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5.9 Million Tons of Lithium Found in Kashmir, India

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Lithium found in Kashmir

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 have 9.2 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 refining plants in China
Lithium refining plants in China

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.

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Israel

The al-Mawasi Attacks Show Israel Wants an All-Out Genocide.

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Israel-hamas war

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.

al-Mawasi attack

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.

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Jewish Nazism is reality not fiction

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Jewish Nazism

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.

Read Also: No forgiveness for Jewish Nazism

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.

Read Also: The futility of counting on the U.S. to pressure Israel

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

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I’m most definitely Palestinian!

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Palestinian

In-your-face brutality, unending genocide, unending atrocities, mass slaughter directed against one’s people, one’s brethren, causes the most strong and unimaginable reaction, in response to the oppressor’s horrendous and barbaric deeds. The autocratic, despotic, tyrannical Israeli-hand systematically and with pre-planned engineered precision, massacres, annihilates, eliminates the young and the old Palestinian alike – in the most inhumane and most despicable of ways. Slaughters men, women and children in broad daylight. Bares its blood-thirsty intentions, its monstrous objectives in the most unashamed of ways. Mercy to none – not to the living, not to the severely wounded and dying; no mercy even on the dead or their lifeless remains.

The constant fear of being bombed anytime, rained down with missiles and all manner of munitions from within the vast arsenal of the Israeli side; definitely stockpiled high, with enough buffer inventory of munitions, deadly and lethal stockpile, to blow the receiving side multiple times over; so as not to leave a “shred” of evidence of your original physical-self on the surface of the land, which your people, generations and generations of your ancestors, since time immemorial have dwelt on.

Read Also: The age-old Palestinian-fear (of the Israeli thirst)

The inexplicable terror of seeing Israeli drones constantly “floating about” unopposed, in the skies above your unsheltered head. Drones with eyes like that of a greedy dog. Electronic pixels wanting to cast an evil eye, an evil-spell upon your very being. Eyeing upon your existence, wanting to blow-up, tear-up your physical being, seemingly wanting to devour your flesh and body; all by way of a few computer clicks / even the manual computer-clicks now, seemingly, are being replaced by more automated ways of executing these most evil deeds. Software, coded software, written programs to execute on the most Evil-intentions. Evil-intentions of the most evil amongst the human race.

Everybody knows, the Israelis have exterminated with their weaponry, uncountable numbers of Palestinians across a 40, 50km stretch of land, in front of the whole world, over the past so many weeks and months. And retain the capacity, the ability, the power, the means to slaughter, devour many, many more innocent ones, day in, day out.

The Israelis possess American technology, American weapons – the bedrock of their faith, the foundation stone of their belief in their never-ending invincibility. The Palestinians have their faith in Allah; that Allah will redeem his faithful people, from the clutches of these war-mongers, who rain down terror, day and night on the most innocent, the most vulnerable.

Most definitely, the Moslem spirit in me, the Palestinian spirit in me is not defeated; quite to the contrary, it’s rekindled, stronger than ever.

I’m definitely Palestinian, in every sense of the word, and Allah will save us, Allah will have mercy on us, Allah will guide us.

(Note: Azhaar Amayreh is a marketer stuck in war-ravaged Rafah with her child.)The following article is part of a campaign to raise money to help MZEMO contributor Azhaar Amayreh and her family leave Gaza. Please give what you can.

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