The Political Construction of Extractive Regimes in Two Newly Created Indian States: A Comparative Analysis of Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh. Issue 3 (5th March 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Adhikari, Anindita; Chhotray, Vasudha
• Is Part Of: Development and change. Volume 51:Issue 3(2020)
• Page Start: 843
• Page End: 873
• Publication Date: 2020-03-05
• Subjects: Social sciences -- Periodicals; Economic development -- Periodicals; Social change -- Periodicals; Developing countries -- Periodicals; 303.483
• DOI: 10.1111/dech.12583
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0012-155X

Abstract

ABSTRACT: This article presents a multidimensional account of the politics of resource extraction in two subnational regions of India in response to the question: what are the political conditions that facilitate extraction? Emerging from the same moment of state creation in 2000, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh are adjacent mineral‐rich states with similar demographic profiles and comparable levels of economic development. The authors argue that despite these similarities and India's highly centralized legislative framework for natural resource governance, the two states have developed distinctive 'extractive regimes' in the years since statehood, which contrast in important ways across three dimensions: political organization and history, institutional effectiveness, and the nature and management of social resistance. The article offers the first in‐depth, comparative account of how subnational territorial reorganization in India acts as a critical juncture enabling the formation of extractive regimes, which have also converged in important ways in recent years.