Despite several decades of reform, India’s electricity sector remains marked by the twin problems of financial indebtedness and inability to provide universal, high quality electricity for all. Although political obstacles to reform are frequently invoked in electricity policy debates, Mapping Power provides the first thorough analysis of the political economy of electricity in Indian states. Through narratives of the electricity sectors in fifteen major states, this book argues that a historically-rooted political economy analysis provides the most useful means of understand the past and identify reforms for the future. The book begins with an analytic framework to understand how the political economy of power both shapes and is shaped by a given state’s larger political economy. The book concludes with a synthetic account of the political economy of electricity that is animated by insights from the state-level empirical materials. The volume shows that attempts to depoliticize the sector are misplaced. Instead, successful reform efforts should aim at a positive dynamic between electricity reform and electoral success.
About the Speaker
Navroz K. Dubash is a Professor at the Centre for Policy Research (CPR). He works on climate change policy and governance, the political economy of energy and water, and the regulatory state in the developing world. Widely published in these areas, Navroz serves on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change as a Chapter Lead Author, Government of India advisory committees on climate change, energy and water policy, and the editorial boards of several international journals. In 2015 he was conferred the 12th T.N. Khoshoo Memorial Award for his work on climate change policy. His most recent book (co-edited with Sunila Kale and Ranjit Bharvirkar) examines the political economy of electricity in India’s states, and a forthcoming edited volume will examine climate politics, policy and governance in India.
Please join us for tea after the seminar. All are welcome.
