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Resource centre on India's rural distress
 
 

Government to announce special package for LWE-affected districts

-The Economic Times

 

Development and land rights are the new weapons in the government's war against Naxals. To forge an effective response, the rural development ministry is consulting the collectors of the 60 Left-wing extremism (LWE)-affected districts at a day-long meeting in the Capital on Tuesday.

In the past, development programmes have failed to take into account the ground realities in these districts. This has contributed to ineffective programme implementation in these backward areas.

Recommendations on changes in development schemes arising out of the consultation will be presented to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh said that a special package for LWE-affected districts would be announced on Tuesday.

The move away from a primarily security-based response to the Naxal problem relies on effective implementation of development-oriented schemes and addressing issue of entitlements, particularly land rights. Ramesh, who heads the department of land records, sees redress of land rights as central to an effective response to Naxal influence. "The main problem is related to land.

Tribal land has been transferred to non-tribals. When land issues are not resolved, the Naxals make their way in, provide instant justice and win over the tribals. The state needs to step in provide legal aid to resolve cases thereby increasing faith in the government's ability and intent to deliver," Ramesh said.

In a similar vein, Tribal Affairs Minister Kishore Chandra Deo stressed that primary cause of unrest in these districts is the failure to give people their land rights. "It is not a question of more focus but understanding that settling the rights of the tribals and other forest dwellers is a pre-condition for any other activity in these areas.

There are practical and logistical issues that need to be taken into account but that is not an excuse for not addressing the basic question of rights," Deo said.

The tribal affairs minister will be attending the meeting as would Deputy Chairman Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia and Roads Minister CP Joshi.

"An incentive package would be required to ensure states carry out this exercise," Ramesh said. The three-year long exercise in rural Nizamabad in Andhra Pradesh, involving aerial and ground surveys, cost nearly 30 crore. "This is of fundamental importancea¦We have to document these cases and provide legal assistance to tribals who are fighting land alienated disputes," Ramesh said.

Over the last two months, Ramesh has visited LWE-affected districts in Chattisgarh, Bihar, Orissa, and Andhra Pradesh. Collectors and elected representatives in these districts have highlighted the need to rework norms to address development needs, particularly the rural roads programme.

Suggestions to be presented would include allowing IED-proof cement and concrete roads and waving the population criteria for connecting habitations under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna, allowing higher administrative costs for programmes such as the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme-increasing the cap from the current 6% to 10% etc.

With people from outside the area not keen to stay in these districts, collectors have suggested changes in recruitment criteria to allow local hiring. The move would allow for continued delivery of programmes and create local stake through employment opportunities. Similarly, local contractors could be employed in the LWE areas. Collectors would like resource allocation to be done on a block basis rather than districts.

"I am convinced that there has to maximum flexibility in these areas, what works elsewhere doesn't work in areas affected by LWE. We can't treat these areas like others. We have to grasp the eco-graphy of the Naxal districts in full," Ramesh said.

Improving delivery of development programmes and ensuring land rights is in keeping with the Congress' approach.The Congress has consistently maintained the need for a more development focus in LWE affected. Most of these areas are in opposition-ruled states and are overwhelmingly tribal in population. With the Congress is keen to regain its lost support in the tribal belt, the reworking the rural development programmes seems a politically sound move.