Revision summary
Article 244 and the Fifth Schedule restrict land transfer in Scheduled Areas. The Governor and Tribes Advisory Council are the administrative brake. Sixth Schedule councils control land in listed North-Eastern areas. PESA and FRA add gram sabha and forest-title tools. Samata showed courts can enforce the Schedule against mining leases.
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.
Quick related
Students also ask
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Discuss the impact of Hinduism on the status of tribal women in Central India
Next question in the 2015 paper (Q3). View answer →
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Does the Constitution ban all sale of tribal land?
It enables state restrictions in Scheduled Areas. Details sit in state regulations.
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Why does alienation continue?
Acquisition, poor records, benami buyers, and weak Governor–TAC use leak the design.
PYQ trend
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