Ladakh’s Fight for Autonomy: Demanding Sixth Schedule Protections Under Article 244

Ladakh, the Union Territory of the former state of Jammu and Kashmir that was split into the Union Territories in 2019, has become the centre of the major political and legal debate in India. Two important changes that the people of Ladakh are vehemently insisting on are the changes in status: to be a State and more importantly to be included in the Sixth Schedule of the Indian Constitution.

This must be in accordance with the law, viz. with Article 244 of the Constitution, which concerns the Government of Scheduled and Tribal Areas. As in a region, where more than 97 per cent. of the inhabitants are Scheduled Tribes (STs), this constitutional requirement is perceived as the final protection of their distinctive culture, delicate setting, and possession of their land and resources.

Article 244 and the Sixth Schedule.

The primary legal act that provides the possibility of special administrative arrangement in some of the tribal-majority regions is article 244 of the Indian Constitution. It has two parts:

• Article 244(1): Imposes the Fifth Schedule on the governing of Scheduled Areas and Scheduled Tribes in any state besides Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram (commonly known as the ATMM states).
• Article 244(2): The Sixth Schedule is applicable to the governing of Tribal Areas in just four of the four ATMM states: Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram.

The essence of the struggle of Ladakh in question is the contrast between the Fifth and the Sixth Schedules and the need of the latter to have the Sixth.

The Power of the Sixth Schedule.

The Sixth Schedule is far a more effective instrument of tribal autonomy than the Fifth Schedule. The Constitution-makers planned it in the geographically different and culturally sensitive tribal regions of the North-East.

Its main characteristics are:

1. Autonomous Governance: It offers the establishment of Autonomous District Council (ADCs) and Regional Councils. These resemble mini-parliaments to the tribal regions.
2. Law-Making Power: ADCs can make laws on various local areas of important issues. This authority is self-governance and it comprises:
   • Land Management: The process of coming up with regulations to either allot, occupy or use land (not including reserved forests). This is vital in avoiding the alienation of land (tribal land being sold to non-tribal), which is one of the greatest fears in Ladakh.
   • Forest Management: Regulations of forests with the exception of reserved forests.
   • Local Governance: Local village, town, water, agricultural and local police.
   • Customary Laws: To make laws on issues of marriage, divorce, social traditions and inheritance, as this would aid in maintenance of tribal identity.
   • Money lending and trade: to ensure that the local economy is not exploited by non-tribal people, regulation of business by non-tribals.
3. Judicial Powers: The Councils have the power to put up village and district courts to hear some cases amongst Scheduled Tribes members and make justice in line with their traditional laws.
4. Financial Powers: The Councils have access to land revenue and can assess and impose some specific taxes which makes them financially independent to some extent.

Simply put, the Sixth Schedule is a robust constitutional safeguarded model of self-rule, in which the tribal population itself possesses control over land, resources, and preservation of culture.

What Ladakh Requires is the Sixth Schedule.

The demand by Ladakh is an attempt to have a permanent constitutional protection in the face of great political transformation.

1. Saving Tribal Identity and Land: Since the disenfranchisement of Article 370 in 2019, Ladakh was an unlegislative Union Territory. The greatest fear is that the tribal majority and land of the region can be easily exposed to foreign commercial interests, particularly when the Central Government is directly in charge. This would be prevented by the Sixth Schedule which would provide a constitutional bar against it by limiting the transfer of land to non-tribals.
2. Protecting a Fragile Ecosystem: Ladakh is a desert area at an elevated altitude that has a sensitive ecology. Protesters say that the current administration is focused on tourism and infrastructure at the expense of the environment. The local control over management of the resources and the local planning provided in the sixth schedule is considered to be a means to make sure that the development is sustainable and attentive to the special needs of the region.
3. Guaranteeing Local Control and Jobs: The Ladakhis lack a legislative assembly and many feel that power has been too much concentrated in the hands of the Central Government appointed administration. Under the ADCs that would be in the Sixth Schedule, more power, political representation, and local government control over government employment and development plans would be decentralized.

The Hurdle of Law and Constitution.

The major obstacle to the demand in Ladakh is the inflexibility of Article 244(2). The Sixth Schedule is legally only applicable to the four North-Eastern states listed in the Article.

• Constitutional Amendment is Necessary: To make Ladakh (or any other region) covered by the Sixth Schedule, the Parliament of India would have to enact a Constitutional Amendment Act to amend the list of states listed in Article 244(2).
• Setting a Precedent: The government fears that by applying the Sixth Schedule to a new area such as Ladakh would open the dam to their demands by other tribal dominated regions in the country, and those areas granted the less-autonomous Fifth Schedule.
• Status of Union Territory: Ladakh is presently a Union Territory with no legislature, that is, it is administered by special Presidential rules (Article 240). It is a complicated legal and administration task to combine the high level of autonomy provided by the Sixth Schedule and the administrative framework of a Union Territory.

The Path Forward

The demand of Ladakh is not a political slogan, but a very serious legal request of self-determination and constitutional protection on the basis of its peculiar tribal nature. The citizens are requesting the government to exercise its constitutional authority, through an amendment, to give to the greatest autonomy- the Sixth Schedule- with the view of protecting their identity and resources.

The Central Government must reconcile the valid interests of a region with an almost purely tribal people and a delicate environment with the strategic, administrative and constitutional problems of establishing a new precedent. The discussion now is whether the status quo is adequate or whether the special legal safeguard of the sixth schedule under the article 244 is the sole means of fulfilling the dreams of the people of Ladakh in real sense.