UPSC CSE WHY

@CseWhy

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Article 244 of Indian Constitution

Confusing! Read this post to simplify

The Article that caters to 705 ST communities of

That is 8.6% of the Indian population!

This post will save your time on high value notes of

5th & 6th Schedule Areas

Bookmark & make one page note

Article 244(1)
Application of 5th schedule provisions for STs in any
state other than Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, and
Mizoram
Article 244(2)
Application of 6th schedule provisions for states of
Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, and Mizoram

Toh Scheduled Area hai kya and how’s it decided?

A lot of resources I found online confused me.

I explored keywords in debates of Constituent

Assembly to no avail

I dug deeper to find out

There’s no constitutional or statutory criteria to identify

Scheduled Areas
So, how’s an area decided to be a Scheduled Area?

Answer lies in Dhebar Commission Report of 1961

• Preponderance of tribal population

• Compactness & reasonable size of the area
• Viable administrative entity such as
district/block/taluk etc.
• Economic backwardness of area relative to
neighbouring areas

At present, 11.3% of Indian land in 10 states is

declared as scheduled area

Governance of Scheduled Areas (SA)

Step by step guide below

• President notifies the Scheduled Areas

• This requires the states to constitute a Tribal

Advisory Council (TAC)

• The TAC with up to 20 ST members advise Governor

on related matters

• Governor submits report to President

Further,

• GoI can direct State regarding SA admin, Governor

can repeal or amend laws of Parliament or State
Assembly for SA

• Governor can make desired regulations related to

land of tribals

All of this sounds great on paper.

But there are flaws and issues that aspirants need to

be aware of!
1. There is a lack of clarity on following to declare an
area as Scheduled Area

• Minimum population percentage of STs is not

defined
• Compactness: all proposed villages shall be
contiguous (or they miss out)
• Unit area determination led to arbitrary politico-
administrative decisions

2. Administrative inaction

• 58% STs remain outside purview due to lack of

contiguous areas
• Provisions of Governor/President have remained a
dead letter despite 73/74 Amendment & PESA 1996
leading to roadblocks

Are there solutions to above problems to quote in

Mains answers, CSEWhy?

Yes! Here are some committee recommendations that

you can quote!

• SA & ST Commission 2002

All revenue villages with 40% and more tribal
population (as per Census 1951) be considered as
Scheduled Area (yet to elicit a response)

• Bhuria Committee
Recognize a hamlet (or a group of them) which
manages its own affairs as the basic unit of Self-
governance in SAs

Bonus point
• Contiguous exception
This condition is not mandatory as such. Kerala has
made recommendations ignoring this. (remember
state’s name)
Way Forward

• Need to notify all habitations with STs as largest

social group as SAs irrespective of the contiguity

• Increase geographical limit of such habitations to

‘community forest resource’ area on forest land u/
FRA 2006

• Redraw the boundaries of village, panchayat, taluka

& district to have these as fully Scheduled Areas

It took me nearly 200 minutes to simplify this article to

make it easier to note for You.

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(This post is an adoption of The Hindu article. Addons
and edits done to make it easier for aspirants. No
copyright infringement intended)
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