Analysing Social Opposition to Reforms: The Electricity Sector in India

This book examines how market contexts shape the opposition of people to public sector reforms, with evidence from the Indian electricity sector. Based on a survey of 7,000 households in 14 Indian states and following a rational choice framework, it analyses the response of households to the prospect of privatization of electricity utilities.

Analysing Social Opposition to Reforms: The Electricity Sector in India discusses the possibility of compensating losers and sequencing reform strategies. It uses empirical evidence from the Indian electricity sector to suggest that much of the opposition can be explained in terms of the (short term) losses due to reforms. The book uses insights gained from Indian data to discuss the likelihood of opposition to reforms in other public services and also to examine the performance of electricity reforms in other Asian countries. It is one of the few empirical studies on how gains and losses affect opposition/support to economic/institutional reforms globally and as such is a valuable contribution to development studies, political economy and governance. The book will be of great interest to development professionals, policy makers and researchers.

V. Santhakumar is currently Professor, Azim Premji University, Bangalore. He had been a faculty, for 15 years (1996–2011), and is currently a Visiting Professor at the Centre for Development Studies, Trivandrum. He worked as a full-time volunteer in a major non-governmental organisation called Kerala Sasthra Sahithya Parishad. He completed doctoral research from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras. He has held postdoctoral scholarships at the Wageningen Agricultural University, Netherlands, and Vanderbilt University, United States.

V. Santhakumar has also carried out a number of consultant assignments for the Asian Development Bank, United Nations Environment Programme and United Nations Development Programme in different states of India, and in Tajikistan, Palestine, Laos and so on. He has received the research medal and the outstanding research award of the Global Development Network, during its initial years. He specialises in institutional issues of environment, natural resources, energy and infrastructure. In addition to publishing in international journals, he has authored Analysing Social Opposition to Reforms (2008), Economic Analysis of Institutions: A Practical Guide (2011) and Economics in Action: An Easy Guide for Development Practitioners (2013)―all published by SAGE India. He has also co-edited the two-volume series on Law and Economics (2013) published by SAGE India.