Twenty-eight years of the Pesa Act in India

Development or deprivation? Perspectives of elected tribal leaders

Bibliographic Data

ID3886122
AuthorsDipti Paridhi Kindo (0000-0001-5683-9014, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur, corresponding author)
Year2025
Pages1-8
Publication date2025-07-07
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueDevelopment in Practice (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0961-4524 • E-ISSN: 1364-9213
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/09614524.2025.2524596
OpenAlexW4412090537
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited10

This paper critically examines the status of the Panchayats (Extension to the Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996 (PESA Act), a transformative legislation aimed at empowering India’s tribal communities known as Adivasis. Despite its groundbreaking aspirations, its implementation in Jharkhand state has been suboptimal, hindered by the absence of state-specific guidelines and weak governance mechanisms, even after 28 years. This empirical study first explores how elected tribal leaders perceive the PESA Act in relation to their development or deprivation of rights and examines whether the governance and power structures provide adequate space for participation in decision-making activities. Findings based on the methodological approach that combines 12 months of fieldwork and focus group discussions with 80 participants highlight significant gaps, including limited understanding, resistance from state agencies, and systemic challenges like elite capture and resource constraints. The paper concludes with targeted policy recommendations, offering insights into global development practices in Indigenous governance

Development economics · Economic growth · Economics · Ethnology · Political science · Socioeconomics · Sociology · South asia · Agricultural risk and resilience · Asian Geopolitics and Ethnography · Human Rights and Development · Public Administration

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