Energy security versus human security in India : a case study of the Kudankulam nuclear power plant

• Main Author: Varigonda Kesava Chandra
• Other Authors: Rajesh Manohar Basrur
• Format: Theses and Dissertations
• Language: English
• Published: 2013
• Subjects: DRNTU::Social sciences::Political science
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/53088
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

This paper examines how perceptions regarding the impact of the Kudankulam nuclear power plant (KNPP) on energy security and human security have influenced the policymaking process of the Indian state. The paper argues that policy influencers within the state apparatus and civil society formulate their stances regarding the Kudankulam nuclear plant based on perceptions concerning the effects - salutary or debilitating, of the Kudankulam nuclear plant on energy and human securities. Based on such perceptions, policy influencers attempt to impact state policymaking through intrastate lobbying and civil society activism. The impact of such divergent perceptions on policymaking has, according to this paper resulted in a considerable delay in plant operations. Data obtained through interviews of primary sources and secondary source materials such as press releases and publications is used to first study the perceptions that typically give rise to a pro- or anti-KNPP stance among policy influencers, and then to determine how such policy influencers have impacted state policymaking. The Indian experience with nuclear energy is a veritable ‘energy conundrum’ - with the need to balance energy security with human security. Perceptions among the public and policy influencers largely seem to drive state policy in navigating through this conundrum, especially when considering the increasing reliance on nuclear energy in India; it is thus pertinent that their impact is studied and analysed. It is hoped that this paper fulfils that obligation to a considerable extent.