The Union Home Ministry has informed a Parliamentary panel that the main objective of the inclusion of tribal population under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution, is to ensure their overall socio-economic development, which the Union Territory of Ladakh administration “has already been taking care of since its creation”.
Key points
- On August 5, 2019, the former State of Jammu & Kashmir was bifurcated into two Union Territories — Jammu & Kashmir, and Ladakh, the latter without a Legislative Assembly.
- After Ladakh’s special status was removed, several political groups in Ladakh have been demanding that land, employment, and the cultural identity of Ladakh, should be protected under the Sixth Schedule.
- The apex body for Leh, a group comprising all political parties in Ladakh, the influential Buddhist association, and the Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA), have been demanding Statehood for Ladakh and protection under the Sixth Schedule.
- In 2021, Ladakh’s only member in the Lok Sabha, the BJP’s Jamyang Tsering Namgyal, demanded constitutional safeguards by amending the Ladakh Autonomous Hill District Council (LAHDC) Act for the protection of land, employment, and the cultural identity of Ladakh under the Sixth Schedule.
- The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs tabled a report in the Rajya Sabha which said that, according to the 2011 Census, the tribal population in the UT of Ladakh is 2,18,355, that is 79.61% of the total population of 2,74,289.
- The committee recommended that special status may be granted to the Union Territory of Ladakh considering the developmental requirements of the tribal population.
- Responding to this, the Union Home Ministry stated that the main objective for inclusion of tribal population under fifth/sixth schedule is to ensure their overall socio-economic development, which, the UT Administration has already been taking care of since its creation. Sufficient funds are being provided to to Ladakh to meet its overall developmental requirements.
- The ministry further added that the Ladakh administration had recently increased the reservation for Scheduled Tribes in direct recruitment from 10% to 45%, which would help the tribal population significantly in its development.
What is Sixth Schedule?
- The 6th Schedule under Article 244 provides for the formation of autonomous administrative divisions — Autonomous District Councils (ADCs) — that have some legislative, judicial, and administrative autonomy within a state.
- The Schedule protects tribal populations, providing autonomy to communities through the creation of Autonomous Development Councils, which can frame laws on land, public health and agriculture.
- As of now, 10 autonomous councils exist in Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram.
- ADCs have up to 30 members with a term of five years, and can make laws, rules and regulations with regard to land, forest, water, agriculture, village councils, health, sanitation, village- and town-level policing, inheritance, marriage and divorce, social customs and mining, etc.
- The Bodoland Territorial Council in Assam is an exception with more than 40 members and the right to make laws on 39 issues.
- The Sixth Schedule applies to the Northeastern states of Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram (three Councils each), and Tripura (one Council).
- Notably, no region outside the Northeast has been included in the Sixth Schedule. In fact, even in Manipur, which has predominantly tribal populations in some places, the autonomous councils are not included in the Sixth Schedule. Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh, which are totally tribal, are also not in the Sixth Schedule.
