PESA Act
Union Minister for Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Dr.C.P.Joshi today informed the Lok Sabha that the Panchayats (Extension to the Scheduled Areas) (PESA) Act, 1996 extends Part IX of the Constitution with certain modifications and exceptions, to the Schedule V areas of 9 States viz. Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa and Rajasthan.
Replying to written question the Minister said Government has taken various steps to implement the Provision of PESA effectively by States. These include:
1. Guidelines of PESA: An advisory, ‘Effective implementation of PESA particularly in the context of prevailing extremism’, dated 21st May, 2010 from the Union Secretary, Ministry of Panchayati Raj have been issued to all PESA States. It is available on website of Ministry of Panchayati Raj, www.panchayat.nic.in
2. PESA Model Rules: Draft Model Rules for PESA were prepared by the Ministry and circulated to all PESA States for framing of rules for effective implementation of PESA.
3. Visits and meetings in PESA States: Field visits have been made to PESA States. Meetings were held with officials of State Departments concerned with PESA implementation.
4. Three Sub-Committees: MoPR constituted three sub-committees, namely the B D Sharma sub-committee on ‘Model Guidelines to vest Gram Sabhas with Powers as envisaged in PESA; the Raghav Chandra sub-committee on ‘Land Alienation, Displacement, Rehabilitation & Resettlement’ and Shri A.K. Sharma on Minor Forest Produce’. Report and recommendations of all the sub-committees have been forwarded to the PESA States.
PESA promotes people-centric governance and provides a central role to the Gram Sabha. Empowerment of people is critical in the Schedule V Areas. It is expected that increased decentralized governance will reduce the grievances of the people.
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