138 CHAPTER 10 Discourse Coalitions


Using the approach applied in “The Role of Ideas” in Chapter 6, this section identifies the discourse coalitions involved in the electricity supply to agri- culture and analyzes the belief systems and story lines that characterize each of the coalitions.


As explained in “Discourse Coalitions” in Chapter 3 and “The Role of Ideas” in Chapter 6, discourse coalitions are groups of actors that share a particular set of arguments and story lines, which point to common underlying value and belief systems. As with the investigation of fertilizer subsidies, analysis of the interviews and additional data sources led to the identification of two major discourse coalitions: “market-oriented” and “welfare-state-oriented” (see “The Role of Ideas” in Chapter 6). In a nutshell, the market-oriented discourse coali- tion favors increases in the electricity price and the introduction of metering to improve efficiency and reduce the fiscal burdens on the government, whereas the welfare-state-oriented discourse coalition defends electricity subsidies as a policy instrument of intersectoral income redistribution to mitigate agrarian distress. Table 10.1 identifies the major actors in the two discourse coalitions, based on interview information and a review of documents, such as the 10th Five-Year Plan of the GoI, the reports of various commissions, and several World Bank publications. As the table shows, the two coalitions cut across


Table 10.1 Electricity policy discourse coalitions: Major actors, Punjab and Andhra Pradesh


Market-oriented coalition


Proliberalization farmers’ movement at the national level


Farmer’s commissions at the national level and in Punjab


Members of the Planning Commission Management of the unbundled power utilities in Andhra Pradesh


Telugu Desam Party in Andhra Pradesh under Chandrababu Naidu


Congress Party in Punjab and at the national level


Major international financial institutions and donors (World Bank, Department for International Development [U.K.], United States Agency for International Development)


Public administration officials, especially in the Ministry of Finance Researchers and academics


Source: Authors. Welfare-state-oriented coalition


Most farmers’ organizations in both states, except the proliberalization farmers’ movement


Commission on Farmers’ Welfare in Andhra Pradesh


Organizations representing the energy-sector employees


Communist parties in both states and at the national level


Congress Party in Andhra Pradesh under Y. S. Rajaskekhara Reddy


People’s Monitoring Group on Electricity Regulation


Public administration officials in the agricultural, energy, and environment sectors


Researchers and academics


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