Experts emphasized community governance at the Commons Dialogue Conference
Minister Shri Netam attended the closing ceremony of ‘Chhattisgarh Commons Queening’
Raipur, April 10, 2026/ Primitive tribe development minister Shri Ramvichar Netam said that tribal communities reside in almost all states of the country. He said that according to the 2011 census, there are more than 10 crore tribal communities in the country. He said that tribals have unwavering faith in water, forests, land, rivers, streams, and mountains. The tribal community considers trees, plants, rivers, and streams as the abode of gods and goddesses, and it is due to these cultures and traditions that the forest-dwelling community is at the forefront of nature conservation and promotion.
Addressing the closing ceremony of the two-day state-level dialogue conference ‘Chhattisgarh Commons Queening’ organized at the Tribal Research and Training Institute in Naya Raipur today, Minister Shri Netam said that intensive brainstorming has been done for the conservation and promotion of community resources. Our government will work with promptness to determine the utility of the facts that emerge from this brainstorming in policy making and public interest.
Minister Shri Netam said that the state government is going to form a high-level task force for the management of various problems of tribal communities and natural resources. Considering the sensitivity and importance of this task force, the Chief Minister himself will lead it as its chairman. A special implementation committee will also be formed by bringing together senior officials from various departments for effective and time-bound implementation of policy decisions at the ground level, which will ensure better coordination.
Shri Netam said that practical challenges faced during the implementation of PESA (Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act) and FRA (Forest Rights Act), especially problems like demarcation of boundaries, will be resolved on a priority basis. Arousing a sense of responsibility towards natural resources, he said, “We are not only users of these common resources, but also their custodians, and our consumption should be limited only to meeting our actual needs”. The main objective of this task force is to remove obstacles in the implementation of tribal welfare related policies across the state and to ensure that communities get their rights.
Principal Secretary, Department of Primitive Tribe Development, Shri Sounmani Bora, said that this task force will establish better coordination between PESA and the Forest Rights Act. He said that our heritage is rich in tribal dialects, languages, and community leadership. These tribals have made significant contributions to the conservation and promotion of water, forests, and land. He said that their knowledge of nature, their purpose, are connected with water and forests. Their relationship is with nature. They worship nature as a mother, as a deity. Their daily activities to death rituals prove helpful in nature conservation.
Principal Secretary Shri Bora said that more than 300 participants, policy experts, researchers, and village heads from Chhattisgarh and other states participated in this two-day convention. The main focus of the discussion was the state’s 70 lakh acres of ‘Commons’ land (forests, pastures, and water bodies), which is the lifeline of the rural and tribal population. He said that work is being done towards the all-round development of tribal areas and tribal communities as well as the conservation and promotion of nature through various schemes like PM Janman Yojana, Dhartiaaba Gram Utkarsh Abhiyan, Niyad Nela Nar. Better work will be done in the future with community cooperation.
Principal Chief Conservator of Forests Shri V. Srinivas Rao emphasized that the protection of vast forests and biodiversity is not possible without community cooperation. He said that the state’s forest policies are regulatory, not restrictive.
MGNREGA Commissioner Shri Taran Prakash Sinha said that water conservation is an integral part of tribal culture. He emphasized involving marginalized communities in water management through MGNREGA. Raipur Collector Shri Gaurav Singh highlighted that water conservation is not ‘rocket science’ but a community knowledge derived from centuries of experience.
It emerged in the dialogue conference that commons are not just economic resources but also cultural foundations. On this occasion, Shri Sounmani Bora shared a plan to set up a special studio for the documentation and copyright protection of tribal folk songs and traditional musical instruments. At the conference, Nelson Mandela awardee Shri Sher Singh Aanchla, Padma Shri Shri Pandi Ram Mandavi, Padma Shri Shri Jaggeshwar Yadav, and Gaur Maria artist Ms. Lakshmi Sori, Indu Netam also shared their experiences and appealed for the conservation of resources.
Additional Director Shri Sanjay Gaur and Joint Director of TRTI, Mrs. Gayatri Netam, made special contributions to making the program successful. This program was jointly organized by the Department of Primitive Tribe Development, TRTI, and the Foundation for Ecological Security under the Promise of Commons initiative. UNDP AIIT-Bhilai, BRLF, Axis Bank Foundation, and other major institutions were collaborators.
