India, Sept. 20 -- For much of the 20th century, the world's strategic map was drawn around oil. Nations competed for reserves, protected sea lanes, built alliances around energy security and discovered, often at considerable cost, that dependence on a vital resource could become dependence on the power controlling it. The next great resource contest is already taking shape, but its geography will be different. Lithium, cobalt, nickel, graphite and rare earth elements are becoming indispensable to electric vehicles, batteries, semiconductors, renewable-energy systems, advanced electronics, aerospace and modern defence. What lies beneath our feet is, therefore, no longer simply a geological resource. It is becoming an instrument of geopoli...