Context: 

The normally peaceful residents of Ladakh are in agitation mode. They are set to gather in Delhi to pursue their demand for special constitutional status.

Background: 

• After Jammu and Kashmir’s special status was revoked, the people of Ladakh were initially happy as they hoped to have their own independent control, like they had before being integrated with Jammu and Kashmir. 
• However, they have now realised that their desire for autonomy and the ability to create local employment is still not being met. 
• They feel that their hopes for self-governance are still a distant dream.

A Fragile Ecosystem:

• The region’s cold desert ecosystems harbour rare mammals like the wild yak and the snow leopard and diverse flora. 
• Cultures and livelihoods have evolved to be sensitive to the fragility of ecosystems that cannot bear heavy human activity. 
• High-altitude pastoralism, agriculture and trade have been the mainstays of Ladakhi economy and society for centuries.

Challenges:

• Ladakh is already groaning under infrastructure development, intense armed forces presence and excessive tourism. 
• Since Ladakh became a UT, there is even more focus on an exploitative ‘development’ path. 
• There is enormous commercial interest for mining, tourism, hydropower and other natural resources. 
• A new airport is under construction and road construction, including into the relatively unexploited Zanskar region, has been ramped up. 
• Ladakh already faces serious problems of landslides, erosion, solid waste and effluents, disturbance to wildlife and cordoning off common lands for development projects. 
• In the name of a ‘carbon-neutral’ Ladakh, mega-solar projects are in the offing; the 2023 Budget has allocated ₹20,000 crore for solar power evacuation and grid integration from a project of 13GW in the ecologically fragile Changthang region.

Role of Localists:

• Since 1995, Ladakh has had an Autonomous Hill Development Council (AHDC) with the aim of enabling locally determined development. 
• Exceptions showed the potential of autonomy; in 2005, the HDC with civil society groups came up with an innovative Ladakh 2025 Vision Document. 
• Unfortunately, it remained in cold storage due to political and financial constraints. 

Way Forward:

• A Hill Council decision for Ladakh agriculture to become fully organic could be backed by the Central government.
• Communities could be aided to claim and operationalise collective rights over grasslands using the Forest Rights Act. 
• Tourism could be fully oriented towards community-run, ecologically sensitive visitation.
• Need to be sensitive towards the area’s ecology, decentralised solar energy use, sustaining the food and agricultural heritage, entrepreneurship, and much else. 

News Source: The Hindu