Cry for Sixth Schedule echoes in Ladakh

Sonam Wangchuk has travelled some distance from the days of unconventional educational tools to ignite young minds, and the ice stupa. The affable engineer-turned-innovator-turned-educationist now addresses public rallies, meets officials and beams video messages demanding Sixth Schedule status for the Union Territory of Ladakh so that the locals have a greater say on development. Such a step, he said, would also help protect the mountains, glaciers and rivers of the territory, whose name translates to ‘land of mountain passes’.

On Republic Day this year, Wangchuk announced a five-day climate fast on the top of Khardung La, one of the world’s highest motorable roads. But eventually, he had to continue with the agitation at his Himalayan Institute Alternative, Ladakh (HIAL), following objections from the local police as the temperature in Khardung La plummeted to minus 40 degrees Celsius. Wangchuk said he had been put under house arrest by the police — a charge denied by Leh Senior Superintendent of Police P D Nitya, who said the police intercepted him when he tried to move towards Khardung La and that he was brought back under lawful action to his institute, where he completed his fast.

The final day of Wangchuk’s fast witnessed massive support from a rally attended by hundreds of people, demanding special status for Ladakh. “We are not against development, but developmental activities should not happen without consulting the locals. This is not possible without giving sufficient powers to the Hill Councils under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution,” Wangchuk, who is believed to be the inspiration behind the character of Phunsukh Wangdu in the blockbuster movie 3 Idiots, told DH.

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On August 5, 2019, the Centre revoked the special status of Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 and bifurcated the erstwhile state into two union territories (UTs) — Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. For many in Leh district, the decades-old demand for a UT had finally become a reality. Ladakh, the largest division in the erstwhile state, was made a UT without a legislature. The cold desert region consists of Leh, which has a Buddhist majority population, and Kargil, with a Muslim majority.

But jubilation at the creation of the UT faded soon, with locals claiming that the BJP government did little to fulfil its promise of awarding the special status to the strategically significant Himalayan territory that shares borders with China, even as the Lieutenant Governor takes decisions without considering the views of the Ladakhis.

While the people of Kargil rejected the August 2019 decision, declaring it to be undemocratic and a betrayal of their trust, initial euphoria in Leh evaporated quickly as people started asking for special status to preserve its demography, land, environment and culture.

Wangchuk’s fast is set against the background of a wider movement in Ladakh, in which the Buddhist and Muslim population are joining together for the first time, demanding statehood and consideration for autonomy under the Sixth Schedule.

Leh and Kargil have been administered by Autonomous Hill Development Councils since 1995, but the two councils do not enjoy privileges under the Sixth Schedule.

The Constitution requires that at least 50 per cent of a region’s population be composed of tribal communities in order for the Sixth Schedule to be applicable.

In Ladakh, over 90 per cent of the population is from Scheduled Tribes.

While both Fifth and Sixth Schedules are aimed at protecting the cultural identity of the tribal population, the latter deals with the Constitution, powers and functions of district councils and other regional councils in the northeast. The states that come under the Sixth Schedule are Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Tripura.

Ladakh leaders say the UT resembles the northeastern states in many ways and is a fit case to be brought under the Sixth Schedule.

District councils

Among other things, the constitutional provision determines the powers of the autonomous district councils and allows such bodies to make laws of the land, manage the forests (except reserved forests), regulate trade by non-locals and appoint traditional chiefs. The councils that enjoy greater autonomy under the Sixth Schedule can also make decisions on the inheritance of property, marriage, divorce, social customs, establishment and maintenance of primary schools, markets, taxation and issues of lease for extraction of minerals.

“BJP promised the Sixth Schedule to Ladakh so many times but did not do anything in the last three years. If we do not have a way to safeguard our land, the whole place will be overrun by huge populations and industries will come in. Glaciers will melt at a faster rate as Ladakh is a very fragile ecosystem,” Wangchuk said. “People in Ladakh neither want mining companies to come nor for the industry to thrive at the cost of the region’s environmental integrity,” he added.

Two years ago, the saffron party promised such a status in a Leh hill council election manifesto. Assurances came from the Union ministries of home affairs, law and tribal affairs, without much action on the ground, compelling the local MP Jamyang Tsering Namgyal to raise the issue in the Parliament in December 2021.

On January 3 this year, the Union Home Ministry constituted a high-powered committee headed by the Minister of State Nityanand Rai to “ensure the protection of land and employment” for the people of Ladakh. The 17-member committee, that includes Ladakh Lieutenant Governor R K Mathur (former Defence Secretary), is to “discuss measures to protect the region’s unique culture and language taking into consideration its geographical location and its strategic importance.”

However, Ladakh leaders say they will not engage with New Delhi until and unless the panel is ready to discuss their four-point agenda of a full-fledged statehood for Ladakh, Constitutional safeguards under the Sixth Schedule of the Indian Constitution, early recruitment process and Public Service Commission for Ladakh, and separate Lok Sabha seats for Leh and Kargil districts.

Continued struggle

Akhtar Hussain, a resident of neighbouring Kargil town also questioned the Centre’s rigidity in denying the Sixth Schedule status to Ladakh. “When the provisions of the Sixth Schedule have been applied in Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram, why is it being denied to people of Ladakh?” Hussain, a scholar from a Delhi-based university, told DH. “It is within the ambit of the Constitution and we are not demanding anything unconstitutional. If we overpopulate Kargil and Leh, it will have disastrous consequences on its fragile environment,” he added.

Wangchuk, once a staunch admirer of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and advocate of abrogation of Article 370, now thinks Ladakhis were better off as part of the pre-2019 Jammu and Kashmir state. Though his climate fast barely led to any political support in most parts of India, barring a few comments by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Shimla-based Left leader Tikender Singh Panwar, he is determined to carry on the fight.

“If the government does not listen, I will again go on hunger strike first for 10 days and then 15 days or 20 days. We will inflict some pain on ourselves. How long can the government remain silent and ignore the collective voice of Ladakh?” he asked.