The world is in dire need of cleaner and more sustainable energy sources, and Lithium has emerged as a powerful tool in the quest. This versatile element is playing a critical role in the transition away from polluting fossil fuels to greener and more eco-friendly power sources. And now, with the recent discovery of a Lithium mine in Kashmir valley by the Geological Survey of India, there’s hope for a more abundant and cost-effective supply of this valuable mineral.
Amounting to about 5.9 million tons, Kashmir’s lithium resource can potentially change India’s position in global green energy resources.
The discovery is huge for India’s energy reserves and Kashmir’s economy. However, the announcement has triggered both hopes and concerns from Indians and the world.
Why Does the Discovery of Lithium in Kashmir Matters?
Lithium is a shining gray metal with a nickname that’s just as brilliant – “white gold.” It’s a crucial component of electric batteries, making it an essential element in the quest for cleaner and more sustainable energy.
The recent discovery of lithium reserves in India is being celebrated by experts worldwide, and for good reasons. The discovery could be a game-changer for India’s energy independence, potentially reducing its reliance on imports to meet growing demand. In 2020-21 alone, India imported lithium and lithium ions worth INR 173 crore and INR 8,811 crore, respectively. As the country pushes towards electric vehicles, demand for lithium is only set to increase.
Moreover, Lithium deposits are rare, with only 98 million tonnes found globally, according to Rishabh Jain, senior program director for the Council on Energy, Environment, and Water (CEEW).
India has already discovered 5.5% of these resources, which is significant in comparison to countries like Chile and Australia, which have9.2 million tonnes and 6.2 million tonnes of lithium deposits, respectively.
The potential impact of this discovery is massive, particularly for the production of electric vehicles.
However, further assessments are needed to determine the exact quality and quantity of the resources and whether they can be extracted and used efficiently. If proven feasible, this discovery could pave the way for a more sustainable future for India and the world as a whole.
The Geographical Barriers
The Lithium reserve is discovered in Salal-Haimana, Reasi district of J&K, a region known for being seismically active. With the Reasi placed in the seismic zone IV, mining white gold from the area can pose a high risk.
Moreover, the region is also situated in the renowned Kashmir seismic gap, which experts have forecasted as the site of potential “great” earthquakes with a magnitude exceeding eight on the Richter scale.
According to Parveen Kumar, senior manager of Electric Mobility, WRI India; the most recent lithium discovery is “a significant step towards self-reliance in the LIB [lithium–ion battery] supply chain.”
“Although this is good news, a balanced appraisal that considers the region’s ecological sensitivity is also necessary,”
Parveen Kumar
Lithium mining also adversely impacts the ecosystem and environment. Pollution of the soil, water, and air is among them. For example, one estimate states that it requires around 2.2 million liters of water to generate one tonne of lithium while extracting it from its ore.
Plus, with Reasi already living in water scarcity, and to sustainably extract Lithium, the authorities would have to tackle the issue first.
Can India Become the Leader in Lithium Refining, Outcompeting China?
China is an outlier in the lithium market. The nation held only 7.9% of the world’s lithium reserves at the end of 2020, according to BP’s Statistical Review of World Energy 2021. But the fabrication of metal is where the nation excels. As a result, 60% of the world’s capability for refining and processing lithium is estimated to be located in China.
However, lithium refining is a complex process. World’s major lithium producers, including spodumene, petalite, and lepidolite, need to process the minerals in order to get the lithium out. This procedure involves crushing the ore, followed by the extraction of the lithium using froth flotation, magnetic separation, and gravity separation, among other methods.
Lithium can also be obtained from brine lakes, collected via sun concentration and evaporation. Although this process can take longer, it is often less complicated than mineral processing.
Amongst all this, India, a country that depended on exports for fulfilling its energy requirements, can now potentially be among the leader of the green energy revolution with the Lithium found in Kashmir.
And if extracted and refined wisely, India’s lithium reserves could enable it to compete with China. However, now the focus must shift to assessing the commercial extraction potential of Lithium reserves in Kashmir.
Extracting Lithium from Disputed Region Would be a Challenge
While developing lithium resources in Kashmir valley will require the Indian government to lure industrial development and investment in the region, the state continues to be volatile. Moreover, with Salal-Haimana just 30 miles from the Line of Control (India-Pakistan border), obtaining lithium from the region will be a huge challenge from a military standpoint.
J & K holds only 1% of the total Indian population but accounted for 57% of all deaths triggered by armed conflicts between 2019 and 2021. And Salal-Haimana is among such disputed areas.
It is difficult to predict whether a lithium boom might lessen or exacerbate these local governance issues. But, on the other hand, more economic benefits might be provided for the Indian economy and major regional advantages in employment possibilities and improved road and rail infrastructure.
Lithium in Kashmir: “The batteries of the Indian economy”
The Tribune and the Kashmir Picture, two Indian English-language media publications, have already published articles praising the discovery and referring to it as “the batteries of the Indian economy” to address the region’s unemployment issues. It’s impossible not to be excited.
Lithium Found in Kashim – Final Thoughts
The discovery of huge reserves of Lithium in Kashmir has the potential to bring India up to the competition in the green energy industry.
However, the government must ensure that to make India “atmanirbhar” (self-sufficient) in terms of this vital mineral to attain its net zero goals, they do not compromise the union territory’s delicate ecosystem.
In light of the fact that the agricultural sector is already vulnerable to climate change, if lithium mining operations are to be developed, their implications on agricultural productivity must be fairly and thoroughly evaluated.
Furthermore, it is critical that the government extract these minerals as ethically as possible; failing which, the fundamental motivation for developing these green technologies would be undermined.
I don’t think that most Muslims hate ordinary Americans who believe in the general principle of “live and let live.” Moreover I don’t think that most Americans would unhesitatingly embrace Israeli Nazism if they had the chance to know the truth about Israel e.g. that it is a criminal state par excellence based on ethnic cleansing land theft and racist and religious discrimination.
Unfortunately most Americans are spoon-fed Jewish propaganda from early childhood. This creates a virtual reality in America’s collective mind about Israel a virtual reality that is nearly completely disconnected from the real reality in Israel-Palestine.
For example many Americans are made to think that Israel and America have much in common in terms of democracy. However the truth is that democracy in Israel is more or less confined to Jews while non-Jews are systematically discriminated against. Their land is confiscated their homes are demolished and their rights and dignity are trampled upon.
And when they seek redress at Jewish courts they discover that non-Jews can’t possibly hope for true justice and equality under Jewish rule. Ask non-Jewish Americans who have been living in Israel and you will hear a lot of hair-raising stories about the Israeli “democracy.”
Some Americans are so brainwashed that they are willing to claim that Muslims hate America for its freedoms. This is what Georg W. Bush probably the most ignorant President America has ever had once claimed.
The truth of the matter however is that most Muslims hate the US government for embracing tyrannical Arab and Muslim regimes that torment their own people by denying them natural freedoms and civil liberties as well as the right to freely elect their own governments. This is in addition of course to backing and supporting Israel’s Nazi-like policies including ethnic cleansing and settlement expansion at the expense of the native Palestinians.
It is really scandalous that while Americans boasts bout their First Amendment freedoms successive American governments have consistently embraced despotic regimes abroad. In many instances the US intervened either brazenly or behind the scenes to destabilize or overthrow democratically elected governments such as in Iran Chile and the occupied Palestinian territory.
Of courser America’s days of infamy are too numerous to be counted. For example we all tend to view Adolph Hitler as the ultimate embodiment of evil. However it is historically true that the US its allies Stalin Mao murdered more people than the Third Reich ever did.
America wanted to be looked upon as a moral example to be followed. But the beacon of light eventually turned into a ruthless beastly power where military might took priority over moral power.
Take for example America’s stand over Israel. For decades the United States enabled Israel to violate every international law and norm and commit every conceivable crime under the sun including murdering children by raining on them White phosphorus.
This is the same America that allows herself to judge the world for human rights violations while enabling Israel diplomatically politically and mainly militarily to pursue decidedly Nazi-like policies against the Peoples of the Middle East.
Watch the ongoing genocidal onslaught which against our helpless and unprotected people in the Gaza Strip. Some of you might be prompted to think that I am indulging in excessive exaggeration when I speak of a genocidal onslaught.
But I am not. Otherwise, how else can we describe a condition where hundreds of ultra-advanced war planes rain missiles and laser-guided bombs from high altitudes on apartment buildings, homes, and civilian neighborhoods packed with men, women and children? Yet, this is exactly what Israel has done¸ murdering , maiming and incinerating thousands of innocent Palestinian civilians and utterly destroying tens of thousands of buildings.
Israel effectively destroyed Gaza, murdering and maiming untold numbers of civilians. Gaza, more or less, became the Dresden of Palestine. And the whole world looked on rather passively as if the killing-field and the shockingly pornographic destruction of life and property were occurring on a distant galaxy. we are not really talking about war, even an asymmetrical war. We are actually talking about a real massacre, a massacre that is reminiscent of the time when the Nazis ganged up on European Jewry 70 years ago.
The macabre scenes of decapitated and badly-mutilated children were too shocking to be described in words. Reporters at the site of the carnage lost their composure and collapsed as they couldn’t cope with the gruesomeness of the pornographic bloodbath.
In 2006, the Nazi government of Israel dropped 2-3 million cluster bomblets over Lebanon enough to kill or maim 2-3 million Lebanese children. And instead of denouncing the manifestly nefarious act the US government declared that “Israel has the right to defend itself.”
Today there is an anti-Islamic hysteria in the United States. The main reason for this hysteria is the fact that the United States can’t live normally with itself without an external enemy. In short there has to be an enemy in order to keep the American psyche intact. There has to be an enemy in order to keep the military industrial complex functioning. In short capitalism can’t function without war.
In fact Muslims don’t view themselves as enemies of the United States as the vast bulk of Muslims are peaceable people who are mainly interested in the pursuance of their daily life enhancing their daily living improving their standard of living and making ends meet.
Yes there are violent groups here and there but these are tiny groups which in no way represent the Muslims of the world.
I think many Americans are ignorant of these facts. I also think that many other Americans would condemn Muslims right or wrong. I am talking about people who would burn the Muslim Holy scripture the Quran in order to highlight their hatred of Islam a religion with more than 1.6 billion people.
Well to those I say one thing: the dogs will keep barking and the caravan will keep going.
Besides if you have one reason to hate us we have a thousand reasons to hate you.
None the less unlike you we are not willing to allow our primitive impulses to decide our behaviors. Our religion the source of our morality and behavior doesn’t allow us to behave the way they do.
This is why we will not burn copies of the New Testament we will not attack churches and we will not call Christianity bad names.
It is often claimed that the religion Jesus founded is based on Love. But any fleeting view of your “religion” caricatures a hate-based cult that has very little to do with Jesus and the authentic messages he preached.
Did Jesus ever call children “murderers” as you did recently in Texas? In fact I dare say that you and people who subscribe to your cultist hatefulness are a cancer upon the conscience of Christ.
So you hate us because of the 9/11 events. Well 99% of Muslims condemned in the strongest terms these terrorist acts. And we are sorry for the umpteenth time for the death of dozens of hundreds of innocent Americans including Muslims in these terrorist attacks.
None the less your democratic elected government has been responsible for the death of millions of Muslims. In Iraq alone the United States has killed or caused the death of at least two million Muslims in the past two decades. Hundreds of thousands of other Muslims have been killed in Afghanistan. These are just two examples of America’s genocidal wars against the Muslim world.
Hence if you have the right to cite one 9/11 we can cite hundreds and thousands of 9/11s. And don’t you ever think that your lives are worth more than our lives. All human beings were created by the same God and are equal if only because there is no such a thing as a lesser God.
One day the oppressed will have their day and there will be no spin no hasbara and no propaganda. And the New York Times and Fox News and AIPAC and all other organs of lie will have been evaporated into nonexistence.
God is just.
Khalid Amayreh is a Palestinian journalist and political commentator , we lost him on account of natural reasons on 12th of July last year in the Occupied Palestine
After the talks of ceasefire and hope of a near-end war, Gazans again woke up to another nightmarish attack by Israel. Like the Rafah, the attack was again on a humanitarian zone, an area that Israel itself classified as a “Safe Zone.”
The al-Mawasi humanitarian camp attack was another brutal assault in a sequence of military strikes on displaced Palestinians in search of a safe shelter. But unfortunately, nothing inside Gaza is safe anymore. The terror transcends conflict zones as Israeli forces are attacking everyone everywhere as a stunned world watches in silence.
The Brutality of al-Mawasi Attack – Rafah 2.0
“Nightmarish scenes of chaos and terror.”
That’s how eyewitnesses who managed to survive the sudden attack on the humanitarian zone describe the al-Mawasi onslaught. Attacked by fighter jets and drones, the brutal bombardment has killed at least 90 and left over 300 others severely wounded.
According to an Al Jazeera report, on July 13th, Israeli forces launched sudden airstrikes and shelling in the densely populated al-Mawasi camps. On-ground incursions by troops followed the air attacks.
The horrific photos and videos of the Israeli massacre’s aftermath show helpless Palestinians sifting through remnants of tents and debris in search of lost loved ones and missing belongings.
What the al-Mawasi Attacks Tell About Israel’s Intention?
The continued attacks on humanitarian zones where war-torn, distressed Palestinian families think they are safe for a little while from the genocide rampant across Gaza reveal the real intentions of Israel behind the war. It’s an ethnic cleansing-torturing and eradicating Palestine.
Hiding behind the mask of “battling Hamas,” the zionist are continuing their genocide in Gaza, one that has been going on for decades now. The only difference is that now it’s in the form of an all-out war.
The world is seeing how, time after time, the Israeli military is committing heinous war crimes, yet it watches the Palestinians suffer in silence.
And it’s not just humanitarian zones. The Israeli military is consistently bearing down on hospitals, schools, and other settlement zones where displaced Gazans take refuge.
On July 16th, for example, Israel bombed the sixth UN-run school in Gaza in just ten days. The attack on the al-Razi school in Nuseirat ended up taking the lives of 42 more Palestinians.
These systematic crackdowns send one message across Gaza – Nowhere is safe.
Nearly 39,000 Killed and Over 89,727 Palestinians Injured
Since October 7th, the Israeli army has killed about 38,983 in the Gaza Strip – as per the Health Ministry in the enclave on Sunday. Over 89,727 have been injured in the assault, and with almost no major hospital disregarded from bombardments, most wounded have to endure the suffering without medical help.
The zionist military has also attacked the inflow of aid operations in Gaza. The fragile aid from international organizations already runs low in the war-torn region as it is continually undermined by insecurity, bombing, and denial of access.
Basic necessities like food and fresh drinking water have become a rare resource for many. Displaced Palestinians—i.e., two million people across the Gaza Strip—often survive on rice or soup cooked with water from the well, which makes their one meal a day. Fresh produce like fruits and milk are almost non-existent, even for infants and children.
The Israeli military is weaponizing starvation as a weapon to break Palestinians’ will—one that’s already hanging by a thread by the months-long blood-shed and displacement.
Desperation, Horror, and Hope
The relentless bombardment in humanitarian zones, schools, hospitals, and mosques by the Israeli army comes while both sides are weighing the latest US-ceasefire proposal. Hamas has signaled that talk of putting an end to the nine-month-long genocide would continue.
After claiming tens of thousands of lives and displacing millions, the war still continues. Israel continues to pursue Hamas fighters hiding amongst civilians.
However, the increasing tensions between Israel and Hezbollah, the United Nations, the International Criminal of Justice, and global governments give hope that the Israle-Hamas war will soon conclude. While the atrocities, horror, and genocide Israel has inflicted on Palestinians can never be repented, a ceasefire deal—as underlined in the proposal—would allow the rehabilitation of survivors and restore order in the battle-scarred Gaza Strip.
I realize that the title of this article might offend and provoke many people, especially those adhering to the Judaic faith. I do know that Jews, like everyone else, are not carbon copies of each other. There are many conscientious Jews who believe in fairness and basic human equality regardless of color, race and faith, and strongly reject racism and chauvinism in any form. Also, I will no longer be using euphemistic language in reference to Jewish Nazism especially in light of the latest Dresden-like bombing of Gaza by the Judeo-Nazi state also known as Israel.
These people I salute for their rectitude, humanity and morality. They are our natural partners for peace and a better tomorrow for our children and their children.
But there are numerous other Jews who don’t believe in human equality and justice for all. Indeed, there are many Jews, e.g. followers of the hateful Chabad sect, who don’t even ascribe full humanity to people who are not members of the Jewish faith.
Needless to say, the venomous ideology adopted by these racist fanatics has much in common with Aryan Nazism.
What else can be said to describe an ideology that teaches adherents that the life of a non-Jew has no sanctity and that goyem can be murdered without the slightest compunction or feeling of guilt?
The shocking reactions by the Israeli government, rabbis, and community leaders to the latest abduction, murder and subsequent burning of a Palestinian kids in Gaza are very telling.
In a certain sense, these reactions and attitudes can be compared to the reactions and attitudes of many Germans to the pogroms carried out against Jews by the Nazis prior to and during the Second World War.
The gleefully despicable embrace of the brashly hideous crime by the bulk of the Israeli Jewish society underscores the fact that millions of Jews in Israel and abroad do harbor certain Nazi tendencies, especially against the Palestinian people. These tendencies are too real and too tangible to be overstated.
However, we must call the spade a spade, even at the expense of upsetting the huge Zionist propaganda machine which habitually alters the black into white and the blatant big lie into a “truth” glorified by sheepish westerners who have long been brainwashed into believing that Israel is a modern, civilized and democratic state.
In the final analysis, when Jews (or anyone else) think, behave and act like the Nazis thought, behaved and acted, they simply become Nazis. Pure and simple.
Today, there are numerous Jews who openly call for the physical annihilation of Palestinians as retaliation for the abduction and killing of three Jewish settlers in the West Bank.
Saber-rattling rabbis speak menacingly of the need to adopt “the Biblical way” to combat the Palestinians.
For those not versed in Jewish phraseology, “Biblical way” is euphemism for genocide.
Today, the Israeli media reported that some army personnel openly appealed to the government to “give us the green light to annihilate them.”!!!
Just read what thousands of Jewish youths have been writing on their Facebook pages! It is outrageous, disgusting and sheer evil.
To put it in a nutshell, Nazism is being regurgitated and exuded all over Israel. This is happening in broad daylight while professional liars like Binyamin Netanyahu are filling the ether with all sorts of shameless lies about Israel being victimized by the Palestinians.
Seventy-six years have passed since Kristalnacht. Today Jewish settlers in the west Bank, in close cooperation and coordination, with the Israeli army could very well carry out a huge pogrom against an innocent and helpless community which really finds itself very much in the same precarious and vulnerable position that European Jewry experienced prior to WWII.
I am not a prophet of doom and gloom, but the signs are unmistakably bleak.
A final point, the Palestinian people in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip are surviving thanks to the good-will of the international public opinion. Should the international community go into a brief slumber, God forbid, Israel and its own Wehrmacht, SS, Gestapo and Hitler Youth might embark on the unthinkable. Don’t you ever say Jews can’t carry out a holocaust against their victims, the Palestinians?
Words can kill; words do kill.
Unfortunately, the chilling words we are hearing from many Israeli Jews these days leave no room for optimism.
Khalid Amayreh is a Palestinian journalist and political commentator , we lost him on account of natural reasons on 12th of July last year in the Occupied Palestine