Discuss how constitutional provisions in India have built-in mechanisms for

Model answer

Introduction

Land alienation is the loss of Adivasi title to non-tribals, the state, or the market. The Constitution does not leave this to ordinary contract. It builds special brakes.

Body

Fifth Schedule machinery

Article 244 and the Fifth Schedule create Scheduled Areas with a Tribes Advisory Council and a Governor who may restrict or repeal ordinary land laws.
State regulations, following colonial Chota Nagpur and Agency precedents, void tribal-to-non-tribal sales unless permitted.
The Governor’s report and Union oversight are the built-in watch, even when they are weakly used.

Sixth Schedule and autonomy

In parts of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, and Mizoram, Sixth Schedule councils control land and settlement inside their territories.
This is alienation control by autonomous government, not only by a prohibition list.

Later statutory lining

PESA requires gram sabha consultation on land acquisition and mining in Scheduled Areas.
FRA 2006 restores forest land as title rather than mercy, attacking a major path of silent alienation.
Samata read the Fifth Schedule as a bar on mining leases to non-tribals in Andhra Scheduled Areas. Courts thus became a mechanism too.

Limits

Acquisition for public purpose, fake tribal buyers, and poor records still leak land. The mechanism exists; the file must be moved.

Flow diagram

flowchart TD
  A244[Article 244] --> F[Fifth Schedule Governor TAC]
  A244 --> S[Sixth Schedule councils]
  F --> P[PESA FRA Samata]

Conclusion

India’s built-in answer to tribal land alienation is Scheduled Area restriction, Governor and TAC, Sixth Schedule councils, then PESA, FRA, and case law. The design is protective. Delivery is the remaining problem.

Students also ask

Does the Constitution ban all sale of tribal land?

It enables state restrictions in Scheduled Areas. Details sit in state regulations.

Why does alienation continue?

Acquisition, poor records, benami buyers, and weak Governor–TAC use leak the design.

Examine the impact of Forest Policies from 1878 to 2006 on land alienation and deprivation of rights of tribal communities in India.

Problems of the tribal Communities

The 1878 Forest Act created reserved forests and criminalised much customary tribal use. 1927 consolidated state ownership; 1972 wildlife law and 1980 conservation law added exclusion. Godavarman and evictions treated dwellers as encroachers. FRA 2006 recognises individual, community, MFP and PVTG habitat rights through the Gram Sabha. Xaxa and field reports show titles still lag; 1878 logic survives in the department.

View answer → Download PDF

Discuss how constitutional provisions in India have built-in mechanisms for dealing with the problem of land alienation in tribal areas

Revision summary