SCHEDULED AREAS

SCHEDULED AREAS

WHAT ARE SCHEDULED AREAS ?

• Scheduled Areas are areas in India with a preponderance of tribal population subject to a special governance mechanism.
• Scheduled Areas cover 11.3% of India’s land area.
• Presently they have been notified in 10 States: Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Odisha, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Himachal Pradesh.
• Article 244, pertaining to the administration of Scheduled and Tribal Areas, is the single most important constitutional provision for STs.
• Article 244(1) provides for the application of Fifth Schedule provisions to Scheduled Areas notified in any State other than Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, and Mizoram.
• The Sixth Schedule applies to these States as per Article 244(2).
• 59% of India’s STs remain outside the purview of Article 244.
• They are denied rights under the laws applicable to Scheduled Areas, including the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act 2013 and the Biological Diversity Act 2002.

ADMINISTRATION OF SCHEDULED AREAS :

• The President of India notifies India’s Scheduled Areas.
• States with Scheduled Areas need to constitute a Tribal Advisory Council with up to 20 ST members.
• They will advise the Governor on matters referred to them regarding ST welfare.
• The Governor will then submit a report every year to the President regarding the administration of Scheduled Areas.
• The national government can give directions to the State regarding the administration of Scheduled Areas.
• The Governor can repeal or amend any law enacted by Parliament and the State Legislative Assembly in its application to the Scheduled Area of that State.
• The Governor can also make regulations for a Scheduled Area, especially to prohibit or restrict the transfer of tribal land by or among members of the STs, and regulate the allotment of land to STs and money­lending to STs.
• These powerful provisions, authority, and special responsibility vested with Governors, with the President’s oversight.

FIFTH SCHEDULED AREA :

• The Fifth Schedule protects tribal interests in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Chattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, and Rajasthan.
• In the Fifth Schedule areas, the governor of the state has special responsibilities with respect to tribal populations in the areas including issuing directives to the state government and limiting the effect of acts of the central or state legislature on the areas.

SIXTH SCHEDULED AREAS :

• The Sixth Schedule protects tribal interests in Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram.

• In the Sixth Schedule areas, the emphasis is on self-rule; tribal communities are granted considerable autonomy, including powers to make laws and receive central government funds for social and infrastructure development.
• To enable local control, the role of the Governor and the State are subject to significant limitations in the areas.

HOW ARE SCHEDULED AREAS IDENTIFIED?

• In 2006, the Supreme Court held that “the identification of Scheduled Areas is an executive function” and that it doesn’t “possess the expertise to scrutinise the empirical basis of the same”.
• Neither the Constitution nor any law provides any criteria to identify Scheduled Areas.

Based on the 1961 Dhebar Commission Report, the guiding norms for declaring an area as a Scheduled area are —

1. preponderance of tribal population;
2. compactness and reasonable size of the area;
3. a viable administrative entity such as a district,
4. block or taluk;
5. economic backwardness of the area relative to neighbouring areas.

• The Fifth Schedule confers powers exclusively on the President to declare any area to be a Scheduled Area.
• The court observed that the declaration of a Scheduled Area is “within the exclusive discretion of the President”.

WAY FORWARD:

• The geographical limit of these villages will need to be extended to the ‘community forest resource’ area on forest land under the FRA 2006 where applicable.
• All habitations or groups of habitations outside Scheduled Areas in all States and Union Territories where STs are the largest social group will need to be notified as Scheduled Areas irrespective of their contiguity.

SYLLABUS: MAINS, GS-3, INDIAN POLITY

SOURCE: THE HINDU