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Paper short abstract

Viewing India’s energy transition through the lens of visibility, this paper examines rural–urban energy poverty and energy inequality using NSSO data. It shows how deprivation is obscured by transition narratives and calls for alternative energy-mix pathways from a sustainability perspective.

Paper long abstract

Rather than treating the energy crisis as a purely technical problem of supply deficits, this paper approaches it as a crisis of visibility — of how energy deprivation is conceptualised, measured, and rendered meaningful within policy and scholarly discourse. In the Indian context, where large segments of the population continue to live with inadequate, unreliable, or low-quality energy access, the question is not simply whether electricity connections exist, but how energy poverty is socially differentiated and unevenly experienced. Energy scarcity here is frequently mundane and routinised, rendered invisible within narratives of rapid electrification and economic growth. This raises concerns about energy justice: whose experiences of deprivation are counted, and whose are obscured.

The paper examines energy poverty in India by focusing on rural–urban variations in fuel use and access, drawing on household-level NSSO data from the 68th to 79th rounds (2011–12 to 2022-23). By constructing a Specific Concentration Curve (SCC), the study offers a stylised quantitative measure of inequality in the distribution of fuels. The paper demonstrates how formal indicators of energy access coexist with persistent forms of deprivation, revealing the structural reproduction of inequality within India’s evolving energy regime.

Building on these findings, the paper proposes alternative energy-mix configurations that attend to sustainability goals and social justice. Rather than offering predictive forecasts, the discussion outlines normatively grounded, attainable pathways to expand renewable energy that address entrenched energy poverty. In conclusion, the paper argues that a just energy transition requires visibility of deprivation within policy, practice, and scholarly imaginations globally.