Paper short abstract:

PESA is an Act of the Central government to ensure tribal development in the Tribal areas of Central India. Madhya Pradesh happens to be the first state to ratify it and augur tribal development. But the results were not as forthcoming as expected. The paper tries to examine the factors behind it.

Paper long abstract:

The Indian government had tried to bring about a decentralized system of governance in all the rural areas through the 73rd Amendment of the Constitution.

But since the tribals have a weaker social base, the Act was modified to benefit them particularly in the Vth Schedule areas where they are more concentrated. The tribal areas in the North East which are mostly covered by the VIth Schedule were left out of it's ambit. A field study conducted by the author very recently in the Vth Schedule areas of Madhya Pradesh revealed that the government efforts have not brought about any significant change to the life situation of the tribals there. Still now seasonal out migration during agriculturally lean seasons is tremendous. Besides the right to self-determination has not been ensured and the problems of Naxalism and Maoism along with armed militancy continues unabated. This paper tries to unfurl the field realities.