On Wednesday, the Manch held its first public hearing at the Udyog Maidan near Statue Circle. The meeting discussed non-implementation of tribal rights laws in the state, including the Forest Rights Act, the Panchayat Extension to Scheduled Areas ( PESA) Act and others.
The meeting saw former IAS officer and social activists B D Sharma, former chief secretary of Bihar, K B Saxena, social activists Aruna Roy, Nikhil Dey and many others participate as panel members. The hearing was attended by hundreds of tribals.
According to Sharma, "When the zamindari system has ended how come the government’s zamindari still persists. How can they have rights to so many acres of forest land? Nowhere has the Forest Rights Act (FRA) been implemented except to some extent in Madhya Pradesh."
"In Rajasthan the Act has not been implemented at all. Chief minister Ashok Gehlot has been claiming to have settled 30,000 claims so far but then most of these cases have been just partly resolved. There are cases where people with about say five acres have just had only one acre settled in their name. What is the point in such settlement when the fight still goes on," he added.
The non-implementation of PESA in the state was discussed in details.
"About 15 years have passed since PESA was passed but even now it has not been implemented. Till such time that the legislative and the bureaucracy is held accountable, the conditions of adivasis will not improve in the country," said KB Saxena. He appealed to the tribals to continue their protests till the government changes its attitude.
Ramesh Nandwana of the Jaal, Jungle, Jan felt that most of the problems of the tribals will be resolved if the government just implements PESA.
At the end of the hearing a delegation met the chief minister and handed a memorandum with a eight-point charter of demands. Prime among them were a demand for implementation of PESA, FRA, an immediate end to encroachment of tribal land by others, inclusion of tribal and Sahariya areas into the 5th Schedule of the Constitution and improving education facilities in tribal areas.