Bhopal/New Delhi
The Panchayats Extension to Scheduled Areas (PESA) Act, 1996, came into extension in Madhya Pradesh on Tuesday. It gives special powers to the Gram Sabhas in Scheduled Areas, especially for the management of natural resources
Addressing the tribal gathering, President Droupadi Murmu praised the Madhya Pradesh government for implementing the PESA Act on the occasion.
Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said that the PESA Act will be implemented with communal harmony and it is to empower the rights of the tribals. It is not against anyone, backward class and general class people do not need to fear it, he said.
He elaborated on the various provisions of the PESA Act and said it is about giving rights to the jungle, land, and water. Now without the consent of Gram Sabha, land for any project cannot be taken.
Announcing that religious conversion through the medium of allurement will not be allowed on the soil of Madhya Pradesh, the Chief Minister said the Gram Sabha will have the right of maintaining ponds; amassing the forest produce and even deciding the rates of it.
“If someone comes to tribal villages to get the manpower and takes away the villagers outside, then he will have to first inform the Gram Sabha with all kinds of details as to why the villagers are being taken away and where. This will help in providing necessary help to villagers if they are caught in any kind of problem,” he pointed out.
With gullible tribals exploited by money lender sharks, Chouhan said that no one can lend money beyond the fixed interest rate and has to inform the Gram Sabha that he had given a certain amount of interest to a certain person.
“A new wine shop will not be opened without the permission of Gram Sabha which will also have the right to survey mines. Even Gram Sabha’s Peace and Dispute Redressal Committee will solve the small disputes. Police stations have to inform the Gram Sabha about any FIR registered against anyone,” he detailed.
According to a Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) note, “When the Act refers to extending the provisions of Part IX of the Constitution to the fifth schedule areas; politically, it gives radical governance powers to the tribal community and recognizes its traditional community rights over local natural resources.
“It not only accepts the validity of customary law, social and religious practices, and traditional management practices of community resources”, but also directs the state governments not to make any law which is inconsistent with these. it gives wide-ranging powers to Gram Sabhas, which had hitherto been denied to them by the lawmakers of the country.”
For her part, the President underlined the need to learn from tribals on the conservation of forests given the major challenges being posed by issues like climate change and global warming. The President remembered the struggle of tribal society in conserving and protecting forest areas during British rule and said they have also sacrificed their lives for this cause.
The Narendra Modi government had last year declared November 15 as ‘Janjatiya Gaurav Divas’ to mark the birth anniversary of tribal icon Birsa Munda and remember the contribution of tribal freedom fighters.
The President recalled former Prime Minister (late) Atal Bihari Vajpayee had constituted a separate ministry (for tribals), Janjatiya Karya Mantralaya, which, she said, played a major role in the development of tribal areas in the country.
Union Ministers Arjun Munda and Faggan Singh Kulaste and Madhya Pradesh Governor Mangu Bhai Patel also addressed the audience.
The President is on a two-day visit to Madhya Pradesh during which she will attend a civic reception to be hosted in her honour at the Raj Bhawan in Bhopal and virtually lay the foundation stones for projects of the Union ministries of Defence, Road Transport and Highways.
