If a particular area is brought under the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution of India, which one of the following statements best reflects the consequence of it ?
- (a) This would prevent the transfer of land of tribal people to non-tribal people. ✓ UPSC's answer
- (b) This would create a local self-governing body in that area.
- (c) This would convert that area into a Union Territory.
- (d) The State having such areas would be declared a Special Category State.
Why the answer is (a)
• The Fifth Schedule empowers the Governor of a State with Scheduled Areas to make regulations for their peace and good government, and specifically to prohibit or restrict the transfer of land by or among Scheduled Tribes and to regulate money-lending.
• The core consequence is therefore protection of tribal land from alienation to non-tribals — option (a) — implemented through State laws such as the Andhra Pradesh Land Transfer Regulation, 1959 and upheld in the Samatha judgment (1997).
• It does not create a new self-governing body (that is the Sixth Schedule's district councils, though PESA extends panchayats), nor convert the area into a Union Territory, nor confer Special Category Status.
• Hence option (a).
Why the other options are wrong
- (b) This would create a local self-governing body in that area.
- Autonomous local bodies are a Sixth Schedule feature, not the Fifth.
- (c) This would convert that area into a Union Territory.
- Scheduled Areas remain within the State; they do not become Union Territories.
- (d) The State having such areas would be declared a Special Category State.
- Special Category Status is unrelated to the Fifth Schedule.
Asked in the GS Paper I of the UPSC Civil Services Preliminary Examination 2022, held on 5 June 2022. Question and answer key: Union Public Service Commission. Explanation: UPSC Answer Check.