As electoral politics heats up in Uttarakhand, demands for stronger safeguards for its land, resources and cultural identity are gaining momentum. Extending the Fifth Schedule and PESA to the hill state could offer local communities greater control over their resources and protect their distinct Himalayan heritage
The election scenario is building up in Uttarakhand, along with Punjab and Uttar Pradesh and so is the buildup of feverish political pitch of demands and counter-demands between the political forces. While two national parties are silent on very critical issues of delimitation and constitutional protection of this border state with a distinct cultural profile. The local social leaders and regional forces, after years of neglect by politicians, are demanding that the geographic criteria should get 80 percent weightage for determination of the proposed 105 State assembly seats. The issue was first raised by the Uttarakhand Samanta Party through a memorandum submitted to the Prime Minister in December 2024 with the active support of intellectuals of Uttarakhand. Because being a border state and geographically difficult inaccessible terrain local leaders argue that more seats should be assigned to hilly areas for better interaction with political representatives and the people. Further, it is also necessary due to strategic defence reasons as the state is surrounded by a hostile China and unpredictable Nepal. Already during last delimitations state's hill areas lost 6 assembly seats. Already, the issue of land laws and original residence certificate (Mool Niwas) has been agitating the masses since long and recently an scam has been exposed by the son of environmentalist late Sunder Lal Bahuguna about admission in MBBS seats to the outsiders by blatantly tweaking the rules in their favour.
All this is fuelling agitation for rectification of an historical injustice done post-independence in not protecting the art and culture, language and traditions of the Uttarakhand people. Even after creation of a hill state their aspirations specially resource sovereignty was ignored by the national political parties due to the poor perceptions, sycophancy and poor knowledge of politicians from the state. Let us discuss the basis and why the 5th Schedule of the constitution of India should be extended to the entire Uttarakhand. The administrative identity of Uttarakhand-presents an enduring constitutional paradox.
Under colonial rule, the unique socio-ecological fabric, geographic isolation, and distinct cultural systems of these mountainous tracts were protected under unified frameworks like the Scheduled Districts Act of 1874 and the Excluded/Partially Excluded Areas framework of 1935. Yet, during the post-independence consolidation of India, the broader Uttarakhand hills were assimilated into standard plains-centric governance matrices as an adjunct to Uttar Pradesh.
Ironically this region produced national leaders who were more ensconced in the larger vote bank politics of UP as it had 85 Lok Sabha seats. While reviewing the 1935 Act provisions this transition exposes a flawed, piecemeal approach by the Government of India to tribal recognition that left the vast majority of the region's indigenous populace legally exposed. Declaring the entire hilly terrain of Uttarakhand a Scheduled Area under the Fifth Schedule is a necessary intervention to align resource sovereignty with cultural preservation.
A fundamental flaw in Uttarakhand's modern political history is the highly selective nature of the Presidential Scheduled Tribes Order of 1967. This decree granted Scheduled Tribe (ST) status to only five specific communities: the Bhotiyas, Jaunsaris, Tharus, Boxas, and Rajis. While this mechanism provided vital affirmative action, it relied strictly on community-based identity rather than the broader socio-geographic reality. This hyper-focused approach stands in stark contrast to the strategy applied in neighbouring Himachal Pradesh. Under the Scheduled Areas (Himachal Pradesh) Order of 1975, the Government of India designated entire, vast, contiguous mountain areas-such as the Kinnaur and Lahaul & Spiti districts, alongside the Pangi and Bharmour sub-divisions of Chamba-as Fifth Schedule areas. Himachal Pradesh's policy recognized that a fragile mountain environment shapes a collective indigenous way of life that transcends caste lines. In contrast, the 1967 order treated Uttarakhand as an arbitrary mosaic, leaving communities with identical cultural practices, customary laws, and geographical vulnerabilities completely unprotected simply because they sat outside designated tribal pockets. One of the reasons of Himachal Pradesh's success was the long honest and visionary leadership of late Dr YS Parmar.
This structural failure became even more glaring after the hard-fought creation of Uttarakhand in 2000. Lacking the overarching legal shield of the Fifth Schedule, successive state governments resorted to a patchwork of regional classifications. A primary example is the Rawalta-Jaunpuri belt, including blocks like Jaunpur in Tehri Garhwal and parts of Uttarkashi. Recognizing the severe socio-economic isolation and distinct cultural identity of these zones, the state designated entire regions as Other Backward Classes (OBC). While this status offers educational and employment quotas, it exposes a deep administrative contradiction. In areas like Jaunpur, entire demographic spectrums-including Brahmins and Rajputs-receive OBC benefits strictly based on their ancestral geography.
These communities maintain distinct, centuries-old customary traditions, collective rituals, and community-driven resource management practices that are inherently tribal. Assigning an OBC label to an entire alpine block is a clear acknowledgment of its fundamental alienation from mainstream plains dynamics. However, OBC status offers no protective shield against land alienation, unregulated resource exploitation, or the erosion of customary laws. Moreover, the socio-economic and cultural profile of omitted areas of Uttarakhand is the same as in case of Jaunpur block.
By failing to recognize the entirety of the hill tracts as a unified cultural and ecological zone, the state has allowed the region to be treated as a tourism resource frontier. Top-down environmental directives and aggressive infrastructure projects frequently bypass local community consent. This dynamic has driven the severe out-migration that has created hundreds of "ghost villages" across the strategic, vulnerable borderlands. The only comprehensive solution to this historical injustice is for the Government of India to declare the entire hilly region of Uttarakhand a Scheduled Area under the Fifth Schedule, or alternatively, classify the native Himalayan populace under a unified protective framework. The primary legal vehicle for this change would be the extension of the Provisions of the Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act (PESA).
Implementing PESA would shift the governance paradigm by granting statutory autonomy directly to the Gram Sabhas. Local communities would gain absolute veto power over land acquisitions, the regulation of local markets, and the management of minor forest produce and water bodies. This would legally institutionalize the spirit of the historic 1931 Van Panchayats at a regional scale, securing the sovereign rights of the mountain people over their Jal, Jungle, and Jameen (Water, Forest, and Land).
Ultimately, evaluating Uttarakhand's administrative history reveals that the insulation provided in 1874 and 1935 was not a colonial anomaly, but a structural necessity dictated by geography. Correcting the narrow scope of the 1967 order and moving past stop-gap OBC designations is essential. Restoring a holistic, protected constitutional framework is the only way to safeguard the diverse traditions of the Central Himalayas and ensure a self-determined future for its people.
This debate has gained intense public momentum following the passage of the Uttarakhand Zamindari Abolition and Land Reforms (Amendment) Act (popularly known as the Bhoo Kanoon amendment), which enforces strict caps on outsider land purchases across 11 mountain districts. However, this reform came too late and is too less as loss of jobs and cultural integrity is not ensured at all. The Fifth Schedule alternative is better than passing fragile state-level amendments that face implementation loopholes, bringing the region under the Fifth Schedule and PESA remains the only ironclad, federally backed constitutional shield to guarantee local land and cultural as well as strategic, sovereignty.
A fundamental flaw in Uttarakhand's modern political history is the highly selective nature of the Presidential Scheduled Tribes Order of 1967. This decree granted Scheduled Tribe (ST) status to only five specific communities: the Bhotiyas, Jaunsaris, Tharus, Boxas, and Rajis. While this mechanism provided vital affirmative action, it relied strictly on community-based identity rather than the broader socio-geographic reality
The writer is former IFS officer and Chairman of Centre for Resource Management and Environment; Views presented are personal.