Fractured/Earth

I began writing this post on the 31st of May.
The second term of Narendra Modi is drawing to a close.
Voting has ended. The exit polls have come. In two more days, we will know the results of the 2024 elections. These last few days, I have been thinking about my journalistic output. I measure it constantly, pegging months in every year against the number of reports (especially investigative ones) filed.
Even so, as the term of Modi 2.0 drew to an end, I find myself thinking more than usual about my output — and what it has to tell me. In terms of reports, this is how these five years have stacked up.

2019
I filed six in 2019, all before the polls (Namami Gange (1, 2 and 3); the strangely asymmetric ONGC Videsh-Rosneft-Essar deals; a two-parter on the Forest Rights Act; Adani Power’s extrication from bankruptcy courts (A followup to the NCLT/IBC stories I had filed the previous year), Rajeev Chandrashekhar’s misleading election affidavits, and a two-parter on how Adani financed its expansion between 2014 and 2019). The rest of 2019 and the first half of 2020 went into Despite the State.

2020
When reporting began, critical reportage in 2020 netted one essay for Seminar on changing state-capital relations under the BJP, another on crony capitalism under the BJP for The Wire, and a look at India’s inexplicable plans to boost Gas consumption. On the whole, there was nothing investigative. Only commentary and energy reportage.
1. Who will participate in India’s coal auctions (2020): https://carboncopy.info/indias-energy-sector-ten-years-of-progress-but-in-fits-and-starts/
2. India’s great embrace of fossil fuels: https://carboncopy.info/indias-great-fossil-fuels-push/
3. And the risks this creates of heighted GHG emissions: https://carboncopy.info/why-indias-ghg-emissions-are-about-to-rise-faster/
4. This obit for Richard Grove: https://mrajshekhar.in/2020/07/10/in-memory-of-richard-grove/
5. An interview on global political mobilisation against coal: https://carboncopy.info/campaigns-are-more-effective-when-they-are-joined-up/
6. On crony capitalism under Modi: https://thewire.in/political-economy/crony-capitalism-on-modis-watch-means-invisible-hands-ensure-you-never-go-bankrupt.
7. This report on how India’s EIA regime has been weakened so much that we are again seeing Bhopal Gas Tragedy-like events. https://www.article-14.com/post/india-is-back-to-a-time-before-the-bhopal-gas-tragedy
8. A three-part series on India’s poorly understood gas push. Curtain-raiser: https://carboncopy.info/can-gas-account-for-15-of-indias-energy-mix/
9. Why the imported gas push will flounder due to the high cost of imported gas. https://carboncopy.info/why-indias-gas-boom-is-running-out-of-steam/
10. And the costs this will create for the country: https://carboncopy.info/the-four-hidden-risks-lurking-in-indias-gas-expansion-plans/
11. This report on how state-capital relations are changing under Modi. https://www.india-seminar.com/2020/734/734_m_rajshekhar.htm.
12. This obituary for Samir Acharya. https://mrajshekhar.in/2020/10/17/rip-mr-acharya/

2021
This was a grim year as well, with little to show apart from energy reporting. The sole investigative exception were four reports on Lakshadweep administrator Praful Patel.
1. This report on US Shale expansion. https://carboncopy.info/america-shale-story-new-joe-biden-chapter/
2. How the economics of coal-based power plants are worsening: https://carboncopy.info/strange-times-ahead-for-indias-coal-sector/
3. One response, Coal India is looking beyond coal: https://carboncopy.info/peering-inside-coal-indias-ambitious-pivot/
4. Another response? Large power producers are forwards and backwards integrating, creating megaliths. https://carboncopy.info/indias-thermal-power-generators-are-gearing-up-for-a-rebundled-future/
5. 23 April-8 May, 2021. The first two weeks of the second wave of Covid-19. https://mrajshekhar.in/2021/04/23/covid-19-2021/
6. In Lakshadweep, a Political Administrator Courts Ecological Mayhem. https://thewire.in/rights/lakshadweep-praful-patel-ecological-mayhem-tourism
7. That was an introduction to Praful Patel. A longer dive into him followed the next month. This one flagged tendering anomalies. https://thewire.in/political-economy/praful-patel-tumultuous-track-record-administrator-lakshadweep-daman-diu-dadra-nagar-haveli
8. A third report on Patel’s profligacy (when it comes to spending on himself): https://thewire.in/government/lakshadweep-chartered-flights-administrator-praful-patel-job-welfare-cuts-locals
9. A look at India’s solar sector: Curtain-raiser, on why the sector is struggling for growth. https://carboncopy.info/how-dissonance-is-leading-to-chaos-and-tumult-in-indias-solar-sector/
10. Why rooftop solar is not taking off. https://carboncopy.info/rooftop-solar-and-discoms-a-case-of-putting-the-cart-before-the-horse/
11. The flip-flops over solar manufacturing and solar imports: https://carboncopy.info/the-fall-and-rise-of-solar-costs-in-india/
12. And what all this tells us about bad design in India’s solar sector: https://carboncopy.info/india-paying-the-cost-for-its-poorly-designed-the-solar-market/
13. Amit Shah announced a fresh ministry for cooperatives. His track record inspires no confidence. https://thewire.in/government/ministry-for-cooperatives-amit-shah-bjp-nda-narendra-modi
14. Should India embrace Net Zero? https://carboncopy.info/the-sum-of-all-of-indias-net-zero-fears/ and https://carboncopy.info/sensing-an-opportunity-why-indias-should-accept-not-resist-decarbonisation/
15. A book review of Jaideep Hardikar’s Ramrao: https://www.newsclick.in/book-review-ramrao-story-indias-farm-crisis
16. Energy transition and India. Can the country export energy? Easier said than done, if hydrogen is anything to go by. https://carboncopy.info/india-needs-to-step-on-the-gas-to-win-global-green-hydrogen-race-2/
17. Or decarbonise in time? A case study from steel where big plants are shifting and smaller ones are struggling. https://carboncopy.info/what-tata-steels-attempts-to-decarbonise-tell-us/
18. What about CCUS (Carbon Capture)? https://carboncopy.info/government-support-needed-for-large-scale-carbon-capture-projects-in-india/
19. In the middle of all this, Modi made a series of injudicious promises around decarbonisation at COP. https://thewire.in/government/at-cop26-has-pm-modi-dragged-india-onto-path-of-decarbonisation-before-its-ready
20. Which brought us to this essay on the risks of decarbonisation without a pathway. https://carboncopy.info/why-india-should-brace-for-decarbonisation-impact/
21. Mukesh Ambani’s RE plans: https://daily.thesignal.co/p/will-ambanis-promise-be-like-tatas?
22. The strange case of NAMO Medical college at Silvassa (Praful Patel country): https://thewire.in/political-economy/in-silvassa-modi-aides-infra-gambit-follows-a-familiar-and-questionable-playbook

2022
Then came 2022. It was better than 2021.
This year, the firm with BJP links that almost bagged Central Electronics. A profile of Praful Patel for Caravan. A two-parter on corruption in MP’s culture department. The invocation of economic boycotts against muslims in Khargone (and the strange side plot around a firm said to be close to the state CM). And a look at the government’s PLI programme. (Apart from these, there were reports on hydel and more. But we are only counting reports that felt worthwhile to me here — and so, these six make the cut).
1. CAA/NRC protests. A sense of how deep they spread. https://mrajshekhar.in/2022/02/22/caa-nrc-protests-a-sense-of-how-deep-they-spread/
2. Finance Firm Buying Public Sector Central Electronics Ltd. for Cheap Has Links to BJP Leaders. https://thewire.in/political-economy/central-electronics-bjp-cel-sharda-nandal
3. On India’s new hydel push: https://mrajshekhar.in/2022/04/30/does-hydel-have-a-role-in-indias-decarbonisation-plans/
4. But, is hydel competitive against rival forms of storage?  https://carboncopy.info/hydel-faces-questions-about-viability-in-indias-three-way-energy-storage-race/
5. Why states might bear the onus of supporting hydel projects that struggle to compete against batteries, electrolysers, and their ilk. https://carboncopy.info/measuring-the-viability-of-indias-hydel-power-plans/
6. This longer dive, for Caravan, on Praful Patel. This piece captures his economic war on the people of lakshadweep even as he hands out tenders to firms from gujarat, in a bid to shore up support there. Gujarati colonialism. https://caravanmagazine.in/politics/praful-khoda-patel-lakshadweep-economy-protests
7. Corruption in MP’s culture department. This piece I liked. The self-anointed custodians of India’s cultural heritage were underpaying artistes and while fattening event management contracts — all going to one firm. https://thewire.in/political-economy/madhya-pradesh-culture-department-tenders
8. Part two of that report, which got into yet more detail.  https://thewire.in/political-economy/pomp-excess-madhya-pradeshs-culture-department-festivals
9. Around the same time, the MP town of Khargone saw economic boycott calls go out against muslims. A ratcheting of the sangh parivar’s war on them. https://thewire.in/communalism/khargone-madhya-pradesh-communal-tensions-boycott
10. That report also subsumed some of my reportage on Adani and Dilip Buildcon. https://thewire.in/communalism/khargone-madhya-pradesh-communal-tensions-boycott
11. A closer look at India’s PLI scheme — as a followup to whether India can profit off the global energy transition. https://carboncopy.info/how-far-will-indias-landmark-manufacturing-scheme-propel-it-in-the-global-energy-race/
12. Seeking answers, we looked at the polysilicon and battery PLIs. https://carboncopy.info/what-indias-solar-and-battery-plis-tell-us-about-how-the-scheme-is-working/
13. The PLI series is the last one for which I interviewed Dr Abhijit Sen. An obituary for him. https://mrajshekhar.in/2022/09/16/you-will-be-missed-dr-sen/
14. Five questions India needs to answer about its PLI programme: https://carboncopy.info/five-questions-india-needs-to-answer-about-its-pli-scheme/
15. Where is India investing more, fossil fuels or renewables? Numbers throw up a suprisingly hopeful answer. https://dialogue.earth/en/energy/fossil-fuels-or-renewables-where-is-india-spending-more/

2023
If 2022 was better than 2021, 2023 was better than 2022. We had the Jet story, building on the 2018 NCLT series for Scroll. Then, the NCLT followup. A quickie on MFI overlending. Some opinion pieces on Adani and Hindenburg. And then, a three-part investigative report on Adani’s growth through acquisitions. India’s nuclear push. India’s oil palm push. The abortive Tellurian deal. And the long overdue Teesta story. That is seven good stories in 12 months. 
1. First, we were all gobsmacked by the Hindenburg report on Adani. https://thewire.in/business/with-hindenburg-adani-faces-his-stiffest-challenge-yet
2. Post-Hindenburg, what happens to Adani’s energy plans? https://carboncopy.info/post-hindenburg-what-happens-to-adanis-energy-plans/
3. A Journalistic History of the Adani Group. This was an awful report. Clickbait at a time when newsrooms should have been diving deeper into Hindenburg’s claims. https://thewire.in/business/adani-rise-reading-list
4. Jet Airways’ Bumpy Flight Path Points to Serious Issues with India’s New Bankruptcy Code. https://thewire.in/business/jet-airways-insolvency-bankruptcy-code-naresh-goyal-kalrock-jalan
5. Who Is Buying Jet Airways? What the Spate of Unknown Actors Buying Indian Firms Means. https://thewire.in/business/jet-airways-bankruptcy-buying-npa 
6. Green shoots, parched roots: What the microfinance industry tells us about rural India and the grassroots economy. https://newsletter.thesignal.co/p/microfinance-loan-sadhan-india-economy-rbi
7. Another decarbonisation series. Digging into India’s critical minerals dash. https://carboncopy.info/digging-into-indias-critical-minerals-dash/
8. On the geopolitics India has to navigate: https://carboncopy.info/critical-mineral-imports-the-devil-is-in-the-details/
9. Can India create an atmanirbhar EV manufacturing chain? https://carboncopy.info/can-india-create-an-atmanirbhar-ev-manufacturing-chain/
10. And then, finally, our Adani series. On the centrality of acquisitions to his business plan — and how the state is helping him acquire rival firms. https://thewire.in/business/adanis-acquisitions-the-inorganic-strategy-behind-the-purchase-of-gangavaram-port
11. Gangavaram and Krishnapatnam, in more detail: https://thewire.in/business/adanis-acquisitions-inside-the-companys-growth-machine
12. The costs of this state-backed acquisition model? A newly predatory State, as Seminar and I had flagged in that 2020 essay. https://thewire.in/business/adanis-acquisitions-india-needs-to-keep-track-costs
13. An obit for Desraj Kali. https://mrajshekhar.in/2023/08/27/desraj-kali-is-gone/
14. India’s proposed nuclear buildup differs in fundamental ways from previous pushes: https://carboncopy.info/how-india-is-shifting-its-nuclear-power-plans-into-high-gear/
15. It wants NPCIL to partner NTPC, for one. And it wantrs untested small and modular reactors. https://carboncopy.info/a-jv-in-tow-will-indias-new-nuclear-push-work/
16. If Lessons Are Not Learnt, Expect More Silkyaras. Another report on the utter decimation of India’s Environmental Impact Assessment process. https://thewire.in/environment/uttarakhand-tunnel-collapse-warning-environment-development
(Apart from these, three reports filed this year — Oil Palm, Tellurian and Teesta III — were published in 2024.)

2024
Re stories filed in 2024, we have five so far. There is the Ambani Wildlife story. The one on the BJP’s soaring expenditure (which suggests the depth of its pockets) was followed by two more — on whom the party served while in power; and on rising election malfeasances in the 2024 hustings. And now, this final one on the major trends shaping India’s energy sector over the last ten years.
1. How India’s Palm Oil Push is Changing Land Relations in the North East: https://carboncopy.info/how-indias-palm-oil-push-is-changing-land-relations-in-the-north-east/ and https://carboncopy.info/seed-money-farming-elite-more-keen-on-indias-palm-oil-push-than-smallholders/
2. The much-delayed Tellurian story — I was meant to file this after the gas reports for CarbonCopy. https://carboncopy.info/geopolitical-pressures-fuelling-indias-gas-import-deals/
3. Why was Teesta III washed away? Hydro-criminality, low state capacity and more. This report is again a followup to the hydel series. As well as a long-pending commitment from a trip to Sikkim in 2020/21. See https://carboncopy.info/teesta-disaster-how-not-to-build-a-dam/ and https://carboncopy.info/indias-new-hydel-push-cant-turn-blind-eye-to-teesta-iii-failures/
4. And then, my best report till date. On Reliance’s Wildlife Ambitions. https://www.himalmag.com/politics/reliance-ambani-anant-elephants-wildlife-vantara-radhe-krishna-trust-greens
5. The Rs 60,000 Crore Question the BJP Needs to Answer About its Financials: https://thewire.in/politics/the-rs-60000-crore-question-the-bjp-needs-to-answer-about-its-financials
6. If ‘Sabka Vikas’ Is a Myth, Who Has Gained the Most Under Modi? https://thewire.in/politics/if-sabka-vikas-is-a-myth-who-has-gained-the-most-under-modi
7. 28 Reasons for the Shrinking Credibility of the Electoral Process. https://thewire.in/politics/decoding-22-reasons-for-the-shrinking-credibility-of-the-electoral-process
8. How has India’s energy sector changed under the BJP? https://carboncopy.info/indias-energy-sector-ten-years-of-progress-but-in-fits-and-starts/

That works out to 73 reports — about 20 of them, investigative — between mid-2020 and now. Apart from these, there is the energy/climate newsletter I have been writing the last two years.

Hardwired into those numbers is a retooling of my journalism.
In my ET stint (2010-15), I would lock into subjects with a full pager and then keep reporting on them. At Scroll, I ranged more widely and had fewer followups. On the whole, though, in both newsrooms, my filing cadence averaged out each year at one report per week. That has changed now. I have 73 reports over five years. This comes with costs. Several small stories, filed steadily, can overcome institutional inertia. Single large stories pack a bigger punch but are easier to ignore. And yet, this choice of SLOSS (Single large or several small; a pun, btw) was the only way to cover wider range despite scarcer resources.
And so, 73 reports. Close to 40 of them, on energy. Of the remaining 33, 5 or so reports on a handful of subjects.
What do you think of these numbers? I see a mixed bag. Some reports have been done. But much more has gone unreported. Entire strands of the country’s political economy over the last five years are missing from my work — I have written nothing on PM-Cares; the profiteering that followed Covid-19; why companies bought electoral bonds; I could go on and on. Even in the verticals that got my attention, there were so many followups to be done. Almost all have been missed.
I am a synecdoche. All my friends too report similar drops in their output — especially in investigative reportage. What you see here, more than anything else, is the Sangh Parivar’s successful marginalisation of journalism. Placed in a vise, the media has cut jobs. Reporters, especially freelancers, are so busy trying to keep body and soul together their capacity for investigative reports has dropped.
Anyway. Five more years are done. Now to see what happens next.