UPSC 2023: With reference to ‘Scheduled Areas’ in India, consider the following statements : 1. Within a State, the notification of an area as Scheduled Area takes place through an Order of the President. ( 2. The largest administrative unit forming the Scheduled Area is the District and the lowest is the cluster of villages in the Block. 3. The Chief Ministers of the concerned States are required to submit annual reports to the Union Home Ministry on the administration of Scheduled Areas in the States. How many of the above statements are correct?

Statement 1 is correct: under paragraph 6 (1) of the Fifth Schedule, only the President may declare an area to be a Scheduled Area. Statement 2 is also correct—the criteria adopted by the Dhebar Commission (and followed in Presidential orders such as the 2018 Rajasthan order) recognise the district as the largest and blocks/cluster of villages as the smallest administrative units for scheduling. Statement 3 is incorrect because paragraph 3 of the Fifth Schedule requires the Governor, not the Union Government, to submit an annual report to the President on the administration of Scheduled Areas. Thus exactly two statements are correct. ([indiankanoon.org](https://indiankanoon.org/doc/15096463/?utm_source=openai))