India must achieve self-sufficiency in critical minerals, materials: ISRO Chairman

Thiruvananthpuram, Aug. 1 -- Asserting the need to reduce dependency on imports, Dr. V. Narayanan, Secretary, Department of Space (DOS) and Chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), called for India to achieve complete self-sufficiency in the production of critical minerals and materials.

He was speaking at the Golden Jubilee Conclave of the CSIR-National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology (CSIR-NIIST), Thiruvananthapuram, organised on the theme "New Vistas in Critical Minerals and Materials."

Dr. Narayanan urged the CSIR scientific community to prepare a roadmap to replace all mineral and material imports with indigenous alternatives within the next ten years.

"The country cannot progress in the space se...