Mapping Power: The Political Economy of Electricity in India's States
Navroz K. Dubash, Sunila S. Kale, and Ranjit Bharvirkar
Abstract
Electricity is critical to enabling India’s economic growth and providing a better future for its citizens. In spite of several decades of reform, the Indian electricity sector is unable to provide high-quality and affordable electricity for all, and grapples with the challenge of poor financial and operational performance. To understand why, Mapping Power provides the most comprehensive analysis of the political economy of electricity in India’s states. With chapters on fifteen states by scholars of state politics and electricity, this volume maps the political and economic forces that constr ... More
Electricity is critical to enabling India’s economic growth and providing a better future for its citizens. In spite of several decades of reform, the Indian electricity sector is unable to provide high-quality and affordable electricity for all, and grapples with the challenge of poor financial and operational performance. To understand why, Mapping Power provides the most comprehensive analysis of the political economy of electricity in India’s states. With chapters on fifteen states by scholars of state politics and electricity, this volume maps the political and economic forces that constrain and shape decisions in electricity distribute on. Contrary to conventional wisdom, it concludes that attempts to depoliticize the sector are misplaced and could worsen outcomes. Instead, it suggests that a historically grounded political economy analysis helps understand the past and devise reforms to simultaneously improve sectoral outcomes and generate political rewards. These arguments have implications for the challenges facing India’s electricity future, including providing electricity to all, implementing government reform schemes, and successfully managing the rise of renewable energy.
Keywords:
electricity,
politics,
India,
power,
reform,
political economy,
regulation,
governance,
renewable energy,
access
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2018 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780199487820 |
| Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: March 2019 |
DOI:10.1093/oso/9780199487820.001.0001 |
Authors
Affiliations are at time of print publication.
Navroz K. Dubash, editor
Senior Fellow, Centre for Policy Research
Sunila S. Kale, editor
Associate Professor of the Jackson School of International Studies, University of Washington
Ranjit Bharvirkar, editor
Director, India program, Regulatory Assistance Project
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