Ranchi: Chief Minister Hemant Soren held a high-level meeting with senior officials on Monday to review the Jharkhand PESA (Panchayats Extension to Scheduled Areas) rules. The meeting took place at the chief minister’s residential office and focused on powers, rights, and responsibilities granted to gram sabhas in the state’s scheduled areas under traditional and local self-governance frameworks.
During the discussions, the chief minister examined various provisions of the PESA rules in detail and instructed officials to ensure their implementation in a manner that strengthens local governance traditions while promoting the socio-economic upliftment and empowerment of tribal communities. He emphasized that the execution of these provisions should enhance self-rule at the grassroots level and benefit the people of the scheduled areas.
The meeting was attended by Chief Secretary Avinash Kumar, Principal Secretary Vandana Dadel, Principal Secretary M.R. Meena, Advocate General Rajeev Ranjan, Principal Secretary (Law) Neeraj Kumar Srivastava, and several other senior officials including secretaries Prashant Kumar, Amitabh Kaushal, Kripanand Jha, K. Srinivasan, Manoj Kumar, Chandra Shekhar, Arwa Rajkamal, Panchayati Raj Director Rajeshwari B, Director Mines Rahul Sinha, PCCF Ashok Kumar, Conservator of Forests P.R. Naidu, DFO Dilip Kumar, Special Secretary Pradeep Kumar Hazari, and Joint Secretary Ravi Shankar Vidyarthi.
The chief minister stressed that the provisions of the PESA law must be implemented with care and sensitivity so that the governance structure of scheduled areas reflects both tradition and development goals. He urged officials to take concrete steps toward empowering tribal communities and ensuring that self-rule mechanisms are effective and beneficial.