Unfortunately, it was later merged into the IAS. The Indian steel industry essentially profits by low iron ore costs. The irony is that it is this low cost of iron ore extracted from its adivasi homeland mines that provides companies like Tata Steel the financial muscle to make huge overseas acquisitions. This means the best officers drawn from across the country. Only the Adivasi Mahapanchayat should be vested with the power to give mineral exploitation licenses to corporations. Clearly, seven decades is long enough to give the provisions of the Constitution life. Perhaps it is time to constitute a new all-India service, similar to the former Indian Frontier Administrative Service. The cost of extraction is estimated to be not more than Rs 250 per tonne. The police must also be made answerable to local elected officials and not be a law unto themselves. The IFAS was an eclectic group of officers drawn from various arms of the government.One can recall the observations made by the President at the Governors’ Conference held on September 16 and 17, 2008 regarding the need for an authoritative legal opinion with respect to the powers of governors under the Fifth Schedule. The governors can intervene in areas relating to prohibition or restriction of the transfer of land by or among Scheduled Tribe members; regulation of allotment of land in such areas; and the regulation of money-lending activities. The words "peace and good government" are of very wide import and give wide discretion to the governors to make laws for such a purpose. The most important of these is that to provide good government in the worst of law and order environments, a better civil administration structure must come up in place of the one we have at present.We have before us the experience of the National Mineral Development Corporation’s giant iron ore extraction project at Bailadila in Bastar’s Dantewada district. The Fifth Schedule covers tribal areas in nine states of India — namely Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Rajasthan. This not a Naxalite issue at all, but a colossal failure to implement the Constitution. While it has been announced that this has now been raised to 15 per cent of the market price, it is learned that in reality this has been raised just tenfold to Rs 270 per tonne.
The judicious use of these provisions enshrined in the Fifth Schedule will certainly make a very positive impact on the tribals living in these regions.There is a huge groundswell of unrest sweeping the adivasi areas of Central India. The governor has basically been given the legislative power to make regulations for the "peace and good government of any area which is a scheduled area". The implications of this price difference should be obvious. The Fifth Schedule provides for the administration and control of tribal lands (termed "scheduled areas") within nine states of India.What perhaps is not so obvious to most is that this is essentially a profit extracted from the nation’s mineral reserves, which mostly lies in the adivasi homelands and which by constitutional rights should be theirs. The matter has since been examined in consultation with the ministry of law and justice and the attorney-general of India has given his opinion that "in performance of the functions and exercise of the powers under the Fifth Schedule, the governor is not bound by the aid and advice of the council of ministers of the state". The Central and state governments are unable to fashion a policy response to this besides terming it as Naxalite-inspired and hence requiring a "shoot and kill" solution. It now needs to be mandated by law that for minerals extracted in tribal areas the royalty received should be entirely earmarked to the local administration. Clearly, this kind of exploitation of tribal homelands and loot of the state has got to stop. Instead of the state capital-controlled government, the instruments of public administration dealing with education, health, irrigation, roads and land records must be handed over to local government structures.The world’s biggest steel producer buys iron ore for Rs 6,000 per tonne, while Indian steel producers derive it from "captive" mines for merely about Rs 500-550 per tonne. The lament of the adivasi about their role in their government is well known. It could be called the Adivasi Mahapanchayat and must function as a largely autonomous institution. The locals get nothing China Ferro titanium cored wire but the most menial jobs and in return their hitherto pristine environment is ravaged beyond recognition with the streams choked with the debris of excavation. It is the subject of many a folk song. The Fifth Schedule provides protection to the adivasi (tribal) people living in the scheduled areas from alienation of their lands and natural resources to non-tribals. The Naxals typically have no idea about "what is to be done?" There is no need to seek solutions in Vladimir Lenin’s prescriptions.But there are several paradoxes that must also be dealt with first.The Fifth and Sixth Schedules under Article 244 of the Constitution in 1950 provided for self-governance in specified tribal majority areas.This constitutional safeguard is now under imminent threat of being amended to enable the transfer of tribal lands to non-tribals and corporate bodies. All laws passed by the state legislatures must be ratified to the satisfaction of the Mahapanchayat. Till recently, the royalty paid by the extractors was a meager Rs 27 per metric tonne. The export price has never fallen below Rs 1,500 per tonne and has been as high as Rs 6,800 per tonne. Under these powers, the governors can not only direct that any particular law or part thereof may not apply to a scheduled area — that can also make regulation for good governance and peace in these areas.
