Analysis Of Kurukshetra Magazine (September 2022) : ”Constitutional Safeguards for STs”

Kurukshetra is a Monthly Magazine which is issued by the Publications Division of the GOI.

Kurukshetra Magazine is one of the most important and indispensable source for UPSC Civil Services Exam Preparation. Keeping this in mind, here, we come with ”Analysis Of Kurukshetra Magazine” on daily basis, which covers the monthly Kurukshetra Magazine in easy and smooth pointed form, keeping in mind the demand of UPSC aspirants.

Constitutional Safeguards for STs: Introduction

• Constitutional provisions are living instruments to safeguard the interests of people in general and special provisions for tribal people in particular.
• Special Constitutional provisions are not arbitrary discrimination but are protective discrimination that is indispensable for tribal development in India.
• The special provisions are aimed to prevent discrimination against the tribal people to protect their rights.
• It improves the standard of living of tribal people socially and economically to see them in the mainstream of the society.
• The National Commission for STs and the Ministry of Tribal Affairs are the leading organizations to provide and implement various schemes and policies to safeguard the life of the tribal people with a view to protecting them from social injustice and all forms of exploitation.

Constitutional Safeguards for STs: Who are STs?

Part XVI(Special Provisions relating to certain classes): Art 342

1. The President may with respect to any State or Union Territory, and where it is a State, after consultation with the Governor thereof, by public notification, specify the tribes, or tribal communities or parts of or groups within tribes or tribal communities which shall for the purposes of this Constitution be deemed to be Scheduled Tribes in relation to that State or Union Territory, as the case may be.
2. Parliament may by law include in or exclude from the list of Scheduled Tribes specified in a notification issued under clause (2) any tribe or tribal community or part of or group within any tribe or tribal community, but save as aforesaid a notification issued under the said clause shall not be varied by any subsequent notification.

Part XIX(Miscellaneous): Article 366 (25)

“Scheduled Tribes” means such tribes or tribal communities or parts of or groups within such tribes or tribal communities are deemed under article 342 to be Scheduled Tribes for the purposes of this Constitution.

Key Constitutional Safeguards for STs

I. Educational & Cultural Safeguards

Art. 15(4):- Special provisions for the advancement of other backward classes(which includes STs);

Art. 29:- Protection of Interests of Minorities (which includes STs);

Art. 46:– The State shall promote, with special care, the educational and economic interests of the weaker sections of the people, and in particular, of the Scheduled Castes, and the Scheduled Tribes, and shall protect them from social injustice and all forms of exploitation.

Art. 350:- Right to conserve distinct Language, Script or Culture;

Art. 350:- Instruction in Mother Tongue.

II.Social Safeguard

Art. 23:- Prohibition of traffic in human beings and beggar and other similar form of forced labour;

Art. 24:- Forbidding Child Labour.

III. Economic Safeguards

Art.244:- Clause(1) Provisions of Fifth Schedule shall apply to the administration & control of the Scheduled Areas and Scheduled Tribes in any State other than the states of Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Tripura which are covered under Sixth Schedule, under Clause (2) of this Article.

Art. 275:- Grants in-Aid to specified States (STs&SAs) covered under Fifth and Sixth Schedules of the Constitution.

IV. Political Safeguards

Art.164(1):- Provides for Tribal Affairs Ministers in Bihar, MP and Orissa;

Art. 330:- Reservation of seats for STs in Lok Sabha;

Art. 337- Reservation of seats for STs in State Legislatures;

Art. 334:- 10 years period for reservation (Amended several times to extend the period.);

Art. 243:- Reservation of seats in Panchayats.

Art. 371:- Special provisions in respect of NE States and Sikkim

V. Service Safeguards

(Under Art.16(4),16(4A),164(B) Art.335, and Art. 320(40)

Constitutional Safeguards for STs: National Commission for Scheduled Tribes

Under Art. 338A:

(1) There shall be a Commission for the ScheduledTribes to be known as the National Commission for the Scheduled Tribes.
(2) Subject to the provisions of any law made in this behalf by Parliament, the Commission shall consist of a Chairperson, Vice-Chairperson and three other Members and the conditions of service and tenure of office of the Chairperson, Vice-Chairperson and other Members so appointed shall be such as the President may by rule determine.
(3) The Chairperson, Vice-Chairperson and other Members of the Commission shall be appointed by the President by warrant under his hand and seal.
(4) The Commission shall have the power to regulate its own procedure.

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