Right use of PESA to Save tribals! Chhattisgarh BANS community land allotment to CHRISTIANS
Every year, 24 lakh people are being converted to Christianity, according to the data available on the website of The Joshua Project, a Christian conversion ‘research’ initiative.
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Amid ongoing concerns regarding tribal conversions, a gram sabha within a village panchayat in Sukma, Chhattisgarh, has adopted a resolution restricting community land usage. The new rule prevents Christian converts from utilizing public land for religious meetings, burials, or the construction of places of worship.
The board said the gram sabha had taken the decision under the PESA law to protect the village’s cultural identity, traditions, customs and social heritage. It also appealed to villagers to respect the decisions of the gram sabha and local laws.
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For unreserved, a gram sabha is a village assembly comprising all registered voters in Fifth Schedule Scheduled Areas under the Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996 (PESA). The Act provides gram sabhas and panchayats in these areas additional powers to protect and maintain traditional systems of governance.
Punapalli village panchayat has also put up an information board announcing that entry of priests and Christian preachers into the village for religious conversion, prayer meetings and other activities would be prohibited. This development is particularly notable given that Punapalli is located within a Naxal-affected area.
A Gram Sabha in Chhattisgarh has banned the allocation of land for the burial and prayers of Christians.
— शून्य 🚩 (@Dave_Gaur) October 7, 2026
The local Gram Sabha passed a resolution declaring that "not even an inch of gram sabha land" would be allotted to Christians or religious converts. pic.twitter.com/5Ux3hpdCVp
Every year, 24 lakh people are being converted to Christianity, according to the data available on the website of The Joshua Project, a Christian conversion ‘research’ initiative. Chhattisgarh has increasingly become a focal point of intense socio-religious friction, revolving around allegations of mass religious conversions by Christian missionaries within tribal-dominated regions.
In a survey spanning 110 villages in MP, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Odisha, local activists claimed that over 82 villages had become Christian-majority. This is not natural, and cannot happen without aggressive conversion.
In Sitonga village in Chhattisgarh’s Jashpur district, the religious landscape has changed dramatically over the past two decades. What was once a village with just a single church has seen a steady rise in Christian conversions. Reports indicate that out of nearly 400 families residing there, around 270 now identify as Christian, with approximately 200 families having converted over the last 20 years. The transformation is visibly reflected in the village itself several homes now display flags bearing Christian symbols, signalling a significant demographic and cultural shift within the community.
This dynamic has triggered sharp community polarization, leading local village councils (Gram Sabhas) to invoke laws like the PESA Act to pass stringent local resolutions banning proselytization activities, church constructions. Earlier, Eight villages recently took a stand by way of passing Gram Sabha resolutions under the PESA Act, explicitly banning missionaries and pastors from entering the villages for proselytization. When this move was challenged in the court of law, both the Chhattisgarh High Court and the Supreme Court declined to intervene. This legal backing serves as a landmark recognition of a community's right to protect its cultural heritage. This legal validation has sparked a chain reaction. Across the tribal belt, more villages are asserting that their identity deeply rooted in Sanatan traditions is not up for negotiation.