Critical minerals mission will address rare earth issue: PM

ACKNOWLEDGING THE ONGOING shortage of rare earth materials faced by India's automobile industry, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Tuesday that the government was working towards building national capacity in critical minerals and would soon launch exploration missions.

- Soumyarendra Barik & Parimala Dabhi Hansalpur (Gujarat), August 26

"I am aware of the rare earth materials shortage, and we are trying to address it with the critical minerals mission. There will be more than 1,200 explorations for critical minerals across various locations in India." Modi said.

The Prime Minister was speaking in Gujarat's Hansalpur where he green-flagged Maruti Suzuki's first battery electric vehicle, eVitara, which will be manufactured here and exported to over 100 countries.

During his speech, the Prime Minister also expanded on his vision of "swadeshi," saying that investment could be from any country, but the labour involved should be Indian.