Policy watch December 2006

 

PESA: decadent decade
Ten years after it was enacted by the Parliament, the Provision of Panchayats, Extension to Scheduled Areas Act (PESA) 1996, is yet to be completely implemented. Nine states (Orissa, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Maharshtra, Karnataka, Kerala and Bihar) have scheduled areas where PESA is applicable.

A welcome change
Worried with this slow pace, the Union ministry of Panchayati Raj (MoPR), has -- in its recently published mid-term report titled State of Panchayati Raj -- cautioned that non-implementation of PESA may further trigger tribal unrest.

Citing growing Naxalism and tribal insurgency, the report opines that PESA is “the single most important statutory instrument for protecting and promoting tribal rights, and involvement of tribal in local government”. Given that the Centre and the nine states have been demanding amendments to the Constitution’s fifth schedule to dilute tribal rights over local resources, the report’s assertions are a welcome change.

Slow motion: centre, states to be blamed
Immediately after PESA was enacted, the nine states got a year to amend their respective panchayat acts. Though all of them prepared conformity acts, implementation of provisions was half-hearted. Most states failed in issuing executive orders for implementation of PESA, thus making it ineffective.

Moreover, the Centre also did not do much to expedite implementation. According to PESA, any provision of law relating to panchayats, which is not consistent with its (PESA’s) provisions, will expire within a year. Going by this rule, central legislations like the Land Acquisition Act, Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, Indian Forest Act, Forest Conservation Act and Indian Registration Act should have ceased to exist in scheduled areas. However, the Centre did not rectify them.

Some Central government’s policies also violated PESA. According to the mid-term review of MoPR, these include the National Policy on Resettlement and Rehabilitation 2003, National Water Policy 2002, National Minerals Policy 2003, National Forest Policy 1988, Wildlife Conservation Strategy 2002 and the National Draft Environment Policy 2004. These need to be re-examined.
Even now most laws and policies related to natural resources in scheduled areas remain centralised. PESA aims at fixing this problem.

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Bihar says “no” to SEZs
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has said special economic zones (SEZs) will not be set up in the state, as there is too much pressure on the land there. “Bihar is not ready for this. Creating SEZs is like carving out a new country from a particular area… local economies do not benefit from them,” he said. Nitish has something else in store for his state: “We will shortly announce a land policy, which will set higher compensation for people whose land is acquired. This will be done in a transparent manner.”

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Another pilot project for livelihood in backward areas
The Planning Commission has initiated a new ‘special district rural livelihood plan’ in 25 of the country’s poorest districts. It will be taken up as a pilot project, which will be used for implementation of schemes like NREGA and Backward Regions Grant Fund (BGRF). The project aims at preparing district-level rural livelihood plans with focus on sustainable agricultural development. According to Planning Commission officials, the scheme is an experiment for addressing the agrarian crisis. There are no common guidelines and each district will come up with its own plan. The pilot project is an outcome of deputy chairperson Montek Singh Ahluwalia’s recent deliberations with district authorities. Officials say that the commission will interact directly with the districts, as state governments have been ineffective in implementation of various poverty eradication schemes.

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Jharkhand asks for relaxation in panchayat conditions
During a recent meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Koda requested that the state be relieved of the condition of holding panchayat elections before accessing the Centre’s rural development funds. The 12th Finance Commission had mandated that Jharkhand hold the polls first. Currently, the state does not have any panchayats. It had last held elections to local bodies in 1971. Jharkhand has been missing (losing out) Rs 96.40 crore every year in absence of panchayat bodies. During the meeting the PM remained non-committal on the demand and stressed that an “honest, transparent and effective” administration was a must to get all possible help from the Centre.

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Goa EC goes to court on panchayat elections
Within a month of the Supreme Court empowering state election commissions (SECs) to hold panchayat elections on time, the Goa SEC has approached the Bombay High Court in Goa against the state government for delaying the polls. It has asked the court to direct the Goa government to assist it (Goa SEC) in discharging its constitutional duty of holding elections within time. Recently, the SEC had proposed January 28, 2007, as the date for elections. So far, the state government has not issued any notification in this regard. The SEC cannot hold elections without the state’s cooperation.

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Haryana unveils forest policy
Haryana recently declared its first forest policy. Unlike the National Forest Policy’s objective of maintaining a 33 per cent forest cover, Haryana’s policy aims at increasing the area under forest in the state from the current 6.6 per cent to 10 per cent by 2010, and eventually to 20 per cent through massive afforestation and social forestry programmes. Being a dominantly agrarian state, the policy will take up large-scale agro-forestry by encouraging locals to grow more trees for better and safe economic returns. Under agro-forestry, medicinal plants will get priority. Marketing facilities will be provided to farmers through the Haryana Forest Corporation for selling their produce in national and international markets. Joint Forest Management committees will be used to manage plantations on degraded natural forests near villages.

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Vidarbha: Amid suicides, two more fact-finding exercises
A survey of 1.7 million farmer families in Vidarbha, Maharashtra, shows that three-fourths of the farmers are distressed, and suicide cases have gone up by 25 times since 2001. Around nine lakh families in the 1,800-odd villages surveyed are under debt, whereas the remaining depend on farm inputs, which are scarce. Unmarried daughters are a key source of misery for over three lakh families, as due to poverty, marriages cannot be solemnised. Some farmers have now showed interest in the state government’s mass marriage scheme.

The survey also shows that around 12 lakh farmers have struggled as crops failed due to unfavourable climatic conditions, lack of irrigation facilities or natural calamities. Chronic diseases are also a major problem area for farmers. Around 40 per cent farmers have now taken up organic farming.

State chief secretary DK Shankaran had ordered this survey. Another study (done by Nagpur-based Central Institute for Cotton Research) into the causes of farmers’ suicide in Vidarbha says that 20 per cent Bt cotton seeds supplied to farmers in the region in 2006 were the non-Bt variety. Further, 60 per cent of the circulated seeds were of the mixed variety with little potency to fight the dreaded Bollgrad pest. In fact, only 20 per cent of the Bt cotton seeds supplied in the region were genuine, the institute said.

The state government now thinks this could be one of the reasons for farmers’ distress. The inputs from the institute will be provided to an expert group, which is looking into problems of agricultural indebtedness in the country.

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A development authority for Bundelkhand
Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has declared the constitution of a Bundelkhand Development Authority. Amid reports of severe droughts and starvation deaths, the CM said that the development authority will address the region’s most severe problem: water scarcity. The authority will consist of local elected representatives.

Bundelkhand suffers from chronic drought despite being home to a number of rivers. This region in central India is a semi-arid plateau that encompasses 12 districts of northern Madhya Pradesh, and five districts of southern Uttar Pradesh.

The 6,852-kilometre canal network crisscrossing the Uttar Pradesh area of the region is ill-maintained and runs dry. It bears testimony to the administration’s failure in harnessing water supplied by perennial rivers like Sindh, Pahuj, Betwa, Dhasan, Ken, Baghein, Paisuni and Tons, and their numerous tributaries. Most canals are relics of the British era and are now neglected. They have water only up to a distance near the head. Ironically, the region was once famed for cultivation of beetle leaves, singharas, kamal gattas, kamal naals and ginger -- all of which consume large quantities of water.
 

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Pharma companies in backward districts
Pharmaceutical companies will create around 600 drug banks in backward districts of India to serve the healthcare needs of families living below the poverty line. The pharma firms and the department of chemicals and petrochemicals will collaborate to adopt up to three backward districts from each state starting January 26, 2007. The Union government will act as a facilitator. To start with, the state governments and the department of chemicals and petrochemicals will provide Rs 15 lakh as seed money to each district. Pharmaceutical companies will contribute a similar amount in cash or kind. The drug bank will procure medicines from companies and distribute it for free to needy families. The scheme is modelled on medicare societies found in district hospitals of Rajasthan

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