Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin - Resource Economics

Dissertation of Raghu Chaliganti

Biofuel promotion in India: Analyzing the policy process from a discursive-institutional perspective

Start: July 2007
End: July 2012



The Indian national bio-fuel policy has the ambitious aim to bring 13.4 million hectares of wastelands, which are classified as common property resources (CPR) with open access regime, under the cultivation of Jatropha curcas. The rationale behind this policy is to provide energy security, improve rural livelihoods and to enhance environmental sustainability. The main research objective of this dissertation project is to analyze the governance mechanisms which are involved in the implementation of Jatropha curcas on CPR in the federal state of Andhra Pradesh. We employ the analytical framework of Institutions of Sustainability (IoS) in order to examine the multi-level governance of bio-fuel value chains, such as formal and informal socio-political institutional arrangements to identify local beneficiaries and allocate wastelands. A major focus of the study is the analysis of change in property rights and transaction costs in the transformation process of land rights and customary institutions of the commons at the local level. Comparative case studies are conducted in three districts of Andhra Pradesh. Expected results include the economic viability of Jatropha curcas on wastelands, potentials for rural-urban linkages and whether the current bio-fuel policy is a sustainable strategy for India in the long run.

Researcher: Chaliganti, Raghu

Cooperation Partner: International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT)

Advisor: Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Konrad Hagedorn

Funding: DAAD


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