Revision summary
Article 244 applies the Fifth and Sixth Schedules. Fifth Schedule: Governor, Tribes Advisory Council, land and credit restrictions. Sixth Schedule: autonomous councils with land, forest, and court powers in listed North-Eastern areas. PESA tries to add gram sabha muscle to the Fifth. FRA is a later statutory cousin, not a Schedule clause.
Model answer
Copper italics in this answer — like this — are the key facts. Each one is unpacked in the Facts & figures rail.
Introduction
The Fifth and Sixth Schedules are the Constitution’s territorial law for many Scheduled Tribes. They sit under Article 244 and are not the same machine.
Body
Fifth Schedule
- Applies to Scheduled Areas in listed states. The Governor may restrict or modify laws, especially on land and money-lending.
- A Tribes Advisory Council advises. The Governor reports to the President.
- Peace and good government regulations can create a special legal island against alienation.
- This is the Central Indian shield that PESA later tried to democratise through the gram sabha.
Sixth Schedule
- Applies to specified areas of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, and Mizoram.
- Autonomous district and regional councils legislate on land, forest (other than reserved), shifting cultivation, village courts, and local works.
- They assess some taxes and run primary services. The Governor still has a role, but the council is the government.
- This is the North-Eastern house of tribal regionalism.
Shared constitutional neighbourhood
- ST reservations in legislatures and jobs sit outside the Schedules but support them.
- FRA is statute, not Schedule text, yet it operationalises the same land ethic as Panchsheel.
- Limits: unscheduled tribal pockets, under-used Governors, and council–state clashes.
Flow diagram
flowchart TD A244[Article 244] --> F[Fifth Governor TAC] A244 --> S[Sixth councils] F --> L[Land credit bars] S --> G[Land forest courts]
Conclusion
The Fifth Schedule protects through Governor, TAC, and land-law bars. The Sixth Schedule governs through autonomous councils. Together they are India’s tribal federalism on paper.
Quick related
Students also ask
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Critically examine the role of NGOs and missionaries in transformation of scheduled tribes in Central India
Next question on this syllabus topic (2016 · Q8(b)). View answer →
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Do all STs live under these Schedules?
No. Many tribal people live outside Scheduled Areas and Sixth Schedule districts.
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Can a state ignore the Governor’s Fifth Schedule power?
Politically it happens. The text still names the Governor as the special authority.
Same topic · past papers
UPSC has asked this before
These previous-year questions sit on the same topic. Open one to practise the earlier ask.
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2022 · Q4(a) · Anthropology GS 2 · 20 marks
"Globalisation, on one hand has provided opportunities and on the other hand thrown challenges to Indian villages." Elucidate -
2026 · Q7(c) · Anthropology GS 2 · 15 marks
Write an account on Development Action Plan for Scheduled Tribes (DAPST) -
2021 · Q4(c) · Anthropology GS 2 · 15 marks
Elucidate the problems and challenges in educational attainment of the Scheduled Tribes -
2016 · Q6(c) · Anthropology GS 2 · 15 marks
Explain the difficulties experienced by scheduled tribes with regard to implementation of the 'Recognition of Forest Rights Act, 2006' -
2016 · Q8(b) · Anthropology GS 2 · 15 marks
Critically examine the role of NGOs and missionaries in transformation of scheduled tribes in Central India
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