Scheduled and Tribal Areas

• Article 244 in Part X of the Constitution deals with ‘scheduled areas’ and ‘tribal areas’.
  
• The Fifth Schedule of the Constitution deals with the administration and control of scheduled areas and scheduled tribes.
  
• The sixth Schedule deals with Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram (ATM2).
  
• ‘The scheduled areas are inhabited by ‘aboriginals’. They are socially and economically backward and special efforts need to be made to improve their condition.
  
• The president is empowered to declare an area to be a scheduled area.
  
• The governor has a special responsibility regarding the administration of the scheduled area.
  
• He has to submit a report to the president regarding the administration of the scheduled area.
  
• Each state having scheduled areas has to establish a tribes advisory council to advise on welfare and advancement of the scheduled tribes.
  
• The governor is empowered to direct the act of Parliament or the state legislature does not apply to a scheduled area or apply with specified modifications and exceptions.
  
• He can also make regulations for the peace and good government of a scheduled area after consulting the tribes advisory council.
  
• The president appointed first Tribal commission in 1961, the second commission in 2002.
  
• The tribal areas in the four states of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram have been constituted as autonomous districts.
  
• The governor is empowered to organize and re-organize the autonomous districts.
  
• The tribal council can enact their own laws but it should get the assent of the President.