Dikhyaa Mohanty 
According to Panchayati Raj Minister Rabi Narayan Naik, the Odisha government will present the Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act (PESA) at the next Assembly session on Wednesday. The announcement was made by the Ministers in reaction to a contentious debate in the Assembly during which the BJD and Congress, among other opposition parties, attacked the state administration led by the BJP for what they saw as a delay in putting the Act into effect.
Chief Minister Mohan Majhi had promised to introduce the PESA Act in his Independence Day speech, Minister Naik highlighted. He continued by saying that the Central government has expressed interest in the subject. Naik intends to call a meeting with other House members and MLAs from other Scheduled Tribes to talk further about the sensitive subject.
According to Naik, district magistrates in the PESA-designated zones have received documentation on the PESA Act that have been translated into Odia and Santali to aid in the implementation process. Taraprasad Bahinipati, a Congress MP, noted that even though the PESA Act was passed by Parliament in 1996, Odisha has not seen its implementation for 28 years.
He said that the rights of tribal tribes over “Jal, Jungle, and Jamin” (water, forest, and land) were being disregarded by the BJD and the BJP.
