Problems and Prospects of Sixth Schedule: Towards Tribes Autonomy and Self-Governance

Email

Whatsapp

Facebook

Pinterest

Twitter

Copy link

The idea of 'self-rule' or autonomy to the tribes of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, and Mizoram was envisaged in the sixth schedule of the Indian constitution through the framing of Autonomous District Councils (ADCs) under articles 244(2) and 275(1). Such ADCs are empowered to exercise their power on legislative, administrative, and judicial affairs. However, ADCs nature and composition differ from place to place in sixth schedule areas of northeast India. It is an accepted opinion at the ground level that after 70 years of its implementation these ADCs have neither been able to do anything of standard in the interest of tribes nor to involve the poor tribes in development activities. In this context, a proper assessment and critical review of the sixth schedule is required in order to understand the idea of autonomy or 'self-rule' and people's participation.

Dr. Vulli Dhanaraju is currently teaching History at the Assam University (Central University), Diphu Campus, Assam. He obtained his M.A, M.Phil, and PhD degrees in the Department of History from the University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad, India. He was a Teen Murti Fellow during 2008- 2010 at the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, New Delhi. His area of research and speciali- sations includes Tribal Studies, Subaltern Studies, and Environ- mental History. He has also contributed several articles/ research papers in various reputed research journals. He has authored and edited nine books.

The idea of 'self-rule' or autonomy to the tribes of northeast India was envisaged in the sixth schedule of the Indian Constitution through the framing of Autonomous District Councils (ADCs). It was primarily made to address the political aspirations of the Naga people. But the Nagas refused to accept it. The Nagas were provided with a separate 371(A) article which excluded Nagaland from sixth schedule provisions. According to this article ""no law of the parliament applies unless it is approved by the Nagaland State Assembly"". In fact, the idea behind this schedule was to provide a separate type of administration that would provide the tribals maximum autonomy to safeguard their distinct customs and traditions. It gives elaborate legislative, administrative, and judicial powers.

The provisions of the sixth schedule are the product of a long historical process. The British colonial rule implemented the 'policy of isolation' in administering tribal areas. Accordingly, they were empowered to categorize these areas as backward tract' under the Government of India Act of 1919, and 'excluded and partially excluded regions' under the Government of India Act of 1935. After independence, India's policy towards the northeastern region could be labeled under 'Nehru-Elwin's Policy where quick administrative expansion associated with the 'revivalist protectionist approach' was implemented for the tribal development. However, it has been criticized by the post-colonial scholars because it was framed largely within the framework of the 'British Inner Line Regulation framework' which ensures non-interference from the people of the plains and also carves out an area of unimpeded self-development for the tribes of such areas.

However, its nature and composition differ from place to place. There are two categories of Autonomous Councils at present in terms of the status granted by the central and state government. In the first category, the Autonomous District Councils (ADCs) or Autonomous Councils have been established by the central government under the sixth schedule of the Indian constitution; while the second category consists of the Statutory Autonomous Councils established through the enactment of state legislatures. The articles 244(2) and 275(1) of the constitution of India provide the ADCs for the administration of the tribal regions in the states of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, and Mizoram. At present, 10 Autonomous District Councils have been functioning in four states under sixth schedule among which there are 3 each in the present state of Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram respectively, and 1 in Tripura. There are 6 Statutory Autonomous Councils established in Assam and Manipur respectively. However, the nature of the ADCs is different from place to place. For instance, the ADCs in Assam and Meghalaya have been constituted at the district level whereas, in Mizoram, the ADCs have been created at both the district and sub-divisional levels.

In the course of implementation of the provisions of the sixth schedule, a section of plain areas of tribes also started agitation for extension of this schedule to them. Consequently, the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) was created in 2003 for the Bodo tribe. The creation of BTC led to the aspiration of other plain tribes residing in other parts of Assam. For instance, the state Assembly of Arunachal Pradesh has also passed a bill to create four ADCs in 2003.

The Asiatic Society, Kolkata, collaborated with Assam University, Diphu Campus (Diphu, Karbi Anglong, Assam) arranged a National Seminar entitled 'Decoding 68 years of Sixth Schedule: Autonomy of Tribes of Northeast India', during 16-17 November, 2018. Being the ancient seat of learning and research the Society since its inception registered its academic engagements on this difficult geographical terrain in a moderate way. Following that legacy, the Society in the recent period has been encouraging collaborative academic programmes, by way of conducting research projects and organising seminars/workshops and exhibitions with various universities/institutions belonging to Northeast India. This aspect has been specially emphasised in the academic agenda of the Society as part of its outreach programme for this region, which is very unique in terms of its enormous ecological niches, variable demographic growth, nature of socio-cultural and economic diversities, pattern of traditionally embedded structure of self-governance and gradually evolved modern polity in the constitutional framework of autonomy and so on and so forth.

The seed of conception, adoption and implementation of the Sixth Schedule as a parallel apparatus of impregnated autonomous governance within the state structure, passed through a long historical journey, specially during the colonial rule by and large, till the recommendations of the sub-committee formed under the Chairmanship of the former premiere of Assam, Shri Gopinath Bardoloi, have been finally incorporated in the constitution of India.

One of the inclusive thought' of Indian Constitution is that the interest of each marginal community is considered and taken care of, by providing special constitutional provisions. Since India is diverse in terms of culture, ethnic and religious matters, it is required to provide constitutional provisions that certainly help in promoting 'inclusive diversity. This diverse nature of Indian society is given priority for considering 'self- rule' to the tribal regions. In this context this book proposes that without the study of historical importance of the region and 'inclusive political thought' of the constitutional makers, who proposed the sixth schedule in Indian Constitution for providing self- autonomy to the indigenous tribes of the region, the so-called polices of the government towards northeast India remain superfluous. Nevertheless, it has to be debated to resolve the issue of development and political representation of these communities while studying constitutional assembly debates on provisions of the sixth schedule. Historically, these communities have been resisting their voices in order to contest the 'dominance of the 'other' (mainly colonial) interventions in the region as conceptualized by James C. Scott (2011)' in his seminal work The Art of not being Governed. It is also understood as a representation of the past shared by a group or community. It reflects the collective politics of the community which negates the 'other' cultural politics or state by stating that the politics of the ethnic communities is an art for not being governed and so lives in their own cultural world. Likewise, the tribes of northeast certainly oppose the cultural domination imposed by 'others'.

Book's Contents and Sample Pages