By giving power to the gram sabhas there would be direct effect on the naxal movement. We will take an example to understand this. In Lohandigura village of Chattisgarh Tata steel wanted to set up a plant.
They needed land of at least ten villages which all fell under notified area. Here Panchayat Extension of Scheduled Areas (PESA) law is in force. This law states that if the government wants to acquire land under these areas then it has to seek permission from the gram sabhas of that area. The government wrote to the gram sabhas seeking their permission.
The meetings of the gram Sabhas took place but there the people rejected the request of the government and refused to part with their land. The government again sent in a request for acquisition of land. Again the gram Sabha meetings took place.
The people put up fifteen conditions in front of the government, which if accepted would form as a basis to let the government acquire the land. Those requests were legitimate. There were conditions like; amount of compensation to be paid for the land, planting of trees for every tree that is cut, every person from a family to be offered employment etc. All demands were fair.
When these demands went to the government, the government accepted none but on the other hand the government acquired the land using force by sending police. The people of the village wrote messages for the Naxals on the walls of the village houses seeking their support. It is heard that the ten villages then joined the Naxal ranks.
If people had the power to take decisions regarding their own village then they would not have joined the Naxal ranks or would not have supported the Naxals. Without the base and without the support of people Naxals could not have grown.
No comments:
Post a Comment