Question

What is the name of the Act meant for safeguarding tribal lands?
1. 1 of 68
2. 1 of 70
3. 1 of 56
4. 1 of 64

Answer 1

Correct Answer - Option 2 : 1 of 70

The correct answer is 1 of 70.

• Andhra Pradesh (AP) is the best place to learn how to use tribal welfare machinery to subvert tribal interests and then use it to counter the polity at large that defends those interests.
• Three years ago, the state used a body mandated by the constitution - the Tribes Advisory Council (TAC), supposed to advise the state government on issues of tribal welfare - to push through a law aimed at facilitating the transfer of land away from the tribals.
• The TAC was headed by the minister of tribal welfare, M Mani Kumari, and included a host of legislators (tribal and non-tribal) and officials.
• For its Scheduled Areas, Andhra Pradesh has a Land Transfer Regulation Act 1 of 1970. It checks the transfer of tribal land to non-tribals with due regard to the special status that the Constitution has given to tribal land. It is referred to as the "1/70" Act. Hence, Option 2 is correct.
• In the mid-1980s, the government under N T Rama Rao tried to amend this law.
• The Union government used the Fifth Schedule to prevent the amendment - the only time ever that the Centre used this provision.
• Under 1/70, the land in the scheduled tribal areas cannot be allocated to a non-tribal person.
• Note that tribal areas in Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, and Mizoram are not called tribal areas. They are referred to as Part I, II, and III in the sixth schedule.

• These areas are administered differently because of their unique culture and also because they have not adapted well to the culture of India.