Abstract
The Indian government initiated the Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan to make its citizens ‘atmanirbhar’, or self-reliant. We argue that self-reliance can be achieved through self-sufficiency at the societal level. Next, we review the extant literature on self-sufficiency and theorize its linkages with social and solidarity economy (SSE) in the context of electric power generation. The participatory and democratic nature of governance in decision-making processes is one of the main principles of the SSE sector. Variations in democratic governance and inclusive participation in SSE depend on SSE structure. Subsequently, we move into the focus areas of the article, where the purpose is to explore the linkages between the development of SSE initiatives and sustainable development goals focused on environmental protection and sustainable production and consumption. Scaling up and solarizing agricultural pump sets have been good initiatives at addressing issues around agriculture, water and electricity requirement. This study explores SSE initiatives that address these issues and explores scaling up and linking with institutions and policies at the macro level. The study presents empirical evidence of such initiatives in the renewable energy sector. This article is expected to contribute to the existing literature on SSEs and offer insights on how scaling up SSEs can help in sustainable rural development, which would lead to self-sufficiency and subsequently self-reliance at a societal level.
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