The Indian Prime Minister on his Independence Day address warned that the weaponisation of resources and strategic sea routes by some countries posed risks to India's economic security.
- Weaponisation of resources and strategic sea refers to the deliberate use of control over critical resources or supply chains to exert economic, political, or strategic pressure on another country.
Weaponisation of Resources and Sea Routes and India’s Vulnerability.
Resources:
- Critical Minerals: Restricting access to lithium, cobalt, rare earth elements, and other strategic minerals. E.g., China imposed export restrictions on gallium, germanium, and rare-earth processing technology.
- Also, India is entirely import-dependent for 10 critical minerals (such as lithium, cobalt, nickel, etc).
- Technology: Blocking essential computer chips, software, or technical knowledge. E.g., US aerospace giant General Electric (GE) reluctance to transfer technology GE-F414 fighter engines to India.
Sea Routes
- Energy supplies: Fuel, oil, and gas choked off during regional conflicts or blockades. E.g., Strait of Hormuz Blockade, Red Sea choke point (Bab-el- Mandeb)
- India imports about 60 percent of its LPG consumption, and out of these imports, about 90 percent come through the Strait of Hormuz.
- Maritime Trade: Nearly 95 % of trade by volume moves through sea routes.
India’s Preparedness to deal with Weaponisation of Resources and Sea Routes
- Energy diversification: Crude and LNG sourced from a wider range of countries. E.g., Russia, Malaysia etc.
- Strategic reserves: Expansion of Strategic Petroleum Reserves (SPR). E.g. Chandikhol (Odisha), Padur Phase-II (Karnataka).
- Domestic energy: Boost to offshore exploration, renewables and nuclear power. E.g., Samudra Manthan Mission, Nuclear Energy Mission (100 GW by 2047).
- Critical minerals: National Critical Mineral Mission for secure supply chains.
- Maritime security: IFC-IOR, naval deployments and maritime domain awareness to protect SLOCs.
- Regional cooperation: SAGAR/MAHASAGAR and IONS for collective maritime security.
- Strategic partnerships: Cooperation with key partners for resilient energy and supply chains. Eg. FTAs with major economies like India-EU, India-UK, India-Australia etc.
