The Informal Work of Policy Maintenance: Making Space for Local Knowledge in Indian Rural Electricity Governance

Abstract

Informality, particularly in the context of the global south, has been understood as deviations from the formal rules of the state. It is therefore often associated with illegality and weak governing capacity. This chapter examines informality as emerging in the dynamics of how change is accommodated in the practices of the sub-division, the lowest administrative unit of the state-owned electricity-supply company in the southern Indian state of Karnataka. It locates informal as an arena that admits contingent and local knowledge to guide its practices that organize accountability relations.

Citation

Sudhakar, M. (2024), "The Informal Work of Policy Maintenance: Making Space for Local Knowledge in Indian Rural Electricity Governance", Garner-Knapp, L., Mason, J., Mulherin, T. and Visser, E.L. (Ed.) Informality in Policymaking: Weaving the Threads of Everyday Policy Work, Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 39-49. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-83797-280-720241003