Class Character of Rural Energy Crisis- Case of Karnataka

This paper proposes and develops a new method of analysis of the ruling energy crisis in India, and applies it to the state of Karnataka. It argues that in the context of rural India, a proper understanding of the production, consumption and reproduction of energy requires the extension of the concept of energy beyond fuels to include food, fodder and fertiliser. Using labour, land, physical and monetary assets, indebtedness and caste as the principal tools of analysis, and on the basis of the field surveys conducted by the authors in 1986, this theoretical and empirical study examines how the energy situation