UPDATED: February 1, 2021 14:21 IST They account for a little more than 8 per cent of India's population, some 100 million people belonging to 700-odd communities across the country, but the designated Scheduled Tribes (STs) have borne the brunt of modern civilisation bearing down on them. Tribals constitute 40 per cent of all displaced people in the country, says an IIPA (Indian Institute of Public Administration) paper. In the past three decades, the Union government has enacted two key legislations: the Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act or PESA, 1996, and the Forest Rights Act (FRA), 2006, to address the issues affecting ST communities. The PESA Act envisages a greater role for gram sabhas or the local community in deciding issues such as mining, land acquisition and dispute resolution.