BPSC 69th CCE Prelims General Studies · Question 107 of 144

Correct — C, Scheduled Tribes. The Schedule answers the question in its own title. The Fifth Schedule is printed under the marginal reference "[Article 244(1)]" and headed "Provisions as to the Administration and Control of Scheduled Areas and Scheduled Tribes" — the group is named on the face of it, and no other community appears anywhere in the Schedule. Article 244(1) switches it on: "The provisions of the Fifth Schedule shall apply to the administration and control of the Scheduled Areas and Scheduled Tribes in any State other than the States of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram." Every mechanism inside the Schedule is then built around Scheduled Tribes. Paragraph 3 obliges the Governor of each State having Scheduled Areas to report to the President "annually, or whenever so required", and extends the Union's executive power to giving directions on their administration. Paragraph 4 sets up a Tribes Advisory Council of not more than twenty members, of whom "as nearly as may be, three-fourths shall be the representatives of the Scheduled Tribes in the Legislative Assembly of the State". Paragraph 5(1) lets the Governor direct by public notification that any Act of Parliament or of the State Legislature shall not apply to a Scheduled Area, or shall apply with exceptions and modifications; paragraph 5(2) lets him make regulations that "prohibit or restrict the transfer of land by or among members of the Scheduled Tribes", regulate allotment of land to them, and regulate money-lending to them. Paragraph 6(1) makes the President the sole authority to declare an area a Scheduled Area. A Governor's annual report, a council three-quarters filled by tribal MLAs, and a power over tribal land and tribal debt — the protected group can only be the Scheduled Tribes.

• (a)Scheduled Castes — The tempting near-miss, because "Scheduled" appears in both names and the two groups are usually taught in the same breath. But no Schedule of the Constitution is devoted to Scheduled Castes. Their protection runs through Articles instead: Article 341 lets the President specify the castes by public notification, Article 17 abolishes untouchability, and Article 338 establishes the National Commission for Scheduled Castes. The Fifth Schedule is territorial — it governs Scheduled Areas — and Scheduled Castes have no notified areas of their own.
• (b)Religious Minorities — Religious minorities are protected by Articles 25 to 28 (freedom of religion) and Articles 29 and 30, which secure the right of any section of citizens to conserve its language, script or culture and the right of religious and linguistic minorities to establish and administer educational institutions. None of that appears in the Fifth Schedule, and the National Commission for Minorities is a statutory body under the National Commission for Minorities Act, 1992 rather than a Schedule.
• (d)Linguistic Minorities — Linguistic minorities have their own machinery, and it is not a Schedule. Article 350A directs every State to endeavour to provide instruction in the mother-tongue at the primary stage, and Article 350B creates a Special Officer for Linguistic Minorities appointed by the President to report on their safeguards. The Eighth Schedule lists languages, but that is a list of recognised languages, not a protective regime for any community.

Article 244 splits tribal administration into two regimes and the Constitution keeps them strictly apart. Article 244(1) applies the Fifth Schedule — "Provisions as to the Administration and Control of Scheduled Areas and Scheduled Tribes" — to every State except Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram; paragraph 1 of the Schedule repeats the carve-out by defining "State" so as to exclude those four. Article 244(2) applies the Sixth Schedule — "Provisions as to the Administration of Tribal Areas in the States of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram" — to exactly those four. The two are different in kind, not only in geography. The Fifth Schedule is supervisory: the Governor reports to the President, the Union may issue directions, a Tribes Advisory Council advises, and the Governor may switch laws off or make protective regulations. The Sixth Schedule is devolutionary: it converts tribal areas into autonomous districts and regions with elected District and Regional Councils holding legislative, judicial and financial powers of their own. The terms of art follow the split — "Scheduled Areas" belongs to the Fifth Schedule, "Tribal Areas" to the Sixth; they are never synonyms.

This question is answered by reading the Schedule's title, so the real skill is not being talked out of it. Two habits of thought create the doubt. The first is the pull of "Scheduled Castes" — the shared word makes candidates hesitate between (A) and (C), and the way to break the tie is to ask what kind of protection the Fifth Schedule gives. It is territorial: it works by declaring areas, restricting land transfer inside them, and switching statutes on and off within their boundaries. Scheduled Castes are dispersed among the general population and have no notified territory, so a territorial instrument could not protect them; their safeguards are personal and are written into Articles 17, 338 and 341. The second is the Fifth-versus-Sixth confusion, which is a distractor at the Schedule level rather than the group level — both protect Scheduled Tribes, so it cannot change the answer here, but BPSC has used it directly, asking in the 71st CCE whether "administration of scheduled areas" pairs with the 6th Schedule (it does not; it is the 5th). Also worth holding: whether an area actually is a Scheduled Area is not settled by the Schedule but by the President under paragraph 6(1), so the map of Scheduled Areas changes by executive order, not by amendment.

• The Fifth Schedule carries the marginal reference "[Article 244(1)]" and is headed "Provisions as to the Administration and Control of Scheduled Areas and Scheduled Tribes"
• Article 244(1) applies it to every State other than Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram; Article 244(2) applies the Sixth Schedule — "Provisions as to the Administration of Tribal Areas" — to those four States
• Paragraph 4: a Tribes Advisory Council of not more than twenty members, of whom "as nearly as may be, three-fourths shall be the representatives of the Scheduled Tribes in the Legislative Assembly of the State"
• Paragraph 5: the Governor may by public notification direct that an Act of Parliament or of the State Legislature shall not apply to a Scheduled Area or shall apply with modifications, and may make regulations to "prohibit or restrict the transfer of land by or among members of the Scheduled Tribes" and to regulate money-lending to them
• Paragraph 6(1): "Scheduled Areas" means such areas as the President may by order declare — and paragraph 3 requires the Governor of each such State to report to the President annually or whenever required
• Outside the Schedule, Scheduled Tribes are specified by the President under Article 342 and overseen by the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes under Article 338A, inserted by the Constitution (Eighty-ninth Amendment) Act, 2003; the Panchayats (Extension to the Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996 extended Part IX of the Constitution to Fifth Schedule areas

• Choosing Scheduled Castes because both names contain "Scheduled" — no Schedule of the Constitution is devoted to them; Articles 17, 338 and 341 are
• Swapping the Fifth and Sixth Schedules, or treating "Scheduled Areas" and "Tribal Areas" as the same phrase; the Constitution uses each for exactly one Schedule
• Assuming an area is a Scheduled Area because it has a large tribal population — it becomes one only when the President so declares under paragraph 6(1)

BPSC asks this at the level of the Schedule's title — a one-line stem, four communities, no statements — and it has also run the same content as a match-the-pair item on the Third to Seventh Schedules. UPSC almost never asks which group; it asks what follows from the Schedule. It asked in 2015 what the Fifth and Sixth Schedules are for, in 2022 what the consequence of scheduling an area is, and in 2023 and 2025 it broke the Schedule into statements about who notifies an area and what the State loses.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Under the Fifth Schedule to the Constitution of India, which authority declares an area to be a Scheduled Area?

  • (a)The Governor of the State
  • (b)The President
  • (c)Parliament by law
  • (d)The State Legislature by resolution

  Answer(b) The President — paragraph 6(1) defines "Scheduled Areas" as such areas as the President may by order declare, and paragraph 6(2) lets him alter or de-schedule them.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  In the Tribes Advisory Council constituted under the Fifth Schedule, what is the maximum number of members and the prescribed share of Scheduled Tribe MLAs?

  • (a)Twenty members, of whom about one-half shall be ST MLAs
  • (b)Twenty members, of whom about three-fourths shall be ST MLAs
  • (c)Thirty members, of whom about two-thirds shall be ST MLAs
  • (d)Fifteen members, all of whom shall be ST MLAs

  Answer(b) Twenty members, of whom about three-fourths shall be ST MLAs — paragraph 4(1) says "not more than twenty members of whom, as nearly as may be, three-fourths shall be the representatives of the Scheduled Tribes in the Legislative Assembly of the State".