Amit's Blog

India’s Rare Earth Challenges: A Geopolitically Critical Industry Part 2   Rare earth element (REE) processing technology encompasses a series of complex, multi-stage processes designed to extract, separate, and purify REEs from their ores into usable forms, such as high-purity oxides, metals, or alloys. These technologies are critical due to the chemically similar nature of the 17 REEs, which makes their separation challenging, and the presence of radioactive byproducts like thorium and uranium, which complicates environmental management. Below is an expansive, detailed description of REE processing technology, covering each stage, the methods involved, associated challenges, and emerging innovations, with insights from experts to provide depth and context. This response also integrates the broader context of India’s REE sector challenges and global comparisons, particularly with China, as discussed previously. Processing rare earth elements (REEs) in India is particular...

China’s Economic Triumph: Navigating Geopolitical Undercurrents China’s rise to a $17 trillion economy by 2023 defied geopolitical barriers that constrain the Global South. Through 80% strategic design and 20% serendipity, China overcame colonial legacies with land reforms and SEZs, neutralized dollar dominance with $3.4 trillion in reserves and yuan trade, and bridged the tech divide via “Made in China 2025.” It led in renewables, countering environmental exploitation, and built military strength to balance U.S. dominance. Cultural revival and global governance engagement, via AIIB and RCEP, challenged Western hegemony. The BRI secured global influence. Grassroots currents—300 million SEZ migrants and 10 million tech workers—amplified state policies. Amartya Sen notes, “China’s political strategy unlocked economic freedom” (Development as Freedom, 1999), offering a blueprint for navigating geopolitical undercurrents. Imagine a global economic arena where the rules promise fairness...

The Forge of Industry: Capitalism’s Industrial and Imperial Ascendancy (c. 1750–1914) Part 2 of 4 From the smoky mid-18th century to the dawn of the 20th, capitalism didn’t just evolve—it exploded, with all the grace of a runaway steam engine. Between 1750 and 1914, the Industrial Revolution and imperial ambition conspired to transform sleepy agrarian societies into roaring industrial beasts, while empires stretched their greedy fingers across the globe. Britain, with its knack for inventing things and subjugating people, stood at the helm, wielding steam engines and stock markets like a sorcerer with a particularly lucrative spellbook. This era, as Eric Hobsbawm so aptly put it, was when “the Industrial Revolution and the French Revolution together created the modern world, shattering tradition and unleashing capitalism’s relentless dynamism” (Hobsbawm 1962, 45). But for every gleaming railway or bustling factory, there was a darker tale—of workers ground down by machines, colon...