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CM Vijay Rupani attends tribal mela: Tribals to have autonomous rights over natural resources

Under the PESA, the gram panchayats would be empowered to safeguard and preserve the traditions and customs, cultural identity, community resources and the customary mode of dispute resolution.

gujarat, gujarat news, vijay rupani, cm vijay rupani, tribal rights, tribal rights over natural resources, gujarat tribals, gujarat natural resources, indian express, india news CM Vijay Rupani in Chhota Udepur. Bhupendra Rana

Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani on Thursday announced the implementation of an Act that prescribes provisions relating to autonomous rights to tribals over natural resources at the place where they live. Addressing a rally at the Vanbandhu Kalyan Mela in Chhota Udepur, Rupani said the Panchayat (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act (or PESA), 1996, would empower tribals, especially since the law prescribes that without the consent of the village panchayat, no mining activity could be undertaken in their area. He also stressed on the government’s commitment of crackdown on illicit liquor trade by introducing a stringent prohibition law to ensure that youths are not “destroyed by alcohol “.

Declaring that the PESA would now be implemented by the state government, Rupani said, “After I took over as chief minister, it was decided that this government would be sensitive towards the poor, tribals, Dalits, and women. Politicians are said to be thick-skinned, but this government is compassionate, and understands the pain and the hopes of the people. This government will strive to fulfill all those hopes.”

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Under the PESA, the gram panchayats would be empowered to safeguard and preserve the traditions and customs, cultural identity, community resources and the customary mode of dispute resolution. “With the PESA, the gram panchayats will play a major role in approving all development works in the village, identify beneficiaries, issue certificates of utilisation of funds. They will have powers to control institutions and functionaries in all social sectors and local plans, manage minor water bodies; have the power of mandatory consultation in matters of land acquisition, resettlement and rehabilitation and prospecting licenses/mining leases for minor minerals, and also the power to prevent alienation of land and restore alienated land. This will also ensure that minor disputes do not require police intervention,” the chief minister said, enlisting other government facilities initiated for the tribal population of the state.

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Addressing the problem of alcohol abuse in tribal areas, he said the government was determined to ensure that “youths are not destroyed by alcohol “.

Days after the state government amended the prohibition law to make sections stringent against possession, sale or consumption of alcohol in Gujarat, Rupani said, “It (alcohol) has ruined many families as the men return home in the night in inebriated state and the women have to suffer atrocities when they beat their wives. So that families can be saved from the ills of alcohol, we have made the law stringent to ensure that the women are safe. This is the Gujarat of Gandhi and Sardar Patel, we will not tolerate any contravention of this prohibition law. Anyone selling, brewing or bootlegging alcohol will be behind bars.”

Festive offer

This statement saw women in the crowd cheer the Chief Minister with a thundering applause.

Rupani also handed over land allotment letters to the tribals of five districts of Central Gujarat — Chhota Udepur, Narmada, Mahisagar, Panchmahal, and Dahod — entitling tribal land holders to cultivate on forest land.

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He also spoke on sickle cell anaemia being prevalent in tribal villages and urged tribal “sons and daughters “ to aspire for medical professions.

The CM said, “We have decided that medical colleges must be started in tribal areas like Dahod or Godhra, so that the sons and the daughters of tribals become doctors and take care of their community.”

First uploaded on: 20-01-2017 at 01:42 IST
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