The Historic decision of August 2019 by the Union government to bifurcate the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories i.e. the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir with legislature and the union territory of Ladakh without legislature was welcomed by locals of the Ladakh area. It was one of their demand to grant the status of Union territory.

Currently in the UT cadre, the leaders of Ladakh are found to be the least politically represented in the current bureaucratic setup, even the locals are more concerned about the new legislation that permits outsiders to start business in the region and settle in the area.

According to locals if they have Statehood, then their government will benefit them by making policies that are favorable both economically and culturally for Ladakh.

Now there are four basic demands of the Ladakh people:

·        Statehood for Ladakh

·        Include Ladakh under the Sixth Schedule of the Indian Constitution 

·        Separate public service commission for Ladakh

·        Two parliamentary seats for Ladakh.

Demography and potential of Ladakh:

Now as per the data from the 2011 census, the population of Ladakh is 274,289 and the density of the population is 4.6/

.

Ladakh has a very high potential for natural resources like Borax, Marble of good quality even limestone of cement grade, and many more. Due to their abundance, these are mined and mining causes damage.

Analysis of demands:

People are demanding for inclusion of Ladakh in the 6th schedule, this schedule talks about the administration in tribal areas of the northeast states of Assam, Tripura, Meghalaya, and Mizoram. It provides limited autonomy to tribal regions so that they can conserve their rights, culture, and ethnicity.

Now these states are provided with autonomous District councils that takes the important decisions of their areas of their own.

The government's stance at this point is very clear that they will not provide 6th schedule status to Ladakh as if it is approved, it will attract protests for inclusion in the same 6th schedule by other northeastern states.

How Ladakh will be benefitted if Statehood will be granted:

The point is validated by locals that if they get the statehood they will have elected representatives in the legislative assembly and they know the demography and the culture of Ladakh, which ultimately leads to safeguarding the identity and culture of Ladakh.

Also, the people of Ladakh have a concern that before it was granted UT cadre the Ladakh Hill Development Council had many powers that are now snatched or reduced. There is local representation in the Ladakh Hill Development Council which decides the allocation of developmental funds and others, but now only 10 to 15% of powers are left with Ladakh Hill Development Council.

Moreover, they also demanded the setting up of a local public service commission which will be granted if statehood is granted. The fact is they want local reservation in the job. Due to a lack of exposure to the industrial and IT sector, the youth of Ladakh have to rely on government jobs which they need to be safeguarded by setting up the local public service commission.

Climatic concerns:

According to climate activist and educationist Mr. Sonam Wangchuck, every year footfall of tourists is increasing, and according to data about 450000 tourists visit Ladakh. Even if they employ locals but climate of Ladakh is deteriorating due to this.

The basic reason is as compared to locals outsiders or tourists are not habitual of living or sustaining in -10 degrees. So they need more heating equipment like diesel generators for running the heating appliances and many more.

Moreover, the soot from the diesel engines and others settles on the glaciers which are very near in Ladakh region and it absorbs sunrays and leads to the melting of glaciers more quickly. This will have adverse effects not only on Ladakh but also on the rest of India.

The construction of hydroelectric power projects may lead to flash floods as evident from studying the flash floods in recent years in Himachal Pradesh and Uttrakhand.

Even the area of Ladakh has water scarcity but tourists use excess water as example local people can sustain 5-6 liters of water but tourists need more than 70 liters of water per day.

Clearance of Forests for the solar parks leads to the destruction of the grazing zones and also leads to the deterioration of the climate.

Plastic pollution near the lakes and important glaciers.

Effects of the Demand:

As of now, two rounds of talks with the government of India have been completed and these have had no results.

Instead, the Government of India gave them an alternative of granting them the special provisions of Article 371.

Also, the government agreed to reserve 80% of jobs for locals.

With no result in the talks, the local activist and environmentalist Mr. Sonam Wangchuck went on a 21-day long fast as a protest.

Way forward:

The government of India must come forward with a proposal to increase local representation and find alternatives to this issue by allowing local representatives in the decision-making process and also winning the trust of the local people by providing them with more representation.