Syllabus Section: Polity and Governance

Why in News?

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi promised to implement Article 244 (A) of the Constitution to safeguard the interests of the people in Assam’s tribal-majority districts.

About:

• Article 244(A) allows for creation of an ‘autonomous state’ within Assam in certain tribal areas.
• Inserted into the Constitution in 1969 by the then Congress government, it also has a provision for a Legislature and a Council of Ministers.

How different from the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution?

• The Sixth Schedule of the Constitution — Articles 244(2) and 275(1) — is a special provision that allows for greater political autonomy and decentralised governance in certain tribal areas of the Northeast through autonomous councils that are administered by elected representatives.

• In Assam, the hill districts of Dima Hasao, Karbi Anglong and West Karbi and the Bodo Territorial Region are under this provision.

• Article 244(A) accounts for more autonomous powers to tribal areas.

• In Autonomous Councils under the Sixth Schedule, they do not have jurisdiction of law and order.

Source: PIB