LEFT IN THE COLD

The harsh winter in the surreal moonscape of Ladakh, with temperatures skimming minus 20 degrees centigrade, is hardly conducive to public protests. Yet hundreds of Ladakhis braved the extreme weather and gathered at Polo Ground in Leh on January 31 to show solidarity with educational reformist and innovator Sonam Wangchuk.

- Moazum Mohammad

The Magsaysay award recipient had just completed a five-day ‘climate fast’ from January 26 at nearby Phyang to draw attention to Ladakh’s fragile ecology, which he says is gravely threatened by uncontrolled development, tourism and commerce. Wangchuk is demanding Ladakh’s inclusion in the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution so that Ladakhis can have greater say over every aspect of their land.

Four days before his fast, Wangchuk addressed Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a 13-minute video, ‘Ladakh Ki Mann Ki Baat’, from Khardung La, one of the world’s highest motorable passes. Trudging through snow in temperatures well below freezing point, his message was as clear as the skies over him: over three years after the August 2019 abrogation of Article 370, leading up to the bifurcation of erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir into the Union Territories of Ladakh and J&K, ‘all is not well’ on India’s highest plateau—a strategically key region sharing borders with China and Pakistan and home to 270,000 people. Ladakh, comprising the districts of Leh and Kargil, has been promised inclusion under the Sixth Schedule several times by the Centre. It’s now pressing for that status—currently granted only to Assam, Mizoram, Meghalaya and Tripura—to ensure local control and protection of land, livelihood and environment.