Statehood and tribal status for Ladakh seen unlikely as prominent climate activist heads for hunger strike – Tibetan Review

(TibetanReview.net, Jul31’24) – The Union Territory of Ladakh is set to receive new protections for its land, jobs, and cultural heritage, although the Central government is unlikely to grant it the Sixth Schedule status or restore its statehood as being demanded, reported deccanherald.com Jul 29. A prominent climate activist from the Union Territory has accused New Delhi of backtracking on the statehood and the Sixth Schedule promises and vowed to launch a 28-day hunger-strike on Aug 15, India’s Independence Day.

The Sixth Schedule guarantees protection to land and a nominal autonomy for the country’s tribal areas, the report noted.

Besides, safeguards for land, jobs, and cultural heritage, creation of new districts, addition of another battalion under the Ladakh Scouts, inclusion of Boti language in the 8th Schedule, speeding up of work on Kargil airport and permission to civilian aircrafts to land at Nubra airport, is also under consideration of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), the report cited “sources” as saying.

* * *

The report said the MHA was expected to approve these measures soon. However, Sixth Schedule status and statehood for Ladakh appear unlikely, as many of the protections sought by Ladakh’s representatives will be addressed through powers given to the Leh and Kargil Autonomous Hill Development Councils.

The report came as prominent climate activist Sonam Wangchuk announced Jul 28 that he will launch a 28-day fast on Independence Day if the government does not invite Ladakh authorities for talks on demands for statehood and constitutional protection for the union territory.

Wangchuk, a noted engineer in his own right, and made famous by India’s box office hit The Three Idiots, has said the Apex Body, Leh (ABL) and the Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA) from Ladakh submitted a memorandum of demands to Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to Dras on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Kargil Vijay Diwas last week.

Sonam Wanchuk, a prominent climate activist.

“We did not want to push the government too much during the elections. We wanted to give them some breathing space after the polls; we were hopeful that the new government would take some concrete steps.

“We hope they will invite our leaders for talks following the submission of the memorandum. If that doesn’t happen, we will launch another round of protests,” he has told PTI news agency in an interview.

Wangchuk, who went on a 21-day fast in March, has claimed the government withdrew its promise to provide tribal area status and full statehood to Ladakh under pressure from “industrialists who want to exploit the resources” of the ecologically fragile region.

* * *

Previously part of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh became a separate Union Territory “without legislature” after the abrogation of Article 370 of the constitution in 2019. The Buddhist-dominated Leh district had previously demanded union territory status due to alleged neglect by the erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir government.

However, with the region now entirely administered by bureaucrats, many in Ladakh demand that the Union Territory be included in the Sixth Schedule, which provides for the formation of Autonomous District Councils (ADCs) with legislative, judicial and administrative autonomy within a state.

Wangchuk had previously said that statehood and constitutional protection under the Sixth Schedule would not impact defence and national security-related projects in Ladakh, noted the PTI report.

A total of 10 Tribal Area districts in the States of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram are currently included in the Sixth Schedule districts list.

_{Images are for reference only.Images and contents gathered automatic from google or 3rd party sources.All rights on the images and contents are with their legal original owners.}