Self Rule of Tribespeople

 My trenchant criticism of capitalism makes many people think that I am a communist. But in reality I am an anarchist, that is a person who favors a decentralized community based economic and political system with no or minimal state regulation as opposed to the currently dominant centralized economy and governance system which is heavily controlled by the state and market. That's why from the very beginning of my working life I have lived among people who have traditionally been anarchists - the tribal community. Because the modern centralized system obviously does not like anarchists, the tribal people have been oppressed for centuries and this persecution has reached its peak after independence. For the past four decades, I, along with my compatriot Bhil tribal people, have engaged in mass struggles to preserve and promote their anarchist culture and way of life. We have not achieved as much as we would have liked to from these struggles, but together with other tribal organizations, we have been able to get two important laws passed which are –

1. Panchayat Provisions (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996 (popularly known as the PESA)

2. The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 (popularly as the Forest Rights Act)

Although we have failed to implement both these laws properly due to state apathy, however, in the area of work of our organization, Khedut Mazdoor Chetna Sangath, in Alirajpur, our writ runs. The major problem is that we have failed to make the state officially recognise the small tribal gram sabhas as per the first law and make the state recognise the community rights over forests as per the second law. a

Both these provisions are in accordance with the Subsidiarity Principle which says - "The central level of authority shall act only if and in so far as the objectives of the proposed action cannot be sufficiently achieved either at the regional or the local level, but can rather, by reason of the scale or effects of the proposed action, be better achieved at the central level". Thus, all work related to agriculture, agri-processing, ecosystem conservation, decentralised renewable energy and primary education and health involving indigenous knowledge and the like should be the responsibility of local governments but in reality centralised governments at the central and state level dominate and local governments are marginalised, especially in areas where tribes people reside. 

A few days ago some of the activists said that efforts should be made once again for getting the small gram sabhas and the community forest rights officially recognised by the state and we prepared an application for submission to the government and to later launch a mass movement for this. This application is given below for public information -

The necessary action to be taken by the government in the interest of tribespeople in Madhya Pradesh

Many laws and policies have been enacted in the interest of tribespeople (Scheduled Tribes) but they are not being implemented properly, as a result of which the participation of tribals in the development of the country is less than desirable. They are not only deprived of many benefits of this development. but they have also to pay the price for it in the form of displacement and loss of livelihoods. In view of this, it is proposed that the government take the following steps in the interests of the tribespeople –

1. Implementation of the special provisions made in Chapter 14 (a) of the Madhya Pradesh Panchayat Raj and Gram Swaraj Act, 1993 in accordance with the Panchayat Provisions (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996, which are as follows -

129 (a) Definitions - Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act and in this Chapter, unless the context otherwise requires,

(a) “Gram Sabha” means a body consisting of persons whose names are included in the electoral rolls of the Panchayat at the village level or the part thereof for which it is constituted.

(b) “Village” means any village in a Scheduled Area consisting ordinarily of a dwelling or group of dwellings or a small village or group of small villages consisting of a community and which manages its affairs in accordance with its traditions and customs; .

129 (b) Constitution of village and Gram Sabha - (1) The Governor may, by public notification, specify a "village" for the purposes of this Chapter.

(2) Ordinarily, there shall be a Gram Sabha for a village as defined in sub-section (1):

Provided that the members of the Gram Sabha may, if they so desire, constitute more than one Gram Sabha in any village in such manner as may be prescribed and the area of ​​each such Gram Sabha shall consist of a dwelling or a group of houses or a small village or small villages. The community will manage its activities according to its traditions and customs.

(3) For every meeting of the Gram Sabha, there shall be a quorum of not less than one tenth of the total number of members of the Gram Sabha or five hundred members of the Gram Sabha, whichever is less.

(4) The meeting of the Gram Sabha shall be presided over by a member of the Gram Sabha, not being a Sarpanch or Up-Sarpanch or Ward Panch of the Panchayat, who is elected for the purpose by a majority of the members present at that meeting. .

129 (c) Powers and functions of Gram Sabha - In a Scheduled Area, in addition to the powers and functions conferred on the Gram Sabha under section 7, the following powers and functions shall also be there, namely:-

(i) to protect the traditions and customs of individuals, their cultural identity and community resources and customary methods of resolving disputes;

(ii) deleted by amendment

(iii) to manage the natural resources within the area of ​​the village, including land, water and forests, in accordance with their traditions and the provisions of the Constitution and with due regard to the spirit of other relevant laws for the time being in force;

(iv) deleted by amendment

(v) the management of village markets and fairs including cattle fairs, by whatever name called, through the Gram Panchayat;

(vi) to implement local plans, including tribal sub-plans, and to exercise control over the funds and expenditures for such plans; And

(vii) to exercise such other powers and to perform such functions as the State Government may confer  upon it under any law for the time being in force.

It is well known that Gram Panchayats are not functioning properly. The main problem is that the employees of the Panchayat Department ignore the elected members of the Gram Panchayats. There is also the problem that Panchayats are made up of several villages and hence their Gram Sabha meetings cannot be organized easily. Especially in areas where tribes people reside in scattered buildings on their own farms. By implementing the above legal provisions, small gram sabhas can be notified and they can then do all the development work on their own without the intervention of the panchayat employees. Since these will be small groups, it will be easier to organize their meetings and they will be able to take decisions in the collective interest without having to elect any Sarpanches or Panches. Therefore, the Madhya Pradesh Scheduled Area Gram Sabha (Organization, Process of Consolidation and Conduct of Business) Rules, 1998, should be implemented and small Gram Sabhas should be formed in the scheduled areas with all the finances and powers for implementing rural development work under various schemes.

2. The United Nations has declared the decade from 2021 to 2030 as the decade of "Ecosystem Restoration". Because tribespeople have been protecting the ecosystems of their habitats for centuries, they can are the best in this kind of restoration work. But the reality is that their traditional rights on the forest and land have been taken away and the responsibility of looking after the forests has been given to the Forest Department, which is not doing this work properly. Therefore, by implementing the provisions of the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, small gram sabhas formed under the PESA provisions should be given community forest rights in their forest area. This will not only facilitate the work of restoration of ecosystems but will also help in alleviating the poverty prevailing among the tribespeople.

3. Protection of the linguistic and cultural rights of the tribals - It is an established fact that the education of children should begin in their mother tongue and also that any community's own language and culture should get official recognition. The provisions for this have been made in the Indian Constitution as follows -

Section 347. Special provision in relation to a language spoken by a section of the population of a State.- If the President is satisfied on a demand in this behalf that a substantial part of the population of a State would like the language spoken by it to be recognized by the State, he may direct that such language be given official recognition throughout that State or in any part thereof for such purposes as he may specify.

350a. Facilities for education in the mother tongue at the primary stage - Every State and every local authority within the State shall endeavor to provide adequate facilities for instruction in the mother tongue at the primary stage of education to children belonging to linguistic minority groups and the President may give such directions to any State as it considers necessary or proper for securing the provision of such facilities.

At present, neither has the language of any tribal community has got official recognition in Madhya Pradesh nor is there any system to provide education in these languages ​​at the primary level. Therefore, these important provisions of the Constitution should be implemented immediately. With this, it will be possible to promote the language and culture of the tribal communities so that they will be able to strengthen their place in modern India.

Presently the standard of school education in Madhya Pradesh is very pathetic. especially in the scheduled areas. Therefore, at least at the primary level, the responsibility of school education should be shifted from the School Education Department to the smaller Panchayats created under the above-mentioned Panchayat provisions in the Scheduled Areas. In this way tribal children will be able to get school education of higher standard in their own language.

4. Meetings of the Tribal Advisory Council should be held regularly – In the provisions of the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution, an important role has been given to the Tribes Advisory Council for the welfare of the tribes people. But in reality, the meetings of this council are not held regularly and due to this, the budget allocated by the central government for the scheduled areas, the "Scheduled Tribes Component" is not used in the development of the tribes people but is diverted to other departments. Therefore, meetings of the Tribes Advisory Council should be held regularly.