ARTICLE 244 A

ARTICLE 244 A

Subject: Polity

Context: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi promised to implement Article 244 (A) of the Constitution to safeguard the interests of the people in Assam’s tribal-majority districts.

Concept:

• Article 244(A) allows for creation of an ‘autonomous state’ within Assam in certain tribal areas.
• Inserted into the Constitution in 1969, it also has a provision for a Legislature and a Council of Ministers.
• Under Article 244(A)(1), the Parliament may, by law, form within the State of Assam an autonomous State comprising all or any of the tribal areas.

How is it different from the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution?

• The Sixth Schedule of the Constitution — Articles 244(2) and 275(1) — is a special provision that allows for greater political autonomy and decentralised governance in certain tribal areas of the Northeast through autonomous councils that are administered by elected representatives.
• In Assam, the hill districts of Dima Hasao, KarbiAnglong and West Karbi and the Bodo Territorial Region are under this provision.
• Article 244(A) accounts for more autonomous powers to tribal areas. In Autonomous Councils under the Sixth Schedule, they do not have jurisdiction of law and order.