UPSC Mains 2013 GS Paper 2 Q3: model answer
Recent directives from Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas are perceived by the 'Nagas' as a threat to override the exceptional status enjoyed by the State. Discuss in light of Article 371A of the Indian Constitution.
What the question wants
Explain the special status Article 371A gives Nagaland and why Petroleum Ministry directives were seen as overriding it.
How to structure it
Discuss in light of: the Article, the dispute, then a balanced view.
- What 371A protects
- The petroleum dispute
- Why Nagas see a threat
- The Centre's view
- Way forward
How to think it through
The key words are 'ownership and transfer of land and its resources'. If the land belongs to the people, does the oil under it? Nagaland says yes; the Centre's Oilfields Act says the mineral right is the Union's. Your answer lives in that gap. (And no, 'it's complicated' is not a heading.)
Model answer
Article 371A came with the 13th Amendment (1962), when Nagaland became a State after the 16-Point Agreement of 1960. It was the price of peace, and Nagas read it that way.
What Article 371A protects
No Act of Parliament on four subjects applies to Nagaland unless its Assembly passes a resolution:
- religious or social practices of the Nagas;
- Naga customary law and procedure;
- civil and criminal justice under customary law;
- ownership and transfer of land and its resources.
The dispute
Nagaland passed the Nagaland Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulations, 2012, claiming oil as a land 'resource'. The Petroleum Ministry insisted that the Oilfields (Regulation and Development) Act, 1948 and the Union's mining-lease powers still applied, and ONGC's work at Wokha, halted since 1994, stayed frozen.
Why the Nagas felt threatened
- Land is held by clans and villages, not by the State.
- They read the directive as Parliament entering a field 371A had closed.
- Talks with the NSCN on the 2015 Framework Agreement were still going on.
The Centre's case
Petroleum is a Union List entry (53), and energy security is national.
Way forward
A tripartite revenue-sharing deal with landowners, as with Assam's royalty, and settling the question inside the Naga peace talks rather than by directive. A clear Assembly resolution under 371A, as the Constitution itself invites, would end the legal fog and let exploration restart with the consent of the people whose land it is.
Draw: A box showing four 371A shields, with an arrow from Parliament stopped at the box unless an Assembly resolution opens it.
Keywords, cases and data to drop in
13th Amendment 1962, 16-Point Agreement, 'land and its resources', Oilfields Act 1948, Union List Entry 53, NSCN Framework Agreement 2015, Wokha oilfields.
Where most answers lose marks
- Writing about Article 370 or the Sixth Schedule instead. Nagaland is not a Sixth Schedule State; its protection comes from 371A alone.
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Question text as printed in the official UPSC Civil Services (Main) question paper. The model answer is original Battle IAS work; use it to learn structure, not to memorise.
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