From
Dr.B.D.Sharma
Former Commissioner for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes
A11, Nanglirajapur
Nizamuddin East
New Delhi-110013
Tel 01124353997
May 17, 2010
To,
The President of India ,
New Delhi
Dear President,
Sub: PEACE NOW in tribal areas1. I, with my life-long association with tribal affairs, beginning with the troublesome days in Bastar (1968) and having the privilege of being the last Commissioner for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (1986-1991), am constrained to approach you at a critical time when we are witnessing virtual collapse of the constitutional regime for the tribal people while being attacked and suppressed in a war like situation.
2. I approach you directly because people (including the tribal people) look to you as also the Governors as the constitutional head of India and the concerned State discharge their duty to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution, made explicit respective oaths. As President, you have various rights and duties under Article 78 of the Constitution whereby all discussions of the Cabinet and administration are to be communicated to you and you are expected to submit matters for consideration of the Cabinet.
3. In particular, the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution requires the Governor to give annual report and such special reports required by the President with regards the administration of the Scheduled Areas and the power of the Union in your name shall
“extend to the giving of directions to the State in the administration of the said areas” (V th Schedule, pr.3)
No reports of consequence have been made. The constitutional machinery of the Tribes Advisory Council (V th Schedule, pr.4) yielded no advice.
4. Under the law, the Governor can ensure that no law of Parliament or the State shall apply to the extent indicated. At present, tribals are being ruthlessly exploited and suppressed by uses and abuses of land acquisition and public order. Yet no action is taking place.
5. In fact – going by the Ministry of Home Affairs perception, the tribals are effectively not the responsibility of the Union – which is only assisting the State government. How can this be? The executive power of a State extends to the Scheduled Areas subject to the provisions of the Fifth Schedule. Moreover, ‘the executive power of the Union shall extend to giving of directions to the State as to the administration of the said areas.'
6. I am constrained to state at this critical phase of the history of tribal people that the Union Government is guilty of abdicating its Constitutional responsibility by allowing the situation to degenerate from that of stray revolts in 1960s to ‘warlike situation' at the moment. It has remained unconcerned with the simmering discontent from day one with the adoption of the Constitution. It has not issued a single direction to any State in 60 long years. You as head of the nation, at a critical time must ensure that the Union Government accepts unequivocally its Constitutional responsibility with due apologies for the decimated, shattered and disinherited tribal communities whose irretrievable loss- physical, economical and emotional - is an un-washable blot on the fair face of our nation that still stands by equity and justice.
7. May I invite your kind attention to some crucial aspects of virtual ‘warlike' situation vis-à-vis the tribal people in extensive parts of our country. No less than a person, one of your worthy predecessors, Shri K.R. Narayanan in his address to the nation on January 26, 2001 drew pointed attention to enlightened laws for protection of tribal lands and their affirmation in judicial verdicts, yet plagued by dilemmas of development that were not suitably addressed. He poignantly observed, ‘l et it not be said by future generations that the Indian Republic has been built on the destruction of green earth and the innocent tribals who have been living there for centuries.'
8. Amidst exceptions, there is cruel insensitivity and total lack of understanding, some honourable exceptions apart, about the tribal ethos amongst our ruling elite when they address the tribal as ‘poor' and talk about his joining the ‘main stream' of national life. They hurt the simple people to the core who are super-sensitive about their ‘honour'. Let it be known that tribal is not poor. He is Deprived and Disinherited in his own Domain, his ‘DES' , ironically amidst the unbounded bounty of Mother Earth to her dearest children. They are the brightest jewels in the rich mosaic of great Indian civilization proud of its vivacious diversity.
9. That is not all. The tribal people are ‘the most democratic people on earth'. The founding fathers, therefore, especially bestowed them with a protective shield, the Fifth Schedule described as ‘Constitution within Constitution'. Yet these communities were virtually ‘criminalised' on the dot with the adoption of our Constitution. The colonial laws engulfed the hitherto excluded areas. They have no place for the ‘community' and its ‘customs and tradition', the unwritten laws of their ‘ Village Republics .' The Governors, endowed with limitless powers for removing any such dissonance, have remained unaware to date about the catastrophic impact of this lapse on their part on the life of the tribal people.
10. The Provisions of Panchayats (Extension to the Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996 (PESA), appeared to come as a saviour that is designed to erase the above mentioned historical injustice. It engendered unprecedented fervour amongst the tribal people throughout the country. It was perceived as restoration of their dignity and tradition of self-governance, symbolized by ‘Mava Nate Mava Raj' (Our Village Our Rule). Yet this fervour has faded as no one's concern. It is so because the ruling elite are not prepared to go by the spirit of PESA. It remains virtually unimplemented in all States.
11. The fund of good-will for the tribal people in our country has been phenomenal beginning with the Panchasheel of Nehruvian era; the unique Constitutional provisions elevating tribal affairs as a national task away from party considerations; matchless commitment for elimination of exploitation concomitant with development in Tribal Sub-Plans (1974); ushering in Village Republic like frame under PESA (1996) and a pledge to undo Historical injustice in Forest Rights Act (2006). Yet, the saddest part of this commitment is that no promise in that long chain has remained unbroken, in some cases even promises-squared, cubed and beyond. I am enclosing an illustrative list of broken promises.
12. In this realm of broken promises, predatory administration and unconcern at the top that could not even keep a count of heads displaced, unrest spread and revolts multiplied. It was natural for the victims in the wild who could not be conquered even by the British. The cooption-bid through so-called developmental programmes back-fired. It vitiated the egalitarian ethos. The youthful rebels against iniquitous system became their allies. ‘With dadas in the vicinity at least– guard, daroga and patawari —no longer bother us,' was the simple response of the simple people, reported by me way back in 1989. Yet no amends have been attempted notwithstanding ubiquitous admission that it is not a law and order problem.
13. In conclusion, I would like you to urgently consider:
• persuading the Union to publicly state its special responsibility towards the tribals;
• initiating proposal for PEACE NOW;
• setting up a chain of command to the highest level, amenable to access, by those affected, for regular oversight, review and action;
• honouring within one year honestly all promises that have been made to the tribal people and broken by the state
• examining immediately and reversing decisions where permissions requiring consultation with the people under PESA were fabricated, coerced or otherwise vitiated;
• working out a comprehensive solution to confront the existing chaos and,
• visiting some of the areas experiencing intense Constitutional crisis.
I remain
With regards,
Yours sincerely,
(B.D. Sharma)
Copy to
1. Shri Manmohan Singhji
Prime Minister of India ,
South Block, New Delhi
2. Shri Pranab Mukherjee
Finance Minister
North Block, New Delhi
3. Shri Veerappa Moily
Minister of Law and Justice
Shastri Bhawan, New Delhi
4. Shri P. Chidambaram
Home Minister of India
North Block, New Delhi
5. Shri Kantilal Bhuria
Minister Tribal Affairs,
Shastri Bhawan, New Delhi
6. Dr C.P.Joshi
Minister of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj
Shastri Bhawan, New Delhi
7. Shri Jairam Ramesh
Minster of State, Ministry of Environment and Forest
Paryavaran Bhawan, Lodi Road , New Delhi
