You are the District Magistrate of a hilly district, which has recently been struck by flash floods and landslides causing supply routes to be cut off. It is brought to your notice that shopkeepers in the area are taking advantage ...
The Panchayats (Extension to the Scheduled Areas) or PESA Act, 1996 extends the provisions of Part IX of the Indian Constitution to the Fifth Schedule areas of the country. It not only accepts the validity of "customary law, social and religious practices, and traditional management practices of comRead more
The Panchayats (Extension to the Scheduled Areas) or PESA Act, 1996 extends the provisions of Part IX of the Indian Constitution to the Fifth Schedule areas of the country. It not only accepts the validity of “customary law, social and religious practices, and traditional management practices of community resources”, but also directs the state government not to make any law, which is inconsistent with these.
Challenges associated with the implementation of the PESA Act, 1996 include:
- Implementation of the law has been severely hampered by the reluctance of most State Governments to make laws and rules that conform to the spirit of the law.
- The State Governments have argued that the power of Gram Sabhas can extend only to forest located within the revenue boundaries of a village. This provision has severely diluted the Act as reserved forest in most States is not located within a revenue boundary of a village.
- The wordings of some sections of the PESA Act have been interpreted against the spirit of the Act. For example, the States in many cases have taken advantage of the flexible provision of ‘Gram Sabha or Panchayats at the appropriate level’ in PESA and used the discretion in favour of Panchayats, which goes against basic tenets of PESA.
- The practice has been to not provide Gram Sabha the right to take any decisions related to stewardship, management or sustainable harvesting of MFPs as this leads to destruction of forests (contrary to evidence).
- Different ministries, including the Ministry of Panchayati Raj, Ministry of Rural Development and the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, have an overlapping influence on the implementation of PESA and they function almost without any coordination.
- The sale of tribal lands to the non-tribals in the Scheduled areas is prohibited. The acquisition of individual’s and community’s resources for industry in violation of these provisions is leading to conflicts in several PESA areas.
- Further, continuing bureaucratic control, resistant attitude of Forest Department officials to give ownership to the communities and inadequate efforts on awareness have led to slow implementation of the Act.
Measures to ensure its implementation in both letter and spirit
- Ensuring autonomy of Gram Sabha by making certain that the structures above do not encroach into the powers of the structures below.
- Inter-ministerial coordination among concerned ministries should be achieved through review of roles of each ministries.
- There is a need to harmonise various legislations and government policies, such as Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980, Land Acquisition Act, 2013, National Minerals Policy, 2003, National Forest Policy, 1988 etc., with the provisions of PESA.
- Awareness campaigns should be organised in order to make the tribal population aware of the provisions of PESA.
- Capacity building by developing and using training modules for administrative support for Gram Sabha in collaboration with the relevant Ministries and Departments, PRIs and institutions.
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Institutional Challenges and Money and Muscle: This paper aims at presenting an overview of the major challenges to free and fair elections in India. The premises of India’s democratic structure therefore are embodied in the free and fair elections. The ECI conducts these elections but the electoralRead more
Institutional Challenges and Money and Muscle: This paper aims at presenting an overview of the major challenges to free and fair elections in India.
The premises of India’s democratic structure therefore are embodied in the free and fair elections. The ECI conducts these elections but the electoral mechanism has disease called institutional ailment and twin evils of ‘money power’ an ‘muscle power’ which are fatal for democracy & require adequate attention.
Institutional Factors threatening the functioning of the Election Commission
1. Lack of Autonomy: The degree of independence of the ECI is limited because it must rely on Government funding and staff support.
2. Appointment Process: The Election Commissioners’ appointments are not well defined there seems not to be any set procedure of appointing the Election Commissioners.
3. Enforcement Issues: The ECI has enforcement issues with regard to Model Code of Conduct and how to ensure that the political parties follow it.
4. Technological Issues: The problem with EVMs is still there entailing the security problem and voters’ data been compromised.
Money Power Threat
1. Electoral Funding: Since money power is gradually taking the center stage in funding the election campaigns it produces inequality in competition among the candidates.
2. Corporate Funding: One weakness of political funding by electoral bonds is a lack of public scrutiny on the influence that corporations have over a given policy.
3. Vote Buying: Offering of money, gifts and various other incentives to cast votes negates the tenet that accompanies an election.
Threat of Muscle Power
1. Criminalization of Politics: Many criminal are in the list of election contestants and they will mess up the process.
2. Violence and Intimidation: Force of muscles is applied to intervene with the voters and damage the voting process.
3. Booth Capturing: Conference The electoral manipulations such as booth capturing and voter suppression have lately assumed the real face of free and fair elections.
Countermeasures to deal with the threats include:
See less1. Autonomy of the ECI needs further stresngthening on the financial aspect and alteration in the selection procedure of Election Commissioners.
2. Reforms in the election should keep stringent rules so that money power and muscle power do not govern in toto.
3. The source of political funds should also be made more transparent so that the accountability regarding the fund can now be greatly enhanced.
4. Efforts must be increased in trying to create a culture of civic activism. People must reach a point of individual empowerment for such awareness, thereby making their electoral rights decrease so as to end the dominance of money and muscle power.
Conclusion
The safeguarding of the democratic process in India is based on the institutional challenges to be faced by the Election Commission, as well as the concerns distending out of money and muscle power. Autonomy for the ECI and reforms in election laws ensure free and fair elections in India.