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Polity & Governance
Mahesh

01/04/24 11:37 AM IST

Ladakh’s residents on a hunger strike

In News
  • The strike was in support of thousands of Ladakh residents who have been demanding safeguards under the Sixth Schedule of the Indian Constitution.
Sixth Schedule
  • The Sixth Schedule under Article 244 of the Constitution protects tribal populations, allowing for the creation of autonomous development councils which can frame laws on land, public health, agriculture.
  • As of now, 10 autonomous councils exist in Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, and Mizoram.
  • Ladakh was turned into a Union Territory without any Legislative Assembly after the special status of Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 of the Constitution was revoked by the Parliament on August 5, 2019 and the erstwhile State was split into the UTs of Ladakh and J&K.
  • Inclusion under this Schedule would allow Ladakh to create Autonomous District and Regional Councils (ADCs and ARCs) — elected bodies with the power to administrate tribal areas.
  • This would include the power to make laws on subjects such as forest management, agriculture, administration of villages and towns, inheritance, marriage, divorce and social customs. A majority of the population in Ladakh belongs to Scheduled Tribes.
  • The ADCs and ARCs may also constitute village councils or courts to decide disputes between parties from Scheduled Tribes, and appoint officers to oversee the administration of the laws they enact.
  • In cases where the offences are punishable with death or more than five years of imprisonment, the Governor of the state can confer upon the ADCs and ARCs the power to try them under the country’s criminal and civil laws
  • The Schedule also gives ARCs and ADCs the power to collect land revenue, impose taxes, regulate money lending and trading, collect royalties from licences or leases for the extraction of minerals in their areas, and establish public facilities such as schools, markets, and roads.
Pressure on local resources
  • According to recent data from the Ministry of Tourism, Ladakh is witnessing a high influx of domestic tourists.
  • In 2022, more than 5 lakh domestic tourists visited the region.
  • In Leh alone, which is Ladakh’s largest town, while just over half a lakh domestic and foreign tourists visited in 2007, by 2018 the number had risen to 3.2 lakh.
  • An article published in 2019 stated that built area in the town had increased from 36 hectares in 1969 to 196 hectares in 2017.
  • Rapid urbanisation and increasing tourist footfall are exerting significant pressure on resources in Ladakh, particularly water.
  • A report on water-related issues in Leh published in 2019 by Bremen Overseas Research and Development Association, South Asia (BORDA-SA), and Ladakh Ecological Development Group calculated that in Leh, a tourist used about 100 litres of water a day in summers and 60 litres in winters whereas a local used about 75 litres a day in summers and 50 litres in winters.
  • The poor, especially migrant workers, had access to only 25-35 litres per person per day.
  • To meet these requirements, the dependence on underground water, which is often contaminated, had increased, the report found.
Climate change
  • In the last two decades, Ladakh has been affected by several floods, landslides, and extreme rainfall events.
  • For instance, in August 2010, several parts of Ladakh, especially Leh, were hit by flash floods triggered by cloudbursts.
  • Nearly 255 people died in the deluge.
  • In August 2014, a glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF), caused when a glacial lake is breached, damaged houses and bridges in Gya village.
  • More recently, in August 2021, a GLOF near Rumbak village also damaged roads and a bridge.
  • A study published in 2020 estimated that Ladakh has 192 glacial lakes.
  • Several research articles also state that due to increasing temperature caused by global warming, the number and sizes of glacial lakes in the Himalaya are increasing, and glaciers are shrinking.
  • This trend has increased the threat of possible GLOFs in Ladakh, especially from proglacial lakes that are formed at the edge of glaciers.
Source- The Hindu

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