Vth Schedule of Indian Constitution

Sr. Valsa John, a Catholic Religious Nun aged 52 years, working

among the Santhal tribals of Pakur District in Jharkhand State was
hacked to death in the early morning of November 15, 2011, by a
mob of about 40 men on behalf of a Coal Mafia operating in the
region.

Sr. Valsa has been organizing the Santhal tribals against the
rampant illegal mining in the area leading to their displacement
from their lands and forcing them further destitution and poverty.

This is not the first, nor is it going to be the last in the series of fatal
attacks on activists working with tribals against their exploitation by
the mining mafia.

The Santhals are the biggest of the aboriginals or adivasi groups in

India and are spread out in the Indian States of Jharkhand, Bihar,
Chhatisgarh and West Bengal.

Vast majority of them are very poor and illiterate and subsist as
marginal agriculturists or as laborers in the mines of the region.

The irony of the matter is that they live in absolute poverty in the
minerally richest regions of India.

It is also a further coincidence that the all the mines in the country
are spread around in the tribal areas.

The Scheduled Tribes or the aborigines are a backward section of

Indian population.

They still observe their primitive ways of living and inhabit the
inaccessible forests of the country.

They constitute more than 7.5% of the population.

This would mean a population of 8 crores or more are Tribal people

in India. This is more than the population of many a European
nations.

They need special provisions to safeguard their socio-economic

interests.

Our Constitution enjoins facilities and opportunities for

development of tribal economic and educational standards and
safeguard them from exploitation.

It is in this context we study the Vth Schedule of our Constitution,

providing special protection to the tribal peoples from alienation of
their land to outsiders

including mining requirements of the country.

Article 244 (1) of Indian Constitution states:

Administration of Scheduled Areas and Tribal Areas: 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.

Fifth Schedule does not include provisions for the tribal peoples of
Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram.

The tribals of these areas are provided for in Sixth Schedule of the
Constitution.

Part B of the Schedule provides for Administration and control of

scheduled areas and scheduled tribes.

There shall be a Tribes Advisory Council in each State having

scheduled areas therein and there is provision for their
representation in the Legislative Assemblies.

Section 5.(2) of the Schedule reads as under:

5 (2): The Governor may make regulations for the peace and good
government of any area in a state which is for the time being a
Scheduled Area.

In particular and without prejudice to the generality of the forgoing

power, such regulations may:-

prohibit or restrict the transfer of land by or among members of the

Scheduled Tribes in such area;

regulate the allotment of land to members of the Scheduled Tribes in

such area;

regulate the carrying on of business as money lenders by persons

who lend money to members of the Scheduled Tribes in such area;

All regulations made under this paragraph shall be submitted to

forthwith to the President and, until assented by him/her, shall have
no effect.

Part C of the Schedule provides the list of the scheduled areas.

Under Section 6 of the Schedule, the President of India may by order
declare such areas as Scheduled Areas.

Vast areas or districts in the States of Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, West

Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Chattisgarh, Maharastra, Gujarat,
Himachal Pradesh, and Rajasthan have pre-dominantly high number
of tribal population are notified as Scheduled Areas.

The following Districts are within the Vth Schedule Areas:

Vishakapatanam, East Godavari, West Goadavari, Adilabad and

Warrangal in Andhra Pradesh;

Ranchi, Singhbhum, Palamu and Santhal Parganas in Jharkhand;

Dangs, Surat, Bharuch and Valsad in Gujarat;

Lahul and Spiti, Kinnaur and Chamba in Huimachal Pradesh;

Jhabua, Mandla, Dindori, Barwani, Dhar, West Nimar, East Nimar,

Ratlam, Betul, Seoni, Balaghat, Hoshangabad, Sidhi, Shahdoi,
Umariya, Sheopur and Chhindwara in Madhya Pradesh;

Surguja, Koriya, Jashpur, Kanker, Dantewada, Korba, Raigarh,

Bilaspur, Durg, Rajnandgaon, Raipur and Dhamtari in Chhatisgarh;

Thane, Nasik, Dhule, Jalgaon, Ahmednagar, Pune, Nanded, Amravati,

Yavatmi, Gadchiroli and Chandrapur in Maharastra;

Mayurbganj, Sundargarh, Koraput, Sambalpur, Keonjhar, Khondmals,

Ganjam, Kalahandi and Balasore in Orissa;

Banswara, Dungarpur, Udaipur, Chhitaurgarh and Sirohi in Rajasthan.

One thing we notice immediately is that these are also areas that
are Naxal/ Maoist or Extremist affected.

Sr. Valsas Murder may be also understood from the tribal struggles
against exploitation and their efforts to protect their land.

Essentially The Fifth Schedule is a Historic Guarantee to Indigenous

people on the right over the land they live in.

However these prohibitions and restrictions are honoured more in

their breach than compliance.

Tribals have been displaced from their lands in a massive scale

either for mining or for building dams.

They have ended up in the metropolitan slums as unskilled laborers

or plain beggars and vagrants.

The Executives of the State and Central governments have been

either active participants or mute spectators in the displacement of
the tribals from their habitats.

There are many occasions when the High Courts and Supreme Court
of India have intervened on behalf of the tribals.

In 1997, the Supreme Court of India in its judgment Samatha v.

State of Andhra Pradesh (AIR 1997 SUPREME COURT 3297)
delivered a vital judgment for the protection of the tribals.

This case was against the Government of A.P. for leasing out tribal
lands to private mining companies in the Scheduled areas.

Samatha is an NGO working among the tribals and it approached the

Courts on behalf of the tribals alleging that tribal lands in Scheduled
Areas are being alienated by the mining activities of the Andhra
Pradesh Government.

The Judgment declared that the Government is also a "Person" and

that all lands leased to private mining companies in the scheduled
areas are null and void.

Struggle to protect the tribal lands from mining and other

encroachments in the name of dams or development is and will be
one of the crucial issue threatening the nation in the coming future.

A determined effort to honor the constitutional provisions regarding

the schedules areas and scheduled tribes will be the only answer.