India’s Pursuit of Energy Security

Ashok Sharma is currently a Visiting Fellow at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), Canberra, at the Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA). Dr Sharma is also an Adjunct Associate Professor at the Institute of Governance and Policy Analysis at the University of Canberra. He is the Head of the South Asia Strategic, Security and State Fragile Program and Conjoint Head of the Indo-Pacific and Major Power Studies Program at the National Asian Studies Centre at the University of Canberra. He is also a Deputy Chair at New Zealand Institute of International Affairs, Auckland. Prior to joining the UNSW at ADFA in 2016, Dr Sharma was a Fellow at Australia–India Institute, the University of Melbourne, Lecturer in Politics and International Relations at the University of Auckland, a Visiting Academic at the University of Waikato, Hamilton, and an Endeavour Post- Doctoral Fellow at the Australian National University in 2008.Dr Sharma has a BA (Hons) in Political Science from Ramjas College, University of Delhi, an MA in Political Science and an MPhil and PhD in American Studies from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He was a Faculty at the University of Delhi and worked with think tanks based in New Delhi, namely Brookings Project at the Observer Research Foundation, Centre for Air Power Studies and Centre for Land Warfare Studies.Dr Sharma specializes in great power politics with emphasis on US–India–China geopolitics. He is extensively published and is the author of well-received book Indian Lobbying and its Influence in US Decision Making: Post-Cold War (SAGE Publications, 2017).

After an edifying and well-received book, Indian Lobbying and its Influence in US Decision Making, Dr Ashok Sharma turns his focus on an increasingly critical sector of India’s domestic and foreign policy—energy security—key to its economic ambitions. The country faces several challenges—environmental, equity-based, economic, technological and geopolitical—to meet its energy deficit. They have powerful implications for India’s energy policy. Dr Sharma’s comprehensive study concludes that the choices the country has made balance the demands of these challenges both effectively and strategically. This timely and scholarly book dealing with the complex issue of energy security is highly recommended for academics, policymakers and anyone seriously interested in India’s quest for energy security.

• Foreword by V.K. SinghPrefaceAcknowledgementsEnergy Security as a Concept: Thematic Issues in India’s Energy Security in Domestic and International SettingsIndia’s Energy Reserves and Energy Mix: Addressing the Demand in a Carbon Controlled EnvironmentIndia’s Domestic Measures to Energy Security: Exploration and Production, Privatization and Energy EfficiencyEnergy Security as a Foreign Policy Priority: India’s Diversification of Energy Acquisition Sources and Exploration AbroadIndia’s Quest for Atomic Energy: Diplomacy and Nuclear AgreementsIndia’s Quest for Energy Security Abroad: India-China Energy Geopolitics and Great GameConclusionBibliographyIndex