I am a doctoral student at the Ashank Desai Centre for Policy Studies, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai, India. In my doctoral research, I primarily focus on the roles of state and advocacy coalitions in the implementation of the 2006 Forest Rights Act (FRA), in Gadchiroli district, Maharashtra, India. I examine the roles of policy processes, decision-making, and power negotiations among the stakeholders involved in the FRA implementation process at the micro, meso, and macro levels. These implementation processes are efforts to undo the historical injustices done to forest-dwelling communities during the colonial and postcolonial periods. I employ policy process theory lenses, such as the policy design and advocacy coalition framework, to examine India’s forest governance strategy for recognising forest rights and its implications for the livelihoods of forest-dwelling communities.
