Sixth Schedule Discriminates Against the Non-Tribal

Sixth Schedule discriminates against the non-tribal

The Sixth Schedule was incorporated to protect the rights of the minority tribals living within a larger state dominated by the majority. The basic purpose for this, as specified in the Constitution, was to enable the tribal people to evolve their own institutions and means of administration in order to continue their way of life and develop self-respect. Khasi Students’ Union (KSU) an influential students’ body in Meghalaya has put up banners labelling all Bengalis in the state as Bangladeshis. It is also spearheading an agitation for an Inner Line Permit (ILP) to regulate outsiders coming into the state.

What is Inner Line Permit? 

The Inner Line Permit is an official document issued by the Government of India that allows a citizen access to certain remote or protected areas.

The permit system was introduced in 1873 to protect the locals of tribal areas from exploitation by outsiders.

The document is currently required by visitors to Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Nagaland and Mizoram.

The ILP is issued by the concerned state government .The permits issued are mostly of different kinds, provided separately for tourists, tenants and for other purposes.

What is the Sixth Schedule?

Article 244 and the Sixth Schedule to the Indian Constitution were designed to protect the rights of the tribal people. The Scheduled Tribes are those tribes which have historically been outside the dominant political system and have sustained themselves through social and cultural ways. The Sixth Schedule consists of provisions for the administration of tribal areas in Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram.

Passed by the Constituent Assembly in 1949, it seeks to safeguard the rights of the tribal population through the formation of Autonomous District Councils (ADC). The ADCs are like miniature states having specific powers and responsibilities in respect of all the three arms of government: legislature, executive and judiciary.

The Sixth Schedule was incorporated to protect the rights of the minority tribals living within a larger state dominated by the majority. The basic purpose for this, as specified in the Constitution, was to enable the tribal people to evolve their own institutions and means of administration in order to continue their way of life and develop self-respect.

From the Constitutional framers' point of view, the Sixth Schedule was primarily designed to protect the rights of tribals in two ways: 1) by providing a special representation from among their own members through separate elections; 2) by providing them with wide autonomous powers that would deny state interference in their own internal affairs.

How Sixth Schedule discriminates against the non-tribal resident?

The Sixth Schedule, however, discriminates against the non-tribal residents in various ways and infringes upon their fundamental rights, like the right to equality before law (Article 14), right against discrimination (Article 15), and the right to settle anywhere in India (Article 19).

Special constitutional protections are indeed required for marginalised sections to ensure that historical wrongs done to them are reversed and not repeated, but it has denied justice to the non-tribals, who have lived in Meghalaya for generations but ended up marginalised.

Repeated bouts of riots allegedly orchestrated by the KSU have driven many non-tribals out of the state, with their share of population dwindling from 20 per cent in 1972, when the hill state was carved out of Assam, to 14 per cent in 2011.

It is a tale of forced migration like the Kashmiri Pandits — only this tale has remained untold and unknown to most Indians.

The victims belonged to all communities — Bengalis, Biharis, Nepalese, Punjabis, Sindhis, Marwaris, Assamese — who had lived in the state for many generations.

The Sixth Schedule was incorporated to protect the rights of the minority tribals living within a larger state dominated by the majority. But in these largely tribal-dominated states, the indigenous enjoy overwhelming majority and a major political voice, with 90 per cent of the Assembly seats (55 out of 60 in Meghalaya) reserved for the tribals. Indeed, it is now the rights of minority non-tribals that need protection.

The existence of the Sixth Schedule in a full-fledged state with all powers is thus not only unnecessary but also illogical. It undermines social harmony, stability and economic development of the state and the region.