Hunger strike in Ladakh: Here's the full story explained!

It was on the sixth day of March when Sonam Wangchuk, a famous environmentalist and educationist in Leh, Ladakh, commenced a 21-day hunger strike. The man called the strike a "climate fast".

Thousands of residents of Ladakh have been long demanding safeguards under the Schedule Six of the Constitution of India so that they can make decisions relating to the use and management of water and land that they at present can't decide on. The 21-day hunger strike by Sonam Wangchuk was in support of the strike of Ladakhis.

On March 26, the strike by Sonam Wangchuk was discontinued. At present, the strike is being continued by the women in Leh. In case the demands remain unmet, it has been said by the monks, youth, and the elderly population of Ladakh that they will not hesitate to join the strike in several phases.

 Reason behind the hunger strike

In the year 2019, Jammu and Kashmir experienced a split. The result was a split into two Union Territories; one of them being Ladakh and the other one being Jammu and Kashmir.

As per the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Act of 2019, Ladakh became a Union Territory, but sans a legislature. Instead, the Union Territory is administered by a Lieutenant Governor. Interestingly, the Lieutenant Governor is not a resident of Ladakh but is appointed to make decisions. Similarly, there are many bureaucrats in important positions who are influencing the region's future despite not being residents of Ladakh, as said by Sajjad Kargili, a core committee member of KDA.

Mr. Sajjad Kargili further expressed that the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Councils at present in Leh and Kargil became powerless after the declaration of Ladakh as a Union Territory.

 On one hand the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Councils holds the powers to make decisions regarding the land use and the management of land, while on the other hand the draft Ladakh Industrial Land Allotment Policy 2023 has been designed to attract investments in Ladakh. The policy draft entirely excludes them from holding any powers relating to land lease and land allotment decisions.

It is important to note that villagers along the border area in Ladakh were actually losing the grazing patches industries and to China. Even so, the affected residents did not have the authority to actually intervene in the concerns relating to their own land.

The KDA and the KBA have also said that the Sixth Schedule could actually aid in tackling such issues as it makes the establishment of district and regional councils possible with the power to make regulations relating to the use of land for agriculture, grazing, or residential purposes.

It is important to note that more than 97 percent of the population of Ladakh i.e. about 2.74 lakh as per the Census of 2011 is actually of the tribal community. In the year 2019, the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes recommended that Ladakh should be brought under Schedule Six of the Constitution of India. The same had been promised by the manifestos of Bhartiya Janata Party in the Lok Sabha elections of 2019 and LAHDC elections of 2020 had promised to bring Ladakh under the umbrella of the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution. However, this demand still remains unmet.