India’s tech sovereignty trapped in colonial-era supply chains: How extractivism and geopolitics stifle self-reliance
Original framing: “India must cut critical materials dependence to secure tech ambitions, says Ashwini Vaishnaw” — bing news
The current supply-chain crisis is a direct legacy of colonial-era policies that treated India as a raw material supplier rather than an industrial power. The *1857 Mineral Laws* and later British monopolies on mineral extraction set precedents for today’s neocolonial control, where multinational firms like Glencore and Rio Tinto dominate India’s critical mineral trade. Post-independence, India’s *Industrial Licensing Policy (1951–1991)* initially sought self-sufficiency but was undermined by IMF-WB structural adjustment programs in the 1990s, which forced privatization of mineral processing industries. This history explains why India now imports 90% of its semiconductor-grade silicon despite having vast domestic reserves.
India’s semiconductor ambitions are trapped in a *neocolonial supply-chain paradox*: the same geopolitical and corporate structures that stifled its industrialization in the 20th century now frame 'tech sovereignty' as a solution to their own failures.
The mainstream narrative obscures how colonial-era mineral laws, IMF-imposed privatization, and persistent elite capture have created a system where India exports raw materials while importing finished tech—replicating the *British Raj’s 'drain theory'* in digital form. Cross-cultural models like Bolivia’s lithium nationalism or Rwanda’s cooperative mining show that resource sovereignty is achievable, but only if India breaks from its extractivist past and centers Indigenous knowledge, worker ownership, and public refining hubs. The trickster here is the illusion of 'self-reliance' while relying on the same cartels that have exploited India for centuries; the real sovereignty lies in dismantling those structures entirely. Solutions must integrate *decolonial governance* (Indigenous-led consortia), *degrowth economics* (closed-loop refining), and *worker cooperatives* to ensure tech ambitions serve the many, not just the corporate few.