Abstract
The privatization of small-scale (less than 5 MW), ostensibly green, run-of-the-river electricity production in the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh (HP) exemplifies many hallmark characteristics of neoliberalization. Unfortunately, the negative socioecological effects of small hydropower generation represent an archetypal example of environmental injustice because of the highly unequal distribution of benefits and harms associated with it. Rural village communities in HP contest these asymmetrical distributional relationships. They seek procedural and restorative forms of justice, through legal and extralegal forms of collective action. Their actions resonate with those of many other communities around the globe that resist the neoliberalization of their environments and themselves. Four key concepts from critical perspectives on neoliberalism (state rollback and re-regulation, privatization, double movement and proletarianization) are used to frame the analysis of the environmental injustices – the actual socioecological impacts – caused by small hydropower projects in the state. This chapter identifies various dimensions of these injustices and reviews the strategies rural communities employ to realize diverse modes of justice (procedural, distributive and restorative). More broadly, the chapter informs emerging policy debates in the region, such as the ongoing controversy over such projects in HP and the future trajectory of hydropower development throughout the Himalaya region.