The Panchayat (Extension to the Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996 was enacted to extend Part IX of the Constitution to Fifth Scheduled Areas. The very objective of the Act is to provide community centric governance in tribal dominated backward areas of the country as well as community's control over natural resources. The Act also made Gram Sabha a nucleus of all activities and endowed with specific and wide-ranging powers and function in Scheduled Areas. However, over the years the pressure over natural resources in the tribal areas that continued due to large scale development projects leading to displacement of the tribal communities and loss of their major source of livelihood raises larger question of implementation of the Act. The widespread extremist group in tribal areas is another major challenge in implementing the Act. The paper critically examined the implementation of PESA Act in Odisha.
Scheduled Area, PESA, Gram Sabha, Gram Nyayalaya
