Granting Article 371 to Ladakh

Context

In the course of protests across Ladakh, the Centre is mulling granting Article 371-like protection to the Union Territory.

Background

• In 2019, the former State of Jammu & Kashmir was bifurcated into Union Territories — Jammu & Kashmir, and Ladakh, the latter without a Legislative Assembly.
• After its special status was removed, numerous political groups in Ladakh have been demanding that land, employment, and the cultural identity of Ladakh, must be included under the Sixth Schedule.
• In 2019, the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes encouraged the inclusion of Ladakh under the Sixth Schedule. 

Sixth Schedule

• The Sixth Schedule under Article 244 provides for the formation of autonomous administrative divisions — Autonomous District Councils (ADCs) — that have some legislative, judicial, and administrative autonomy within a state.
• This Schedule contains provisions concerning the administration of tribal areas inside the states of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram.
• The Schedule also gives ARCs and ADCs the power to collect land revenue, impose taxes, regulate money lending and trading, collect royalties from licenses or leases for the extraction of minerals in their areas, and establish public facilities such as schools, markets, and roads.

Protections offered under Article 371

• Articles 371 and 371-A to J provide “special provisions” for specific states, regularly to offer representation to certain religious and social organizations and to allow those companies to exercise autonomy over their affairs without interference from the state and significant governments.
• Special provisions below Article 371 might permit protections to be extended to the neighborhood population of Ladakh.

Centre’s Opinion

• Union Home Ministry opines that the primary goal of the inclusion of tribal populations under the stated schedule is to ensure their standard socio-economic development, which the Union Territory’s administration “has already been taking care of since its creation”.
• It stated that the Ladakh management had these days improved the reservation for Scheduled Tribes in direct recruitment from 10% to 45%, which would assist the tribal population notably in its development.

Way Ahead

• Notably, no location outside the Northeast has been blanketed in the Sixth Schedule. Manipur, which has predominantly tribal populations in some locations, the autonomous councils are not protected inside the Sixth Schedule. 
• According to the Home ministry, for tribal areas in the rest of the country, there’s the Fifth Schedule. So, Ladakh’s inclusion in the Sixth Schedule would be hard.

Fifth Schedule of the Indian Constitution

• In the Article 244(1) of the Constitution: Expression Scheduled Areas method such areas as the President may additionally by using order claim to be Scheduled Areas.
• The President might also at any time by order:

1. Direct that the entire or any exact part of a Scheduled Area shall quit to be a Scheduled Area or a part of such a place.
2. Increase the location of any Scheduled Area in a State after a session with the Governor of that State.
3. On any alteration of the bounds of a State at the admission into the Union or the establishment of a new State, declare any territory not formerly protected in any State to be, or to shape a part of, a Scheduled Area.
4. Rescind, on the subject of any State of States, any order or orders made below those provisions and in consultation with the Governor of the State worried, make fresh orders redefining the areas which can be to be Scheduled Areas.

• Criteria for Declaring Schedule Areas

1. Preponderance of tribal population;
2. Compactness and reasonable length of the location;
3. Under-advanced nature of the place; and
4. Marked disparity in economic standard of the people.

• States having Fifth Schedule Areas: At present, 10 States particularly Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan and Telangana have Fifth Schedule Areas.

Source: The Indian express

UPSC Mains Practice Question

Q.The Sixth schedule of Indian Constitution has been successful in protecting tribal culture and inclusivity. Critically Analyse. What implications would its extension have on governance and autonomy in regions?

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