The demands of Ladakhi leaders after the establishment of the Union territory of Ladakh have evolved since its declaration on August 5, 2019, and its establishment on October 31, 2019. The declaration was celebrated with a mixed response. While the people of Leh celebrated it as independence from Kashmir-based rule, the people of Kargil protested, asserting that the abrogation of Article 370 and the reorganisation of J&K were against the aspirations of Ladakh’s people.
As time passed, both the leaders of Leh and Kargil began to think about the future of Ladakh and they decided to demand statehood, the Sixth Schedule, job reservations and a public service commission. They have formed the Leh Apex Body (LAB) in Leh while the Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA) was formed in Kargil district. LAB and KDA – a group of religious, social and political organisations in the UT – have stated that the people of Ladakh should have the right to run the region.
Additionally, with bureaucratic rule in the newly established Union territory, leaders in Leh also realised that in the process of reorganisation, the people of Ladakh had lost a say in the decision-making process. While day-to-day decisions are being made by the bureaucracy led by the Lieutenant Governor, larger policy decisions are being made by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs. There are many instances where the decisions were taken by the UT administration without even consulting the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council. Now both councils are almost disempowered.
In the erstwhile state of J&K, the fund flow was not adequate, given that J&K itself was dependent on central grants. However, Ladakh had fair representation in the Government of J&K with four Members of Legislative Assemblies and two members of Legislative Councils. At times, there were two Ministers in the Cabinet and one Minister of State from Ladakh in the Government of J&K. Given that the population was two lakh seventy-four thousand, the representation was adequate to translate the aspirations of people into policy decisions and enough to influence the business transacted by bureaucracy to address day-to-day grievances of the people.
Public employment
Regarding the share of Ladakhi people in public employment, it is important to note that young people from Leh and Kargil usually obtained a fair share in the gazetted posts advertised by the Jammu and Kashmir Public Service Commission. The erstwhile J&K, being a state with robust government machinery, had a large number of posts, and vacancies were advertised every year. The young educated youth from Leh and Kargil participated in these recruitments with great enthusiasm. After 2010, the selection percentage of these educated youth was higher, given the greater investment of Ladakhi parents in their children sending them to good schools and colleges across India despite domestic hardships. Many candidates were selected as assistant professors and lecturers, and some even served in the colleges of Srinagar and Jammu. The selections in the prestigious Kashmir Administrative Service also witnessed a spike from 2008 to 2019, and selections were witnessed in each batch. Ladakhi people began celebrating that their own educated youth were teaching in their colleges and taking the reins of bureaucracy. However, on August 5, 2019, public employment came to a standstill, leaving the uneducated youth and their ageing parents high and dry.
The separation of Ladakh from J&K and the introduction of Domicile in J&K cut this umbilical cord of public employment opportunities to the youth of Ladakh. Added to this, the Ministry of Home Affairs has failed miserably to put in place corresponding systems of gazetted recruitment in Ladakh. If one more year passes without recruitment, this will be a criminal act on the part of the Government of India to deprive the already disadvantaged youth of Ladakh of public employment opportunities in their own Union territory for five years since the establishment of the UT.
Recently on March 4, before meeting with the Union home minister Amit Shah, when both Leh Apex Body and Kargil Democratic Alliance were met with the MHA officials they were principally agreed to give 80% reservations in Gazetted jobs to the ST holders of Ladakh while they have also agreed to extend the JKPSC to Ladakh also. However, both of these issues have not been notified yet, which is again giving a sense of deprivation.
This is also a fact that the leaders in Leh district of Ladakh who have struggled for the UT status for Ladakh are now feeling that Ladakh was better off in J&K than in the current UT while as in Kargil people were expecting the same situation even before the formation of the UT of Ladakh. People think that their identity, culture and land are in danger and for that they are demanding safeguards under the Sixth Schedule.
According to environmental activist Sonam Wangchuk, “They have no democracy, no voting rights to elect their representatives to an Assembly. It is like a colony in the olden times”.
The UT without legislature and safeguards and the youths without having adequate jobs is giving a sense of insecurity among the people in Ladakh. Ladakhis in general are now feeling betrayed by the government. This growing sense of betrayal is indicating that Ladakh is a new headache therefore the Government of India must take the Ladakh issue seriously and fulfill the aspirations of the people positively.
Sajjad Kargili is a member of the Kargil Democratic Alliance and the High-Powered Committee.
