Mapping Tribal and Gender Gaps in India’s Just Sustainability Transitions: A Research Gap Matrix Analysis

Volume 11, Issue 2, 2026

International Journal of Commerce and Management Studies, ISSN 2456-3684

Paper Title

Author Name and Affiliation

Dr. Kanchan Kumari

Assistant Professor, Gitarattan International Business School, Affiliated to Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, Delhi, India. Email: prof.kanchan30@gmail.com / fdp25b1kanchank@alumni.iimidr.ac.in

Abstract

India’s pursuit of decarbonisation, water and food security, and climate resilience is frequently framed through the language of ‘just transition’ yet it remains unclear whether the underlying research base actually engages the population groups most exposed to transition-related disruption. This article uses a systematic evidence-mapping technique, a three-dimensional research gap matrix cross-tabulating Population Group, Outcome Domain, and Sustainability Transition type to examine how Tribal/Native tribes communities and gender are represented in the literature on just sustainability transitions in India. Of 156 evidence entries coded across ten population categories, ten outcome domains, and nine transition types (plus a residual ‘Not Specified’ category), zero entries were coded to Tribal/Native tribes or Women/Gender populations across any outcome or transition combination, while 133 entries (85.3 percent) could not be attributed to any specific population group at all. Three transition types, biodiversity/land use, waste/circular economy, and transport, returned zero evidence irrespective of population, and the Livelihood/Employment outcome domain returned zero evidence system-wide. The findings suggest that Indian just-transition scholarship remains dominated by generic, non-disaggregated framing, leaving both Native tribes communities and women structurally invisible in outcome-linked, transition-specific evidence, despite qualitative and policy literature documenting substantial impacts on both groups. The article situates these findings within just sustainability and energy justice theory, and proposes a research agenda that foregrounds disaggregated, intersectional evidence generation as a precondition for equitable transition policy.

Keywords

Just Sustainability Transitions, Tribal/Native tribes Communities, Gender and Energy Justice, Evidence Gap Mapping, India; Research Disaggregation

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DOI

DOI: https://doi.org/10.67061/ijcams.2026.vol.11.issue.02.8091

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