For decades, India has spoken of technological sovereignty, energy independence, and strategic autonomy. Yet one of the most powerful levers to achieve all three lies quietly beneath our feet - specifically, beneath the sands of Kerala's coast. Now that the nuclear "SHANTI" Bill, with all its flaws, is passed, it is time to do something about it.
The Chavara-Neendakara-Kayamkulam shoreline contains one of the world's richest concentrations of thorium-bearing monazite, titanium minerals such as ilmenite, rutile and leucoxene, zircon, and associated rare earth elements (REEs). Few regions on the planet host all three categories at scale. Kerala does. These are among the most accessible rare‑earth-bearing sands anywhere, requiring neither underground mining nor the long lead times of hard‑rock extraction. Kerala's heavy minerals include monazite, ilmenite, rutile, zircon, and sillimanite - materials indispensable to energy transition, defence manufacturing, electronics, and advanced metallurgy. And yet, India has barely begun to treat this endowment as the strategic asset it is. We continue the irrational practice of exporting rare earth oxides while importing finished magnets. If this cycle is to be broken, Kerala is the logical place to begin.
India Needs Imagination
Handled strategically, these minerals can become the backbone of India's long-term energy security, aerospace capability, and technological self-reliance. The question is not whether Kerala has the resources. The question is whether India has the imagination and institutional will to treat this endowment as a strategic asset. In my view, Kerala should be officially positioned as India's pilot state for strategic mineral exploration. We have the potential to make it a living demonstration that democratic governance, environmental responsibility, and national security can coexist. If Kerala leads, the rest of India can follow.
During the nuclear debate in Parliament on the controversial SHANTI Bill, several speakers alluded to India's thorium capacity. India's nuclear establishment has long recognised thorium as the holy grail of energy security. With the world's largest monazite reserves, India sits atop roughly a quarter of global thorium resources. Much of that lies in Kerala. Thorium is not just another mineral; it is a long-duration energy asset capable of powering India for centuries through advanced breeder reactors. Yet today, thorium remains locked in laboratories and policy papers. The three-stage nuclear programme - once a symbol of Indian scientific audacity - has moved at a glacial pace. While other nations race to commercialise next-generation reactors, India's thorium pathway remains a promise deferred.
Kerala could change that. A state-level thorium innovation mission, anchored in collaboration between the Department of Atomic Energy, premier research institutions, and private-sector engineering firms, could accelerate reactor component manufacturing, materials research, and safety technologies. The goal need not be immediate commercialisation; it can be demonstrable progress. A pilot cluster in Kerala would send a powerful signal: India is serious about owning the future of nuclear energy.
If thorium is the key to energy independence, titanium is the metal of strategic autonomy. Titanium alloys are indispensable for aerospace, defence, naval engineering, hypersonic systems, and space exploration. They offer high strength, low weight, and corrosion resistance - qualities no modern military or spacefaring nation can do without. Kerala's coastal sands contain some of the world's richest ilmenite deposits, the primary ore for titanium. India is the world's largest producer of ilmenite, yet we remain a marginal player in titanium metal and alloy production. The ore leaves our shores; the value addition happens elsewhere.
A Domestic Ecosystem Is Possible
This is a strategic vulnerability. No nation aspiring to great-power status can afford to outsource the production of a metal so central to its defence and aerospace industries. Kerala can again be the proving ground. A titanium downstream manufacturing corridor - integrating ore beneficiation, slag production, sponge titanium, and alloy fabrication - would create a domestic ecosystem that India currently lacks. With ISRO, DRDO, and the Indian Navy as anchor customers, Kerala could become the titanium capital of the Indian Ocean region.
And then come rare earths, the hidden backbone of modern technology that has come into the news because China weaponised its near-hegemonic dominance of rare earth supplies by denying them to India and briefly, to the United States. Rare earth elements - the quiet enablers of the 21st century - power permanent magnets, precision sensors, advanced electronics, electric vehicles, wind turbines, and precision-guided weapons. China today controls around 60% of global rare-earth mining, over 90% of the world's refining capacity, and much of the REE supply chain, from mining to separation to magnet manufacturing. The world has learned the hard way that dependence on a single supplier is a strategic risk.
Kerala's monazite and zircon sands contain significant quantities of rare earths, though coastal erosion is depleting them. Yet India's REE separation capacity remains minimal, and downstream manufacturing - magnets, alloys, components - is almost non-existent. We export raw material and import finished products at high cost. A Kerala Rare Earths Mission could change this trajectory. By integrating mining, separation, metallurgy, and component manufacturing, Kerala could become India's first complete REE value chain. This is not merely an industrial opportunity; it is a national security imperative.
Why Kerala Is The Right Place
Why Kerala? Some may wonder if this is not just a case of an MP trumpeting a case for his own state. Sceptics within Kerala will argue that mining is environmentally destructive, politically contentious, and socially disruptive. They will declaim that Kerala, with its high population density and strong civic culture, is the last place to attempt such an experiment. Yet this is precisely why Kerala is the right place.
If strategic mineral development can be done responsibly in Kerala - with transparent governance, community participation, environmental safeguards, and scientific oversight - it can be done anywhere in India. Kerala's political culture, regulatory capacity, and social awareness make it uniquely suited to pioneer a model of extraction that is ethical, sustainable, and nationally beneficial. Genuine community consent will come from visible benefits: jobs, revenue sharing, better infrastructure, educational opportunities, and transparent ecological safeguards. The state already has a legacy of public-sector mineral processing through IREL and KMML. What it lacks is a 21st-century vision that integrates science, industry, and national strategy.
India's mineral policy has historically been extractive rather than strategic. We dig, we ship out, we import value-added products at a premium. This cycle must end. The world is entering an era where minerals are not commodities but instruments of power. Nations that control critical minerals will shape the future of energy, mobility, defence, and technology.
Kerala gives India a rare opportunity: a single region that hosts thorium, titanium, and rare earths at a globally significant scale. No other Indian state - and very few regions worldwide - can claim this combination. But resources alone do not confer power. Strategy does.
Let Kerala Lead
This is why, today, I am urging that Kerala should be declared India's pilot state for strategic minerals. This requires: a Kerala Strategic Minerals Authority to coordinate policy, research, and industry; a thorium innovation cluster to accelerate reactor-related technologies; a titanium downstream corridor to build a domestic aerospace and defence materials ecosystem; a rare earths value chain mission to reduce dependence on foreign suppliers; a transparent, community-first environmental framework to ensure public trust; and a national security partnership with the Central Government that aligns state development with India's long-term strategic needs.
India often speaks of becoming a global power. Kerala offers a pathway to actually build the material foundations of that ambition. Handled passively, these minerals will remain sand. Handled strategically, they can become the steel, fuel, and circuitry of India's future.
Kerala can lead. India must let it.
(Shashi Tharoor has been a Member of Parliament from Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, since 2009. He is a published author and a former diplomat)
Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of the author
