PM Awas Yojana otherwise popular as the shelter scheme of the poor had just celebrated its seventh anniversary on 25 Jun 2022, the scheme was applauded for creating 239 lakh jobs apart from 2 crore rural houses.

Unfortunately, this scheme is no less than bitter sugar for Madhya Pradesh tribes.

The misappropriation of PMAY funds in Madhya Pradesh

Just a couple of days ago, an Adivasi man named Dhyan Singh of Khargone district inevitably killed himself when forest authorities razed his house citing illegal encroachment of 0.010 hectares of forest land.

Although he had received the land and the cost for constructing a decent hut under the PMAY scheme, the forest department demolished his hut (under construction), citing illegal encroachment of 0.010 hectares of forest land (which violated sec 36 (1) of the Indian forest Act – 1927).

This was just over an aggrieved case that got revealed recently, before this there have been several alike instances that were scarcely addressed.

Very recently on 14 Dec 2021, media reports revealed over a dozen poor-grade houses built under the scheme in Baiga tribe-dominated Gaura Kanhai village of Dindori district.

The houses lacked concrete terraces/roofs and some of these houses don’t even have cemented floors and walls were made of mud instead.

Madhya Pradesh hunts down innocent tribes to save the forest for infrastructure projects — Image Source – Times of India

The beneficiaries despite bribing the panchayat authorities (inevitably) got no response, rather the officials falsely masked a well-built house to document the construction.

While on the other hand, the official records reveal tons of cement and iron consumed under the housing scheme.

Before this on Jan 2015, about 450 settlements from the Baiga and Gond tribes from Kanha Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh were forcefully evicted in the name of forest conservation.

The dwellers also had reported threats from the forest department to release elephants to trample their houses and crops.

The then state government had refused the allegations and defended its decision telling that “The relocation of these forest dwellers was not forced and was indeed voluntary”.

This leaves an unsettling opinion over the variations in laws and procedures between the Union and the state government.

The possibilities beyond corruption

Undeniably corruption is an ever-red criminal in all cases of embezzlement, but in some special instances like this, there could be deep and diverse possibilities that are left untraced.

However, a delicate analysis of the intricate details of raw facts might reveal a gross reality.

Unmasking the vile of Madhya Pradesh – the rich land of forest and the tribes

Madhya Pradesh is the leading state in terms of forest cover with 77,493 sq km of total forest area, prospectively the state has reported an increment of 11% (69.49 sq km) of forest land since 2017.

Parallelly, as per the 2011 census data on tribal population Madhya Pradesh again tops the list by constituting nearly 15% of the Bhil tribal population (which is the largest tribe in India).

Most of the tribal settlements are found on the extreme peripheries of the state, which has high forest density.

Simultaneously, Madhya Pradesh lost the highest area of forest land for infrastructure projects within this decade which accounted for 219.712 hectares of forest land (about 23.7% of the total diverted area across India).

And till date, there are 102 projects awaiting to get clearance in the forest areas of Madhya Pradesh.

This had forced man-animal conflict in recent years, the incidents of tigers, leopards and other wild animals venturing into residential areas had spurred up in the state.

The discrepancy in the matters under the state list and concurrent list

As per the seventh schedule of the Constitution of India:-

Entry 6, 15, 17-A, and 20 correspond to the Transfer of property, nomadic and tribal migration, forest, and economic & social planning under the jurisdiction of both Union and the State governments.
While, Entry 45 corresponding to land revenue, maintenance of land records, and land surveys are under the jurisdiction of the State governments.

This gives an additional edge to the State government of Madhya Pradesh over the Union government.

Hence the state might have leveraged this discrepancy to divert the tribal land allotment done under the scheme of the Union government for the project.

Read More –