New rules under PESA Act implemented in Chhattisgarh
NEW DELHI: On the occasion of World Tribal Day, Chhattisgarh government implemented the extension of panchayat rights in scheduled areas - PESA Rule-2022.
With new rules coming into effect under the PESA Act in Chhattisgarh, tribal people will now be able to take their own decisions related to waterforest-land, Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel said.
“PESA Act was already in existence, but due to nonformulation of its rules, tribals remained deprived of its benefits. But in Chhattisgarh, rules have been made under PESA Act and the same has been published in the Gazette on August 8,” Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel said.
The Chief Minister was addressing the programme of Sarv Adivasi Samaj Chhattisgarh, which was organised on the occasion of World Tribal Day at Deen Dayal Upadhyay Auditorium located at the Science College campus. People from tribal communities from across the state were present during the programme. The event started with paying floral tribute to Shaheed Veer Narayan and the lighting of lamp.
Baghel said that implementation of PESA Act will empower Gram Sabha to protect the tribal rights. According to the new rules, 50 per cent of the members of Gram Sabha will be from tribal communities and 25 per cent of them would be the female members. In his address, the Chief Minister said that after his government came into power, World Tribal Day/International Day of Indigenous People was declared a public day, tribal people were provided forestland rights certificates and in this way, 5 lakh forest land rights certificates have been distributed so far.
Janjagran Abhiyan Calendar was also released on the occasion with the objective of protecting the rights of tribal people. “The state government is procuring 65 kinds of minor forest produce at support price, and this is leading towards the economic empowerment of tribal people. In terms of education as well, we have made significant progress. We have reopened 300 schools in Bastar and to improve the quality of education, we are about to recruit 10,000 new teachers in the state,” he added.