Answer:

Scheduled Areas represent regions covering 11.3% of India's land area, inhabited by various Schedule Tribe communities comprising 8.6% of the country's population. They are designated in 10 states under the Fifth schedule: Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Odisha, etc.

Key Features of scheduled areas under fifth schedule

• Article 244(1): The provisions of the Fifth Schedule shall apply to the administration and control of the Scheduled Areas and Scheduled Tribes in any State other than the States of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, and Mizoram.
• Declaration of Scheduled Areas The President of India is empowered to declare an area as Scheduled Area. He can direct that the whole or any specified part of a Scheduled Area shall cease to be a Scheduled Area. The President can increase or decrease the area of any Scheduled Area in a State after consultation with the Governor of that State and also alter its boundary lines but only by way of rectification of boundaries.
• Executive power of State and Centre: The executive power of a State extends to the Scheduled Areas therein. The Governor of each State having Scheduled Areas shall make a report to the President regarding the administration of the Scheduled Areas in that State. The executive power of the centre extends to giving directions to the State regarding the administration of such Areas.
• Tribes Advisory Council (TAC): A Tribes Advisory Council has to be established in each State, having Scheduled Areas to deal with the welfare and advancement of Scheduled tribes in states.
• Law applicable to Scheduled Areas: The Governor is empowered to direct that any particular act of Parliament or of the State legislature does not apply to a Scheduled Area or any part or shall apply with specified modifications and exceptions.
• PESA-Panchayat (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996: The Fifth Schedule Areas are exempt from the Panchayat-related requirements of Part IX of the constitution. The Panchayat (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996, was passed by Parliament to extend the provisions of Part IX to the fifth Scheduled area with certain modifications.

 Issues pertaining to scheduled areas

• Tribes Advisory Councils do not have much powers as Autonomous District Councils (provided under the Sixth Schedule).
• There is no clarity on the composition of TAC, especially the remaining one-fourth of the membership.
• Discretionary power of the Governor under the provisions of the Fifth Schedule: There is no clarity on whether the Governor can make any referral on his own discretion or only on the advice of the Council of Ministers.
• Encroachment of tribal lands: It does not provide adequate protection against the encroachment of tribal lands by non-tribals.
• 59% of India’s STs remain outside the purview of Article 244-They are denied rights under the laws applicable to Scheduled Areas, including the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act 2013 and the Biological Diversity Act 2002.

Way Forward

• Recommendation of Xaxa committee and Bhuria committee needs to be incorporated
• Moreover, all habitations or groups of habitations outside Scheduled Areas in all States and Union Territories where STs are the largest social group need to be notified as Scheduled Areas irrespective of their contiguity.
• The geographical limits of the revenue village, panchayat, taluka, and district will need to be redrawn so that these are fully Scheduled Areas.