New draft proposal, new districts: what the Centre's moves mean for Ladakh

The two developments may come across unrelated, but indicates the Centre's fresh approach to address the demands of the region at various levels; next round of talks on October 22 in New Delhi

The story so far: The Centre initiated significant steps in the seven-year-old Union Territory (U.T.) of Ladakh this week. A sub-committee of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) shared a 15-page draft proposal to civil society groups and leaders of the region, which included the two key bodies of the Leh Apex Body (LAB) and the Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA).

In another development, the Lieutenant Governor's administration announced the creation of Sankoo as the eighth district of Ladakh, a region that had only two districts till 2019.

The two developments may come across unrelated, but indicates the Centre's fresh approach to address the demands of the region at various levels. Ladakh has been witnessing frequent street protests since it was carved out as a U.T. in 2019 from the Kashmir division of the erstwhile State of Jammu and Kashmir. Since then, the region has been demanding the status of Statehood and inclusion in the Sixth Schedule. At present, Ladakh is a U.T. without a legislature unlike J&K.

How have Ladakh civil society bodies reacted to MHA's fresh draft?

In a joint statement, the LAB and KDA categorically reject the draft proposal in principle. These bodies claimed that the draft represented a significant departure from the assurances and commitments made during previous meetings of the sub-committee. They highlighted the draft's failure to address the demand for a legislative assembly and constitutional safeguards under Article 371, including a provision tailored to Ladakh's unique circumstances.

Further, these bodies urged the MHA to reconsider the proposal and accept the draft Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) submitted by the two bodies in its true spirit and entirety on October 15 in Leh. The people of Ladakh deserve a meaningful constitutional framework that honours prior commitments and safeguards their political, cultural and democratic aspirations, rather than an arrangement that dilutes them, they added.

Why did MHA constitute a High-Powered Committee?

In the wake of growing protests in Ladakh, a High-Powered Committee (HPC) was constituted in 2023 under the chairmanship of Minister of State (MoS) for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai.

The mandate of the committee was to suggest measures to protect the Ladakh region's unique culture and language taking into consideration its geographical location and its strategic importance; to ensure protection of land and employment; measures for inclusive development and employment generation in the region; measures related to empowerment of Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Councils (LAHDCs) of Leh and Kargil; and constitutional safeguards that could be provided to ensure the measures and protection as mentioned above.

What was the Centre's promise to Ladakh earlier this year?

The Centre and Ladakh held fruitful talks on May 22 this year. In July, the MHA released the minutes of the meeting, which underlined that "Statehood would remain the long-term aspiration of Ladakh, in the present situation, as a first step, an appropriate customized model of governance by establishing a UT level elected body with executive financial and legislative powers would be established". It hinted at the model of Constitutional safeguards under Article 371 and pressed the idea of "a customised sui generis model, which is most suitable for Ladakh".

The MHA had promised to work on a draft proposal to define the powers and functions, executive financial and legislative. It was tipped as the MHA's outline of the probable structure of self-governance in Ladakh, even as Ladakh representatives pushed for Statehood and Sixth schedule.

One of the key demands to set the talks rolling was to bring the bureaucracy under the elected government. It was agreed that in terms of functions and civil servants for the subjects under the purview of the UT level elected body, the control and supervision, including appraisal, will be exercised by the elected executive body. It also stressed on working the Transaction of Business Rules to define the roles of power centres in the region like the elected body and the Lieutenant Governor.

Why did Ladakh groups reject the latest draft proposal?

The LAB and the KDA said the MHA has offered North-East Frontier Agency-type arrangement that falls far short of the proposed Union Territory with a legislature, which was the minimum guarantee from which a sui generis model could be developed as agreed upon in the May 22 meeting and recorded in the Minutes of Meeting (MoM), which were signed and agreed on July 3 pursuant to the meeting.

The proposed framework appears closer to a Territorial Council model, with substantial powers concentrated in the Lieutenant Governor's administration, rather than ensuring the meaningful legislative, executive and constitutional safeguards sought by the people of Ladakh.

How will new districts help address Ladakh's aspiration?

Since 1947, Ladakh -- with a population of around 3.5 lakh -- was split into two districts of Buddhist-majority Leh and Shia Muslim-majority Kargil. However, the region was spread over a vast area of 59,146 square kilometres. The expanse of the region with geographical difficulties of the cold desert has locals facing hardships in terms of administrative matters.

The creation of six new districts, including Sankoo, Sham, Nubra, Changthang, Zanskar and Drass, will prove a great help in bringing administration closer to people's doorsteps. The creation of these districts will be followed by creation of hill councils for each district, which will allow locals to elect 26 members for each hill councils. Thereby addressing the issue of representation and involvement in the governance issues.

Earlier, Ladakh had two hill councils in Kargil and Leh. Ladakh Hill Development Council-Leh (LAHDC-L)came into being in 1995 and LAHDC-Kargil was set up in 2003. These councils used to have a say in governance issues by prioritising and budgetary allocation for micro projects of the districts. After 2019, the role of councils waned because of the Centre's direct rule and officials' takeover of the management of the districts and Central schemes.

On one hand, locals have praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for creating new districts, on the other hand the civil society groups urged the MHA to pave the way for fresh round of talks on October 22 this year in New Delhi by agreeing to the demands of an overarching elected body for the region, which controls the bureaucracy and legislates on issues like land, language, culture and environment.