NEOLIBERALISM AND CONTESTED POLICIES OF THE POWER INDUSTRY IN INDIA

This paper, adopting a political-economy approach, examines the evolution of electric-power policy in India by drawing linkages between global and local/national discourses, of development. The study focuses on the objectives and goals of the post-colonial developmental state of India, and examines the transition of India’s electricity policy regime from Keynesianism to neoliberalism. I argue that the historically dynamic nature of state-society coalition in India, representing varying social and spatial interests, has impacted India’s power policy. In addition, I argue that even as neoliberalism at the global level is pushed forth under the rhetoric of free market, global corporations, in collaboration with Global Governance Institutions, demand guarantee of profits and incentives from local/national governments that violate the principle of free competition.