about to happen.