The Fifth Schedule

The Fifth Schedule
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Highlights

The Fifth Schedule is a historic guarantee to Indigenous people on  the right over the land they live in. The term `Scheduled Areas has been defined in the Indian Constitution as \"such areas as the President may by order declare to be Scheduled Areas.\" 

The Fifth Schedule is a historic guarantee to Indigenous people on the right over the land they live in. The term `Scheduled Areas has been defined in the Indian Constitution as "such areas as the President may by order declare to be Scheduled Areas."

The criteria followed for declaring an area as Scheduled Area are preponderance of tribal population; compactness and reasonable size of the area; under-developed nature of the area; and marked disparity in economic standard of the people.

These criteria are not spelt out in the Constitution of India but have become well established. They embody principles followed in declaring `Excluded and `Partially-Excluded Areas under the Government of India Act 1935, Schedule `B of recommendations of the Excluded and Partially Excluded Areas Sub Committee of Constituent Assembly and the Scheduled Areas and Scheduled Tribes Commission 1961.

AP, Telangana, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Odisha and Rajasthan have Scheduled Areas. The North Eastern states such as Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram are covered by the Sixth Schedule and not included in the Fifth schedule.

There shall be established in each State having Scheduled Areas a Tribes Advisory Council consisting of not more than twenty members of whom, as nearly as may be, three-fourths shall be the representatives of the Scheduled Tribes in the Legislative Assembly of the State.

Provided that if the number of represenatives of the Scheduled Tribes in the Legislative Assembly of the State is less than the number of seats in the Tribes Advisory Council to be filled by such representatives, the remaining seats shall be filled by other members of those tribes.

It shall be the duty of the Tribes Advisory Council to advise on such matters pertaining to the welfare and advancement of the Scheduled Tribes in the State as may be referred to them by the Governor.

The Governor may repeal or amend any Act of Parliament or of the Legislature of the State or any existing law which is for the time being applicable to the area in question. In a historical verdict, known as Samata Judgement, in July 1997, the SC held that all lands leased to private mining companies in the scheduled areas are null and void.

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