Critical Minerals Policy Brief: Advising the Ministry of Mines on Budget Structure
Prepared and presented a cross-sector policy brief to Ministry of Mines officials drawing on wind energy sector precedents
Riddhim Sehgal
Analyst - Founder’s Office at Social Alpha
From their time as
Research Analyst - Tech Futures
Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) • 2024 - 2025
Overview
While at CEEW's Technology Futures team, Riddhim was approached by officials working with the Ministry of Mines secretary. The Ministry was developing a critical mineral mission budget and wanted to understand how the wind and renewable energy sector had structured its own budget and tax frameworks, with the aim of drawing applicable lessons.
The Story
While at CEEW's Technology Futures team, Riddhim was approached by officials working with the Ministry of Mines secretary. The Ministry was developing a critical mineral mission budget and wanted to understand how the wind and renewable energy sector had structured its own budget and tax frameworks, with the aim of drawing applicable lessons.
As the only CEEW analyst covering wind energy, Riddhim was the direct point of contact for this coordination. He prepared a short study documenting how the government had structured support for the wind energy sector, including the policy instruments, budget composition, and tax structures that had shaped the sector's development.
He presented this to the Ministry officials as a reference framework, framing it as a set of precedents and principles they could adapt for the critical minerals context. The Ministry was receiving input from multiple advisory sources simultaneously, and the critical mineral mission budget was still in development at the time of his departure from CEEW.