“When I told a government official that Pesa allows us to determine our policy on liquor trade in the village, he shot back, ‘Are you trying to teach me the law? If you are so knowledgeable about the law, why are you living here in your village in the forest? Why don’t you go and speak in the Orissa assembly?’” Fulsingh Naik, resident of Mandibisi (Rayagada, West Orissa), December 2009, recounting...
More »SEARCH RESULT
Rs 13,742-cr development plan worked out for Naxal districts by Shishir Gupta
Armed with integrated action plans for 35 Naxalite-affected districts in nine states, the Planning Commission is all set to approach the Union Cabinet for a proposed outlay of Rs 13,742 crore to wean away the tribals from sympathising with the Maoists through comprehensive infrastructure and economic development as well as proper implement of the Panchayats Extension to Scheduled Areas (PESA) Act, 1996 and related Scheduled Tribes and other Traditional Forest...
More »CRPF Violating PESA Act In Jharkhandi Villages by Stan Swamy
Clause 4.e.(1) of The Provisions of the Panchayats (Extension to the Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996, [PESA] says: “Every Gram Sabha shall approve the plans, programmes and projects for social and economic development before such plans, programmes and projects are taken up for implementation.” Tribal villages are forcibly entered and village people are humiliated : The sad fact is the CRPF forces have barged into several villages in the Districts of Latehar,...
More »Panchayats in tribal areas to control forest management
Maoists capitalise on mistrust between JFMCs and tribals Move intended to counter Maoist influence over local tribals Panchayats in tribal areas will soon be controlling forest management at the ground level, replacing the control of the Forest Department. At a meeting held earlier this week between Union Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh and Union Minister for Rural Development and Panchayati Raj C.P. Joshi, it was decided to remove Joint...
More »Missing the woods, the trees by Mani Shankar Aiyar
The government has a panoply of legislative measures that can counter Maoists more than strengthening security measures against the ‘criminals’. Principal among these is the provision in paragraph 3 of Part A of the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution which vests in the Centre the right to ‘issue directions’ to states with regard to administration in the Maoist-affected tribal areas. Invoking this provision becomes imperative in light of the failure of...
More »