for the socio-economic development of tribal communities. The Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill, 2007 and The Land Acquisition (Amendment) Bill, 2007 have been merged and drafted into The Land Acquisition and Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill, 2011 which has been tabled in Parliament. It “Most autonomous councils have neither nurtured the village level bodies nor institutionalized intermediary bodies covering groups of villages...” is expected to provide proper rehabilitation policy and packages that affect many tribals across the country. Political Parties Land being a contentious issue, no national political party wants to touch it. However, some regional political parties, like Jhakhan Mukti Morcha (JMM) in Jharkhand, include this issue in their agenda. Most of the parties are more along the welfare and development modes, and not in the rights mode. Local Government The Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) cover as many as 29 subjects within their jurisdiction. Compared with the Autonomous District Councils (ADCs), which are often at the state government’s mercy for funds, the Panchayat bodies are better 56 placed on developmental issues both in terms of range of functions and also on the financial front. They are entitled to get funds from the state as well as central government under various schemes. Further, in order to prevent the Panchayat bodies from falling into financial starvation, a Financial Commission has been established. Women representation is an important contrast between the two laws. Since the tribal traditions do not normally recognize the role of women in social politics, the autonomous councils as well as local bodies in the Sixth Schedule areas are male dominated; women representatives are seen as exceptions rather than the rule. Here, the PRI system scores very high and is far more progressive. Another contrasting issue is the continuity of the institutions. In case of dissolution of the Panchayat bodies, they must be reconstituted within a period of six months from the date of their dissolution. For district councils, the period for fresh elections is up to 12 months subject to the approval of the state legislature. Most autonomous councils have neither nurtured the village level bodies nor institutionalized intermediary bodies covering groups of villages, but instead ended up keeping all power to themselves. This concentration of power in the councils has ultimately negated the democratic voice of the ordinary poor tribals and distorted the idea of grass-roots democracy due to dictatorship by a few top council members. This has obviously made corruption and inefficiency widespread in the councils. Thus, the Sixth Schedule setup did protect land and local traditions of the tribes but could not institutionalize grass-roots or participatory Asian NGO Coalition for Agrarian Reform and Rural Development (ANGOC)