If these allegations are correct, just think of the institutional failures at hand. There is SECI, which floated a strange tender. The government of India, which extended transmission favours to the project to bring its costs down. The state governments which bought the power at higher rates. The state power departments — and state and central power regulators — which stayed silent. The media, which missed these transactions entirely. Of such lapses is impunity made.
It makes one think of tipping points. At what point do these lapses become so normalised that the rule-based order ceases to exist? And — since the lawlessness of this present moment is rather evident — when did we cross that rubicon?
I am an Indian journalist with interests in energy, environment, climate and India’s ongoing slide into right-wing authoritarianism. My book, Despite the State, an examination of pervasive state failure and democratic decay in India, was published by Westland Publications, India, in January 2021. My work has won the Bala Kailasam Memorial Award; the Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Award; five Shriram Awards for Excellence in Financial Journalism; and, more recently, been a finalist at the True Story Award and GIJN’s Global Shining Light Awards. Write to me at despitethestate@protonmail.com.
“Westland closure: Titles that are selling fast and a few personal recommendations,” by Chetana Divya Vasudev, Moneycontrol. (Because this happened too. In February, a year after DtS was released, Amazon decided to shutter Westland, which published the book. The announcement saw folks rushing to buy copies of Westland books before stocks run out.)
Fractured/Earth 
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