India, Jan. 30 -- "The treasury has its source in the mines; from the treasury, the army comes into being; with the treasury and the army the earth is obtained, with the treasury as its ornament," Chanakya says in the Arthashastra. The Indian State, for many millennia, has recognised the importance of mines for economic development and for securing the welfare of its people. Chanakya's treatise on statecraft is an example of the explicit realisation of the strategic value of minerals; it goes on to provide detailed guidelines for mining operations. From the mining of zinc in Zawar, Rajasthan, more than 2,500 years ago to the discovery of the Koh-i-noor, India has long understood the strategic value of mines and minerals....