Exploring energy transition in

the district of Kutch (Gujarat)

in India

Siddhartha Dabhi

Exeter Business School

s.s.dabhi@exeter.ac.uk

Some

questions…

What will energy transition entail on-ground

considering its large spatial footprint?

How will this transition impact rural communities?

Will this be a ‘just’ transition?

Who will organize this transition and how?

“All ecological projects are simultaneously political-economic

projects and vice-versa”.

David Harvey

Field site…

Kutch, Gujarat

Kutch is India’s second largest district.

It situated at the border of India and

Pakistan.

Rich Indo-Pak cultural heritage melts

into the region of Kutch in form of

folklore, music, embroidery and food.

Semi-arid region prone to cyclical

droughts.

Kutch is known as a resort to many

migratory bird species and also home

to wide variety of birds, animals and

plants; some of which are endangered

or critically endangered.

Pastoralism, fishing and dry-land

agriculture main livelihoods.

Kutch district

My study…

(please see Dabhi and Böhm,

2015)

Two disconnected stories?

Great Indian Bustard (GIB) is

a critically endangered

species. Wind farms built

next to GIB sanctuaries.

“Nothing grows where the

oil spills, and standing crops

die instantly”. - Dalsukh

Hirabhai Venkat Jaidevpura

in Kadi taluka of Mehsana

district of Gujarat state in

India.

Literature Review

Green Capitalism

Green Growth

Climate Capitalism

Resource Based Theory for the Firm (Clean Technology)

Sustainability Reporting

State:Critique of the Governance

Literature

Postcolonial state

State-Capital

Relationship

SocioecologicalFix

Metabolic Rift

Accumulation

Social and

ecological

impacts

Green Capitalism

(Climate change crisis and capital's crisis and

transnational governance)

State

(Postcolonial state,

bureaucracy and

wastelands as new frontier

of accumulation

)

Metabolic Rift

(Socioecological impacts and transfer of energy)

Socioecological Fix

(Inner movement or centralization

of fix)

CORPORATIONS

Wind Power

Projects

STATE

Local, Regional,

State & National

Government

ENVIRONMENT

Ecological &

Infrastructural

PEOPLE

Institutions

& Households

Identification of gaps & planning

targeted Interviews

Real time data analysis

Research Tool

Design

ResearchDesign

State

Corporations

People

Ecology

Identifying target

respondents in the State

Identifying relevant

Data/Content

Sampling

Corporations

Designing Field Visit Plan

Scheduling Appointments

Conducting Mock

Interviews

Finalizing Tools & Field visits

Qualitative

In-depth

Targeted

Qualitative

Interactive

Discussion

based

Conducting Interviews

Identify Locations & respective respondent

profiles

Identify

domain experts for secondary data gaps

Research Tool

Design

Conducting Mock

Interviews

Designing

Field Visit Plan

Finalizing Tools & Field visits

Conducting Interviews

In-depth

Interviews

Ethnograp

hic

Observatio

nal & TAM

Targeted repeat

interviews for addressing

gaps

Affinity

Group

Discussion

Dyads &

Triads

Quantitati

ve

Interviews

-Data Valida

tion-

Analysis-

Interpretatio

n

Understanding the Transition

State

EcologySociety:

Businesses +

Communities

Metabolic

Interactions

Triangle

Socioecological

Metabolic Systems

View

Thank you!

Looking forward to your questions, comments and feedbacks….