Article 244

India's tribal communities are spread across very different regions with different histories of self-governance. The northeastern hill tribes (in present-day Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, and Mizoram) had long traditions of autonomous tribal councils and distinct customary law, so the Constitution's framers created the Sixth Schedule to give them Autonomous District and Regional Councils with real legislative and judicial powers. Tribal regions elsewhere in India (central and eastern India, for example) had different administrative histories under colonial rule, so the Fifth Schedule was designed instead, giving Governors special responsibility to protect tribal land, customs, and welfare through Tribal Advisory Councils and Governor's regulations. Article 244 is the constitutional switch that routes different states to the appropriate schedule.

Courts have generally treated Article 244 as a threshold or gateway provision, with most substantive litigation happening under the Fifth and Sixth Schedules themselves rather than Article 244 in isolation. For example, in cases like Samatha v. State of Andhra Pradesh (1997), the Supreme Court interpreted Fifth Schedule protections (triggered by Article 244(1)) to restrict mining leases on tribal land without tribal consent. Sixth Schedule matters, such as disputes over Autonomous District Council powers, have been examined in cases from Assam and Meghalaya, but courts have consistently read Article 244 as simply the enabling clause that makes the two Schedules operative, without needing much separate interpretation of its own text.

• Myth: All tribal areas in India are governed the same way.
  Fact: Article 244 splits them into two systems: the Fifth Schedule for most of India, and the Sixth Schedule for tribal areas in Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, and Mizoram, each with different levels of self-governance.
• Myth: The Sixth Schedule applies to all tribal people in the northeast.
  Fact: It applies only to specific tribal areas within Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, and Mizoram — not automatically to every tribal community or every northeastern state (for example, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh have separate special provisions under other Articles).