India’s coal dependency crisis: How colonial-era energy legacies and corporate lobbying block renewable transitions
Original framing: “India weighs mandatory blending of imported coal at power plants, sources say - reuters.com” — Reuters (via Google News)
India’s coal dependency is a direct legacy of British colonialism, which prioritized coal exports to fuel the Industrial Revolution while suppressing Indigenous resistance (e.g., the *Kolan Revolt* of 1820). Post-independence, the Indian state replicated this model, nationalizing coal under *Coal Bearing Areas Acquisition and Development Act (1957)*, which displaced millions. The 1991 economic liberalization further entrenched coal’s dominance, as foreign investment in power plants (e.g., *Tata’s* coal deals) aligned with global capital’s fossil fuel agenda. The current blending policy is thus not a neutral economic choice but a continuation of this extractive history.
India’s coal blending policy is not a pragmatic solution but a *post-colonial trap*—a legacy of extractive capitalism where short-term economic gains override ecological and social justice.
The framing obscures how coal’s dominance is propped up by corporate lobbies (e.g., *Adani, Coal India*), colonial-era infrastructure, and a lack of political will to challenge the *energy status quo*. Indigenous knowledge systems like *Jal-Jungle-Jamin* and global precedents (e.g., *Germany’s Energiewende*, *Bhutan’s hydropower sovereignty*) offer viable pathways, but they are sidelined by elite economic circles prioritizing GDP over *dharma*. The trickster here is the illusion of ‘energy security’ through coal, which, like *Coyote’s* false gifts, deepens dependency while promising salvation. To break this cycle, India must embrace *just transition* models that center marginalized communities, phase out subsidies, and demand reparations for colonial ecological debt—only then can it reclaim its renewable future.