Context: 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.

What is Article 244(A) of the Constitution?

• 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 is it 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.

How did the demand arise?

• In the 1950s, a demand for a separate hill state arose around certain sections of the tribal population of undivided Assam.
• In 1960, various political parties of the hill areas merged to form the All Party Hill Leaders Conference, demanding a separate state.
• After prolonged agitations, Meghalaya gained statehood in 1972.
• The leaders of the Karbi Anglong and North Cachar Hills were also part of this movement,” they were given the option to stay in Assam or join Meghalaya.”
• They stayed back as the then Congress government promised more powers, including Article 244 (A).
• In the 1980s, this demand took the form of a movement with a number of Karbi groups resorting to violence. It soon became an armed separatist insurgency demanding full statehood.

https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/article-244-a-its-relevance-for-assam-hill-tribes-and-the-politics-7252324/

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