The Chhattisgarh government had approved the draft of Panchayat Extension to Scheduled Areas (PESA) Act. It will be presented to the Assembly for its approval.
With its enforcement, Chhattisgarh will become the seventh state in India with such an act.
The rules were approved at a cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel here on Thursday, a government official said on Friday.
The PESA Act was enacted by Parliament in 1996 to ensure self-governance for people living in Scheduled Areas. The states were required to formulate rules for the effective implementation of the Act to strengthen gram sabhas in Scheduled Areas.
After the cabinet meeting, Panchayat Minister T.S. Singh Deo said the Congress promise in the 2018 assembly elections to formulate rules for the implementation of PESA Act has now been fulfilled.
All sections of the society will get representation in the gram sabhas, he tweeted.
“I would like to thank Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel and my cabinet colleagues for approving the draft which was prepared after discussion with the national and regional public representatives of Scheduled Tribe communities, party representatives and senior social workers during the last 2.5 years,” he added.
As per the draft rules, there will be minimum 50 percent representation to the Scheduled Tribes while Other Backward Classes, Scheduled Castes and unreserved classes will also get representation according to their population, the Minister said.