SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 17 September 2025, Shift 1 · General Awareness · Question 24 of 100

We transcribed this text from the pictures on a candidate's response sheet for this shift; the answer is the key SSC colour-marked on that sheet. Solution last reviewed 13 September 2026.

Where this paper and its answers come from

SSC does not publish CGL question papers or a public answer key. From 2025 the candidate response sheet prints every question and option as a picture, so the text here is transcribed from those pictures for this shift and checked against them independently; where the layout carries meaning, the picture is shown as well. Each answer is the key SSC colour-marked on that sheet. SSC released a tentative key for challenge and later its final one, both only to candidates behind a login, and the sheet does not say which of the two it carries. The solutions are written by UnlockIAS.

Consider the following statements: 1. The Sixth Schedule is applicable to Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh. 2. It empowers autonomous district councils to make laws on specified subjects. Which of the above is/are correct?

(a)Only 1
(b)Only 2
(c)Both 1 and 2
(d)Neither 1 nor 2

Answer

Why

Correct — B. Statement 1 is false. The Sixth Schedule covers the tribal areas of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram. Nagaland has its own safeguard in Article 371A, and Arunachal Pradesh is not a Sixth Schedule state.

Statement 2 is true. Autonomous district councils can make laws on listed subjects such as land, forests other than reserved forests, inheritance, marriage and social customs: option (b).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
Only 1 — Keeps the wrong statement. Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh are outside the Sixth Schedule, and this option also drops the true statement on council law-making.
(c)
Both 1 and 2 — Statement 1 breaks 'both'. The Sixth Schedule covers Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram, and neither Nagaland nor Arunachal Pradesh is among them.
(d)
Neither 1 nor 2 — Statement 2 is the Schedule's core. District councils make laws on land, forests, inheritance, marriage and social customs, with the Governor's assent, so 'neither' is wrong.

Concept

The Constitution handles tribal regions under two Schedules. The Fifth Schedule covers Scheduled Areas in states other than Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram, and the Sixth Schedule covers the tribal areas of those four.

The Sixth Schedule works through autonomous district councils and regional councils, which make laws, run local administration and can set up village councils and courts.

Their laws need the Governor's assent. The Schedule rests on Articles 244(2) and 275(1).

Nagaland is a tempting decoy because it is tribal and north-eastern. Its protection comes from Article 371A: Acts of Parliament on Naga customary law, religious and social practices, and land ownership apply there only if the state Assembly so resolves.

Key facts

The Sixth Schedule applies to the tribal areas of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram (Articles 244(2) and 275(1)).
Autonomous district councils may make laws on subjects such as land, non-reserved forests, inheritance, marriage and social customs, and these need the Governor's assent.
Nagaland's special provisions are in Article 371A, and Arunachal Pradesh's in Article 371H.
The Fifth Schedule covers Scheduled Areas and Scheduled Tribes in states other than Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram.

Study next

Fifth Schedule: Scheduled Areas and the Tribes Advisory CouncilArticle 371 special provisions for the north-eastern statesThe Bodoland Territorial Council and the 2003 amendment to the Sixth Schedule

Common traps

Adding Nagaland or Arunachal Pradesh because they are tribal north-eastern states: neither is under the Sixth Schedule.
Confusing the two Schedules: Scheduled Areas fall under the Fifth, the tribal areas of the four north-eastern states under the Sixth.

Here a wrong list of states is paired with a correct statement about the councils, so the item turns on knowing the four Sixth Schedule states.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

Topic: General Policy — all 308 SSC CGL questions on it, every solved shift.