India's coal crisis reveals hidden costs policymakers have ignored
A two-decade study of coal-dependent communities in India shows that transition plans miss informal workers and degraded ecosystems. The research argues justice requires listening to those most affected—a gap that could derail India's energy shift and create social instability.
Originaltitel: Everyday Justice in India's Coal Transition: Testimonies from the Margins of Society
<p>This book reconceptualizes the idea of justice in considering a ‘just transition’ away from coal in India. It defines ‘everyday justice’ in a broader way to include informal economies and forms of labour for human lives that have been fundamentally altered by coal mining, have the right to participate in political decisions, and to hold property. It builds a compelling case for everyday justice through three kinds of evidence: testimonies collected over two decades from the same individuals to present a temporal view of changed livelihoods and worldviews, a detailed examination into coal production and transport and the unconventional labour arrangements therein, and the degradation of the landscape and decay of peasantry in older coal mining regions in Jharkhand state. This evidence was collected during fieldwork beginning in the late 1990s, involving decades of research, observations, close interactions, and primarily conversations to learn from coal-dependent communities.<br></p>