Bakshi, E., Basu,I., Seal, A., Seal, A. and Seal, A. 2024. Envisaging Just Energy Transitions in Jharkhand: Reinterrogating the Politico-Economic Entanglements of the Private Regimes of Extraction and Accumulation. Journal of Indian and Asian Studies. 5 (2) 2440010. https://doi.org/10.1142/s2717541324400102
| Title | Envisaging Just Energy Transitions in Jharkhand: Reinterrogating the Politico-Economic Entanglements of the Private Regimes of Extraction and Accumulation |
|---|---|
| Type | Journal article |
| Authors | Bakshi, E. |
| Basu,I. | |
| Seal, A. | |
| Seal, A. | |
| Seal, A. | |
| Abstract | One of the major concerns around in coal mining and extractive regimes more generally in India has been the role of the private sector in managing precarious labor environments through intermediation, which has deep political roots. While the state–corporate nexus is well established in the coal mining sector, we observe here that an important part of sustaining productivity and profitability from mining has been the organized intermediation of private subcontractors who work between formal and informal coal economies and between coal companies and communities. This paper seeks to historically situate the emergence of these private entities and the nature of competition between them. Additionally, it elucidates how political machinery is deployed to manage such conflicts and competition. The paper argues that while competition among different private entities occurs at the profit level, the internal conflict and its efficient political management contribute to seamless accumulation—both primitive accumulation and surplus value accumulation—within the coal economies by preventing organized labor resistance. It concludes by arguing that without a nuanced understanding of the politics of the “private” within the coal economy and its accumulative regimes, any attempt at Just Transitions will fail to comprehend the multifaceted nature of exploitation, co-option, and negotiation within such regimes. |
| Keywords | Just Energy Transition |
| extractive regimes | |
| regimes of accumulation | |
| Politics of Energy Transition | |
| political economy of coal | |
| private and il/legal economies | |
| (im)possibilities of community led transitions | |
| Article number | 2440010 |
| Journal | Journal of Indian and Asian Studies |
| Journal citation | 5 (2) |
| ISSN | 2717-5413 |
| 2717-5766 | |
| Year | 2024 |
| Publisher | World Scientific Publishing |
| Publisher's version | License CC BY 4.0 File Access Level Open (open metadata and files) |
| Digital Object Identifier (DOI) | https://doi.org/10.1142/s2717541324400102 |
| Web address (URL) | https://www.worldscientific.com/doi/10.1142/S2717541324400102?srsltid=AfmBOoqG8cinz_EMNdWxNac9c3NzItUgCA3WS4TE-66p3n5S0smjkhAr |
| Publication dates | |
| Published in print | Jul 2024 |
| Published online | 30 Oct 2024 |