What is new in Ladakh’s government job reservation policy?

On June 3, President Droupadi Murmu notified four Regulations for the Union Territory (U.T.) of Ladakh, defining new policies on reservation, languages, domiciles, and composition of hill councils for Ladakh, which became a Union Territory in 2019. The notified regulations were The Ladakh Official Languages Regulation, 2025; The Ladakh Civil Services Decentralisation and Recruitment (Amendment) Regulation, 2025; The Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Councils (Amendment) Regulation, 2025; and The Union Territory of Ladakh Reservation (Amendment) Regulation, 2025.

- GNS News Agency, June 16

What did the policies entail?

The Regulations pave the way for 85% reservation for resident Ladakhis in government jobs. The Rules notified empowered the tehsildar to issue the domicile certificates. To be considered “domiciles” and thus eligible for the 5% quota in government jobs in the U.T., non-local residents must prove a continuous 15-year stay in the U.T. starting from October 31, 2019. Added with the 10% quota for the Economically Weaker Sections, the total government job reservation in the U.T. now stands at 95%, one of the highestin the country.According to the 2011 Census, Ladakh’s population is 2,74,289, and nearly 80% are tribals. The U.T. has a majority Buddhist population in Leh and a sizeable Muslim population in Kargil.Another recently notified policy said that at least one-third of the seats in the hill councils of Leh will be reserved for women, ona rotational basis across jurisdictions, and the official languages of the U.T. will be English, Hindi, Urdu, Bhoti, and Purgi.

Why were the policies notified?