Tribes Advisory Council
Also called: TAC · Topic: Special Provisions, Scheduled and Tribal Areas · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
A Tribes Advisory Council (TAC) is a state-level body set up under the Fifth Schedule, the part of the Constitution that covers Scheduled Areas (tribal-majority areas outside the North-East). It has up to 20 members, and three-fourths of them must be Scheduled Tribe (ST) members of the state assembly. Every state with Scheduled Areas must have one. The President may also direct a state that has STs but no Scheduled Areas to set one up. The TAC advises the Governor on the welfare and progress of STs, but it can only advise.
Example
In a Scheduled Area state such as Jharkhand or Odisha, the Governor can make regulations to stop tribal land being sold to outsiders or to control money-lenders. Under para 5 of the Fifth Schedule, the Governor must consult the TAC before making them, and the President must agree.
Don't confuse with
- Autonomous district council (Sixth Schedule): an elected body that makes laws and runs village courts in Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram. The TAC makes no laws and runs no courts.
Related concepts
- Excluded and partially excluded areas
- Thakkar Sub-committee
- Fifth Schedule
- Scheduled Areas
- Dhebar Commission