The provisions of the sixth Schedule of Indian Constitution are applicable in which of the following states ?

Question

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Correct — A, Tripura. The Sixth Schedule, read with Article 244(2) and Article 275(1), provides a distinct system of government for the tribal areas of exactly four states — Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram. In those areas the ordinary machinery of state administration is replaced or supplemented by Autonomous District Councils and Regional Councils, which are elected bodies empowered to legislate on land, forests other than reserved forests, shifting cultivation, village administration, inheritance of property, marriage and divorce and social customs, and to constitute village courts to try disputes between members of Scheduled Tribes — all subject to the Governor's assent. Tripura's tribal areas are administered by the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council, brought under the Sixth Schedule by a constitutional amendment in 1984. Of the three states named in the options, only Tripura is on that list, so the answer is (a).

Why the other options are wrong — (b) Sikkim is not a Sixth Schedule state. Its special constitutional treatment comes from Article 371F, inserted by the Constitution (Thirty-sixth Amendment) Act, 1975, when Sikkim became a full-fledged State of the Union — a saving-and-transition provision, not a tribal-areas provision. Sikkim has no Autonomous District Council under the Sixth Schedule.  (c) Nagaland is protected by Article 371A, inserted by the Constitution (Thirteenth Amendment) Act, 1962. Under it, no Act of Parliament on Naga religious or social practices, Naga customary law and procedure, the administration of civil and criminal justice involving Naga customary law, or ownership and transfer of land and its resources applies to Nagaland unless the Legislative Assembly so decides by resolution. That is a different constitutional device from the Sixth Schedule — protection through a special Article rather than through Autonomous District Councils.  (d) Wrong because two of the three states listed are outside the Sixth Schedule altogether. 'All of the above' is only right if Sikkim and Nagaland also had Sixth Schedule areas, and they do not — they are covered by Articles 371F and 371A respectively.

Concept: The Constitution protects tribal populations through two different chapters of Article 244. The Fifth Schedule (Article 244(1)) governs 'Scheduled Areas' and Scheduled Tribes in every state except the four north-eastern ones; there the Governor makes regulations, reports annually to the President and is advised by a Tribes Advisory Council. The Sixth Schedule (Article 244(2)) governs the 'tribal areas' of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram; there the tribal population itself governs through elected Autonomous District Councils with legislative, judicial, executive and financial powers, including the power to levy certain taxes and to receive grants-in-aid under Article 275(1). A third, quite separate device is Part XXI of the Constitution — the Article 371 series — which gives named states individually tailored special provisions.

State PCS 2019 Q146 — Polity & Governance PYQ with Answer

State PCS 2019 Q146 — Polity & Governance PYQ with Answer