In memory of Dr Brahma Dev Sharma, a citizens’ meeting was organised on Thursday here. Representatives from various organisations, people’s movements and activists participated to pay their tribute to the great warrior for justice.
Notably, Dr Sharma was a pro-people administrator, an academic, a philosopher, a front-ranking scholar, a policy analyst, a visionary people’s leader, an activist and most importantly, a great friend and comrade of marginalized people in their day to day struggles for their life, livelihood, forest rights, land rights and environment issue. He passed away December 6 last at the age of 85 at Gwalior.
Civil Society Forum on Human Rights (CSFHR) convenor Dhirendra Panda informed, “Dr Sharma joined the IAS, resigned from the same, became Vice-Chancellor of North Eastern Hill University (1981-1986) and was the Commissioner for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes during 1986-91. He was the brain and the architect of the historic Panchayat Extension to Scheduled Areas Act 1996 (PESA). The famous “Forest Rights Act” was another beautiful product of the struggle led by him.” Dr Sharma was the father of FRA, he quoted.
Dr Sharma was an authority on tribal affairs in the country. He was also instrumental in bringing back the Fifth Schedule as a vital instrument for the very survival of the tribal people on a national agenda. While serving in the Central Government and also State Government, he was responsible of formulation of tribal policies particularly what is known as “sub-plan” strategy, he informed.
Dr Sharma formed “Bharat Jana Andolan,” a platform of people’s movements and continued to remain with the causes of Adivasi people and participated as an activist in their struggles. The law concerning tribal self-governance, which acknowledges the competence of the village community to manage all its affairs according to its customs and tradition, is the most significant achievement of the movement, said State Unit Indian Social Action Forum (INSAF) convenor Narendra Mohanty.
Dr Sharma had written books extensively on the issue of change. Some of the famous books are “The Web of Poverty, 50 Years of Anti-Panchayat Raj, Dalits Betrayed, Tribal Development- the Concept and the Frame, Planning for Tribal Development, Can We Afford to Drink”.
