Uttarakhand Pushes for Fifth Schedule and PESA Safeguards as Election Nears

As Uttarakhand gears up for assembly elections alongside Punjab and Uttar Pradesh, a demand that has simmered for years is now moving to the centre of the campaign: a constitutional shield for the hill state's land, resources and culture. Regional leaders and social groups want the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution, and the Panchayats (Extension to the Scheduled Areas) Act, or PESA, extended to the entire state. Supporters argue that this would give local communities a real say over how their forests, water and land are used.

The push is tied to the upcoming delimitation exercise. Local groups have proposed that geographic criteria carry 80 per cent weightage in deciding the 105 assembly seats the state is set to have. Their argument is practical as much as political. Uttarakhand's hill districts are difficult to reach, and representatives there have to cover long distances to stay in touch with voters. The hills also lost six assembly seats in the last delimitation, which the groups say weakened their voice in Dehradun. The demand was first formally put to the Prime Minister in a December 2024 memorandum from the Uttarakhand Samanta Party, backed by a group of intellectuals from the state.

Border security adds another layer. Leaders point out that the state shares frontiers with China and Nepal, and they argue that a population spread across remote valleys is central to keeping those regions secure and settled. That reasoning, they say, should count when seats and development priorities are decided.

The debate is also colouring existing grievances. Disputes over land laws and the Mool Niwas, or original residence certificate, have unsettled residents for a long time. Recently, a medical admissions controversy drew fresh anger after a complaint alleged that MBBS seats were allocated to outsiders through altered rules. The complaint was raised by the son of the late environmentalist Sunder Lal Bahuguna, and it has become a rallying point for those who say local youth are being pushed aside.

The historical argument runs deeper. Advocates note that the hill tracts were governed with special protections under colonial-era laws such as the Scheduled Districts Act of 1874 and the 1935 framework for excluded areas. After Independence, they say, the hills were folded into plains-focused administration as part of Uttar Pradesh, leaving much of the indigenous population without clear legal safeguards. They also point to the Presidential Scheduled Tribes Order of 1967, which recognised only five communities as Scheduled Tribes, a narrow approach that critics say ignored the wider socio-geographic reality of the hills.

Whether the two national parties will take a clear position on delimitation and constitutional protection remains an open question, and the issue has yet to become a formal plank in any major manifesto. For voters, though, the stakes are concrete: who gets seats, who controls local resources, and whether the state's Himalayan identity is written into law. Read the full analysis at The Daily Pioneer.

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