6th Schedule of Constitution

6th Schedule of Constitution

Subject – Polity

Context – Various civil society groups in Ladakh have been demanding inclusion of Ladakh under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution.

Concept –

• The Sixth Schedule of the Constitution consists of provisions for the administration of tribal areas in Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram, according to Article 244 of the Indian Constitution.
• Passed by the Constituent Assembly in 1949, it seeks to safeguard the rights of tribal population through the formation of Autonomous District Councils (ADC).
• ADCs are bodies representing a district to which the Constitution has given varying degrees of autonomy within the state legislature.
• The Governors of these states are empowered to reorganize boundaries of the tribal areas.
• In simpler terms, she or he can choose to include or exclude any area, increase or decrease the boundaries and unite two or more autonomous districts into one.
• They can also alter or change the names of autonomous regions without a separate legislation.
• Along with ADCs, the Sixth Schedule also provides for separate Regional Councils for each area constituted as an autonomous region.
• In all, there are 10 areas in the Northeast that are registered as autonomous districts – three in Assam, Meghalaya and Mizoram and one in Tripura.
• These regions are named as district council of (name of district) and regional council of (name of region).
• Each autonomous district and regional council consists of not more than 30 members, of which four are nominated by the governor and the rest via elections. All of them remain in power for a term of five years.
• The Bodoland Territorial Council, however, is an exception as it can constitute up to 46 members.