The state of India’s Scheduled Areas

Source: This post has been created based on the article “The state of India’s Scheduled Areas” published in The Hindu on 10^th October 2023.

UPSC Syllabus Topic: GS Paper 2 Social Justice — Welfare schemes for vulnerable sections of the population by the Centre and States and the performance of these schemes

News: This article discusses the Scheduled Areas — their status, how they are identified and what more needs to be done to safeguard Scheduled Tribes in India.

What is the status and constitutional provisions for Scheduled Tribes (STs) in India?

India’s 705 Scheduled Tribe (ST) communities — making up 8.6% of the country’s population — live in 26 States and 6 Union Territories.

Scheduled Areas cover 11.3% of India’s land area, and have been notified in 10 States: Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Odisha, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Himachal Pradesh.

Article 244 pertains to the administration of Scheduled and Tribal Areas.

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 exclusive powers to declare any area to be a Scheduled Area lies with the President.

The Sixth Schedule applies to the States of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, and Mizoram as per Article 244(2).

What are the reasons for the exclusion of STs from Scheduled Areas?

Several villages have been left out from Scheduled Area status in the 10 States and in other States with Scheduled Tribe (ST) populations.

Delay in Indian government’s approval for proposals by the State governments is an issue.

Another reason cited for excluding certain tribal areas is the absence of viable ST-majority administrative units.

As a result, 59% of India’s STs remain outside the purview of Article 244. Hence, 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.

How are Scheduled Areas governed?

The President of India notifies India’s Scheduled Areas.

States with Scheduled Areas need to constitute a Tribal Advisory Council (TAC) with up to 20 ST members.

The TAC advises the Governor on matters referred to them regarding ST welfare.

Apart from this, the Union 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.

He/ She also submits an annual report to the President.

The Governor can also make regulations especially to prohibit or restrict the transfer of tribal land and regulate the allotment of land and money-lending.

Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act, or PESA, 1996 empowers the gram sabhas to exercise substantial authority through direct democracy.

However, these powerful provisions have largely remained a dead letter.

How are Scheduled Areas identified?

Neither the Constitution nor any law provides any criteria to identify Scheduled Areas. However, based on the 1961 Dhebar Commission Report, the norms for declaring an area as a Scheduled area are — 1) preponderance of tribal population; compactness and reasonable size of the area; 2) a viable administrative entity such as a district, block or taluk; and 3) economic backwardness of the area relative to neighboring areas.

Compactness means that all the proposed villages need to be contiguous with each other or with an existing Scheduled Area.

No law prescribes the minimum percentage of STs in such an area nor a cut-off date for its identification.

The Bhuria Committee noted that the most resource rich tribal-inhabited areas have been divided up by administrative boundaries. This has pushed them to the margins and led to arbitrary politico-administrative decisions.

However, PESA finally settled this ambiguity in the law. The Act defined a ‘village’ as ordinarily consisting of “a habitation or a group of habitations, or a hamlet or a group of hamlets comprising a community and managing its affairs in accordance with traditions and customs”. The Forest Rights Act, 2006 also adopted this definition. As a result, the definition of a village expanded beyond the Scheduled Areas to include forest fringes and forest villages as well.

However, Gram Sabhas is yet to demarcate their customary boundaries on revenue lands in the absence of a suitable law. FRA 2006 requires them to demarcate ‘community forest resource’.

What should be done?

Firstly, all habitations outside Scheduled Areas where STs are the largest social group will need to be notified as Scheduled Areas irrespective of their contiguity.

Secondly, the geographical limit of these villages will need to be extended to the ‘community forest resource’ area on forest land under the Forest Rights Act 2006 where applicable, and to the customary boundary within revenue lands.

Finally, a redrawing of the geographical limits of the revenue village, panchayat, taluka, and district so that these become Scheduled Areas fully.