Renewable Resource Shocks and Conflict in India's Maoist Belt

Resource conflict, collective action, and resilience: an analytical framework

“…By contrast, conflict over the renewable natural resources that underpin rural livelihoods in agricultural landscapesthe subsistence use of land, water, fisheries, and forests -has received far less attention from the environmental security community, though this trend is now shifting (Kok et al 2009;UNEP 2009;UNDP 2010;Kapur et al 2012;Young and Goldman 2013). There is an important distinction here.…”

The dispossession regime of India's ultra mega power projects (UMPPs): case of a captive coal based UMPP in Jharkhand

“…Political factors like lack of effective governance and accountability in these regions and the collusion among the political and bureaucratic elites and the mining companies has added more fuel to the fire. Mineral rich states like Jharkhand are plagued by the vicious cycle of resource curse, inequality, conflict and Maoist insurgency (Lahiri-Dutt 2006;Fox and Swamy 2008;Prashad 2009;Kapur, Gawande, and Satyanath 2012;Haldar and Abraham 2015;Sareen 2016). Carrying India's largest mineral reserves, Jharkhand is a classic case of "poverty amidst plenty" (India Today News 2009).…”

“…Jharkhand's past and present is punctuated by Maoist insurgency or Naxalism and there is perhaps not a single phenomenon it does not manifest in. Despite significant improvements in the political representation of previously underrepresented tribal populations, Maoist insurgency in Jharkhand has continued to intensify since its formation (Kapur, Gawande, and Satyanath 2012). Maoists have increasingly and successfully limited or blocked the implementation of governmental programs while simultaneously crippling the local participatory apparatus that the government agencies tend to rely on (Prakash 2016).…”