Late Acceleration: The Indian Emergency and the Early 1970s Energy Crisis.

The article focuses on India's unique experience of the early 1970s energy crisis, which unfolded as a multidimensional climate-food-energy emergency distinct from the well-known 1973 Arab oil embargo. This crisis precipitated two major transformations: the imposition of the Emergency, a constitutional dictatorship under Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, and a decisive state-led shift toward coal as the primary energy source despite environmental concerns. The article argues that India's intensified coal dependence and rising carbon emissions stemmed from political pressures to meet soaring popular energy demands amid scarcity, shaping a distinctive, state-centered fossil fuel regime that contrasts with the private-sector-driven fossilization of energy in the industrialized North. Understanding this historical trajectory is essential for grasping India's current energy challenges and the broader dynamics of carbon-intensive development in the Global South.