Meghalaya and the Sixth Schedule

Context

• Over the question of rights of non-tribals, calls are arising to remove Meghalaya from the Sixth Schedule.

What constitutes the Sixth Schedule and how it is significant for Meghalaya?

• The Sixth Schedule, which comes under the Article 244 of the Constitution, applies to the Tribal Areas of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram.
• It provides for autonomy in the administration of these areas through Autonomous DistrictCouncils (ADCs) and the Regional Councils.
• It empowers to make laws in respect of areas under their jurisdiction, which cover land, forest, cultivation, inheritance, indigenous customs and traditions of tribals, etc. and also to collect land revenues and certain other taxes.
• ADCs are like miniature states having specific powers and responsibilities in respect of all the three arms of governance: Legislature, executive and judiciary.
• Meghalaya has a unique administrative structure among all Indian states.

What are the concerns emanating from the State?

• Violence against non-tribals in the State
• An agitation for an Inner Line Permit (ILP) to regulate outsiders coming into the State
• An ILP might deter tourists from this beautiful hill state where tourism industry is a major source of income

What the government is trying for reconciliation?

• The government too has agreed to open a series of entry and exit posts on the state’s border – in the absence of an ILP – to tackle the “outsider” influx in a few weeks from now.

How the 6^th Schedule is thought as reason behind the ongoing situation?

• The Sixth Schedule, is said to, 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).
• It has denied justice to the non-tribals, who have lived in Meghalaya for generations but ended up marginalised.
• Repeated bouts of riots 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.
• The victims belonged to all communities — Bengalis, Biharis, Nepalese, Punjabis, Sindhis, Marwaris, Assamese — who had lived in the state for many generations.