Green transition needs responsible extraction

The Geological Survey of India (GSI)’s proposal to explore lithium reserves in the forested pockets of Raichur places Karnataka at the centre of India’s emerging critical minerals strategy.

In an era where lithium powers electric vehicles, battery storage systems, and the broader green-energy transition, the temptation to fast-track exploration is understandable. Yet, the proposal revives a difficult question: can the pursuit of clean energy justify the destruction of fragile forest ecosystems?

The Amareshwar belt, located within the mineral-rich Eastern Dharwar Craton, has shown encouraging lithium-bearing pegmatite formations in earlier studies. For India, which remains heavily dependent on imports, a viable domestic lithium reserve would carry enormous strategic value. It could strengthen energy security and support the country’s electric mobility ambitions.

However, the current proposal is not merely a scientific exercise unfolding in barren terrain. It involves reserved forest land. Even at the prospecting stage, drilling operations require the felling of hundreds of trees.

The danger lies in treating exploratory clearances as routine administrative approvals when, in reality, they often become the first irreversible step towards large-scale mining.

The government must therefore ensure caution, transparency, and scientific accountability. At the survey stage itself, exploratory drilling must remain tightly limited in scope, with strict caps on tree felling, road construction, and heavy machinery movement.

Independent ecological assessments should be mandatory before permissions are granted. Wildlife corridors, groundwater systems, and soil stability cannot become collateral damage in the race for strategic minerals.

If commercially viable reserves are discovered, the safeguards must become even more stringent.

The state must insist on legally enforceable mine closure plans, real-time environmental monitoring, and substantial upfront restoration-fund deposits placed in escrow before extraction begins. Progressive afforestation, scientific topsoil preservation, and independent annual audits must be non-negotiable.

The state must learn from past resource-extraction failures. The Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation’s Krishna-Godavari basin venture was sharply criticised by the Comptroller and Auditor General after over Rs 19,576 crore was spent amid weak risk assessment, technological miscalculations, and little commercial return. Karnataka cannot afford another high-profile extraction gamble that may cause permanent ecological damage.

A genuinely green transition cannot be built on reckless mining, opaque clearances, and degraded forests. Karnataka must ensure that the pursuit of strategic minerals does not repeat the old development model in which environmental costs are socialised while profits remain in private hands.