Coal, hydropower energy transitions in India involve state-sanctioned violence, arrests: Study

Coal and hydropower energy transitions in India are characterised by significant state-sanctioned violence, which can marginalise Indigenous and frontline communities, new research has found. The study called for an investigation of ‘violent transitions’, referring to the ways in which the expansion of fossil fuel and low-carbon energy infrastructures are predicated upon direct state-sanctioned violence – including the criminalisation of dissent, protests, and mass mobilisation through police violence and arrests – to facilitate processes of land expropriation.