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The Wire
2 days ago
- Business
- The Wire
‘Issue of Statehood and Sixth Schedule Unresolved': Ladakh Leaders as Union Govt Notifies New Rules
Srinagar: The new reservation and domicile policies brought out by the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP)-led Union government for Ladakh have fallen short of addressing widespread concerns over the constitutional disempowerment and suspension of democracy in the border region following its separation from Jammu and Kashmir in 2019. 'For us, the main issue of statehood and the inclusion of Ladakh in Sixth Schedule remains unresolved,' Leh Apex Body (LAB) leader Chering Dorjay, who has been leading talks with the Union government over the last more than two years along with members of Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA), told The Wire . He added, 'While we welcome the new measures, we want the government to talk about restoration of statehood now and granting of constitutional safeguards for Ladakh in some form. The job reservation was a small problem which should have been solved much earlier but the government sat on the matter unnecessarily for a long time.' Environmentalist and innovator Sonam Wangchuk, who has been protesting against the alleged disempowerment of Ladakh in the aftermath of its separation from J&K in 2019 and demotion into a Union territory (UT) without a legislature, said that the reservation policy was the least important demand of the LAB-KDA combine. 'In urgency, it (reservation policy) was the highest, but in importance it was the lowest. They (LAB-KDA combine) seem to have mutually decided (with the Union government) on picking the low hanging fruit first,' Wangchuk said, adding that the government didn't concede the demand of the LAB-KDA combine to set the condition of 30 years continuous residency for a non-local in Ladakh to obtain domicile certificate. The Ladakh Civil Services Decentralization and Recruitment (Amendment) Regulation, 2025, which was notified by President Droupadi Murmu along with a set of new regulations on Monday (June 2) and Tuesday (June 3), sets 15-year continuous residency from October 31, 2019 for a non-local to obtain domicile certificate among other rules. The rules for obtaining domicile certificate have been laid out in the Ladakh Civil Services Domicile Certificate Rules, 2025. Ladakhi leader Mohammad Haneefa Jan, who won the region's only Lok Sabha seat in 2024 general election as an independent candidate, said that the new domicile policy was 'meaningless' in the absence of restoration of Ladakh's statehood. 'The government had agreed on a new domicile policy earlier also, so there is nothing new in it, especially because the LAB and KDA leaderships' demand of 30 years continuous residence has not been conceded by the Union government,' he said. While the rules governing the new regulations are yet to be specified, LAB chief Dorjay said that 95% jobs (including 10% for 'Economically Weaker Section' category) were now reserved for local domiciles under the Ladakh Reservation (Amendment) Regulation, 2025, which was also notified on Tuesday. The new regulation increases the cap on reservation in government jobs in Ladakh from 50% to 85% for Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), Other Backward Classes (OBC), and other educationally and socially backward groups. 'Even if outsiders become domiciles of Ladakh after 2034, they can only compete for five percent of jobs while 95 percent jobs are reserved for original residents which is the highest in the country,' Dorjay said. He said that unlike in Jammu and Kashmir which got a domicile policy with retrospective effect after 2019, the policy in Ladakh has a prospective effect, 'The policy has been extended to admissions to medical, engineering and other professional institutions in Ladakh,' Dorjay said. According to the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes, Ladakh has more than 83% tribal population and the new rules are seen as an attempt by the BJP to quell widespread public anger over the erosion of Ladakh's unique identity and appropriation of work opportunities in the government by outsiders post 2019. However, Ladakhi leader Jan, who is also a member of a high-powered committee set up by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in 2023 to examine the four-point demands of LAB-KDA combine, said that the main issue of negotiations was the 'restoration of democracy' in Ladakh. 'The country came out of the British colonial rule in 1947 but Ladakh has been pushed into slavery since 2019. We have no role in policymaking and the imported bureaucratic regime has turned Ladakh into an arena of slavery. The government should now focus on resolving the main issues,' he said. Wangchuk, who went on hunger strikes twice last year to demand constitutional safeguards under Sixth Schedule, also cautioned that the 15-years clause in the new domicile policy has not gone down well among the people of Ladakh. 'They were hoping for at least 30 years of continuous residence and the new regulation has not made them too happy. It was, however, important to address this issue because all the vacancies in the government are blocked which is not good for the administration to run the system and it is not good for the youth of Ladakh to remain unemployed,' he said. Wangchuk said that the next two meetings between the Ladakh civil society and the MHA were going to be crucial to determine the future course of the agitation. He said that many people are projecting the regulations on reservation and domicile as 'some kind of resolution' for the problems in Ladakh 'which is far from truth'. 'If the central government sincerely discusses safeguards under Sixth Schedule and restoration of democracy and statehood, then people would be very happy. But if they don't and hold the hill council elections, then it will impact the credibility of any democratic process,' he said. In the 2020 Hill Council election, the promise to include Ladakh in Sixth Schedule figured among the top three agendas of the BJP's election manifesto for the border region. According to the manifesto, the party promised to protect 'land, job and environment' by bringing 'constitutional safeguards under Sixth Schedule' with the agenda of 'political empowerment' of Ladakh following its separation from Jammu and Kashmir. 'It completes a full circle,' Wangchuk said of the BJP's reference to the Sixth Schedule in its election manifesto, 'If that promise is not fulfilled again, then consequences will be seen in the election as was seen in the 2024 parliamentary election when the BJP lost in Ladakh because in 2019 parliamentary election, they had promised to include Ladakh in Sixth Schedule and failed to fulfil it.' He added, 'In a democracy, people send a message through the electoral process which is what might happen again after the parliamentary election in the hill council election towards the end of September this year.' Among a series of notifications issued by President Murmu also includes the Ladakh Official Languages Regulation, 2025 which recognises English, Hindi, Urdu, Bhoti and Purgi as official languages of the Union Territory with making recommendations about their use, and The Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Councils (Amendment) Regulation, 2025 under which one-third of seats in Hill Councils in Kargil and Leh would be reserved for women. The Wire is now on WhatsApp. Follow our channel for sharp analysis and opinions on the latest developments.
Indian Express
3 days ago
- Business
- Indian Express
Explained: Centre's new regulations for jobs and domicile in Ladakh, where they fall short
The Centre has notified a series of regulations for Ladakh's land, jobs, and cultural preservation, aimed at addressing concerns raised by the civil society in Ladakh over the past five years. The new legal framework introduces a domicile-based job reservation system, recognition of local languages, and procedural clarity in civil service recruitment. What are the new regulations? On June 2 and 3, the government notified five regulations: 1. Ladakh Civil Services Decentralization and Recruitment (Amendment) Regulation, 2025 This regulation introduces a domicile requirement for recruitment in government posts under the Union Territory of Ladakh, for the first time. The domicile is defined as a person who has resided in Ladakh for 15 years; or a person who has studied for 7 years and appeared in either Class 10 or 12 examination in Ladakh; Children of Central Government employees who have served in Ladakh for at least 10 years; and children and spouses of domiciles. 2. Ladakh Civil Services Domicile Certificate Rules, 2025 These rules lay out the procedure and documentation required to obtain a domicile certificate. The tehsildar is designated as the issuing authority, while the Deputy Commissioner is the appellate authority. Applications can be submitted both physically and electronically. 3. Union Territory of Ladakh Reservation (Amendment) Regulation, 2025 This regulation caps the total reservation for Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), Other Backward Classes (OBC), and other socially and educationally backward groups at 85%, excluding the 10% reservation for Economically Weaker Sections (EWS). Importantly, these reservations have also been extended to professional institutions, such as engineering and medical colleges in Ladakh. The quota for SC, ST and OBC for admissions into these colleges was earlier capped at 50% and has now been expanded to 85%. 4. Ladakh Official Languages Regulation, 2025 This law recognises English, Hindi, Urdu, Bhoti, and Purgi as the official languages of Ladakh. It also mandates institutional support for the promotion of Shina, Brokskat, Balti, and Ladakhi, for preserving Ladakh's linguistic and cultural diversity. 5. Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Councils (Amendment) Regulation, 2025 This amends the LAHDC Act of 1997 to reserve one-third of the seats for women in the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Councils of Leh and Kargil, through rotation. Why are these regulations significant? This is the first comprehensive attempt by the Centre to tailor governance and administrative frameworks specifically for Ladakh, following its bifurcation from Jammu & Kashmir in 2019. Since the government is reluctant to grant Sixth Schedule status to Ladakh, which would result in greater autonomy under the Constitution, the regulations aim to address Ladakhi concerns through executive orders rather than constitutional guarantees. By defining the domicile criteria and creating a legal filter for recruitment, the government has taken a significant step towards reserving jobs for the local population, a demand that has been at the heart of the protest movement. Additionally, the language regulation offers long-awaited recognition to Bhoti and Purgi, which are mother tongues for large sections of the population. The promotion of Ladakhi, Balti, and other minority dialects reflects an understanding of the importance of cultural identity in political demands. Since the abrogation of Article 370 and the enactment of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, the political and legal status of Ladakh has been a deeply contentious subject. With the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir being bifurcated into two UTs — Jammu & Kashmir with a legislature, and Ladakh without one — the people of Ladakh found themselves under direct central administration. What followed was not a celebration, but concern. Despite assurances from the Centre, residents feared that without constitutional protections, Ladakh's unique tribal identity, fragile ecology, and limited resources would come under pressure from external economic and demographic forces. This led to a growing demand for the inclusion of Ladakh under the Sixth Schedule, which provides tribal-majority areas in certain northeastern states with legislative and financial autonomy through autonomous district councils. The demand is grounded in the fact that more than 90% of Ladakh's population belongs to Scheduled Tribes. The demand has been consistently voiced by the Leh Apex Body (LAB) and the Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA), which jointly represent the Buddhist and Muslim communities in the region. In 2024 and 2025, the movement gained national visibility thanks to a high-profile hunger strike led by Sonam Wangchuk, an engineer, innovator and climate activist. How are the new regulations different from existing provisions? Before these regulations, Ladakh was governed largely by adapted versions of laws in J&K, including the Jammu and Kashmir Reservation Act, 2004 and the Civil Services Decentralization and Recruitment Act, 2010. These did not include any concept of domicile specific to Ladakh, protection for jobs for locals, clear reservation caps or exclusions for EWS, and recognition of Ladakhi languages in official use. In that sense, the 2025 regulations represent a departure from borrowed laws and a move towards region-specific governance. How do they compare with Jammu & Kashmir's protections? After bifurcation, the UT of Jammu & Kashmir received: In contrast, Ladakh: So, while these regulations bring Ladakh somewhat closer to the protections given to Jammu & Kashmir post-2019, the region still lags behind in constitutional safeguards. What are the limitations of these regulations? Despite being an important step, the regulations fall short of addressing certain core demands of the Sixth Schedule movement: 1. Lack of constitutional protection: All new rules and regulations have been made under Article 240 of the Constitution, which allows the President to make regulations for UTs without the legislature. These are executive decisions that can be amended or withdrawn by the Centre at any time, unlike the Sixth Schedule, which is part of the Constitution and offers guaranteed protections. 2. No land safeguards: The most critical omission is the absence of any restriction on land ownership by non-domiciles. This is a key issue in Ladakh, given concerns over large-scale tourism, infrastructure projects, and climate vulnerability. 3. No local legislature or council with law-making powers: The Sixth Schedule allows for the creation of Autonomous District Councils with powers over land, forests, customs, education, and more. The LAHDCs, even with one-third seats now reserved for women, remain administrative bodies without legislative power. 4. Symbolic cultural protection: While local languages have been recognised, there is no roadmap for their official use in education, governance, or the judiciary. KDA leader Sajjad Kargili expressed partial satisfaction with the new regulations. 'Something is better than nothing. There was a huge pressure from the public due to rising unemployment. We hope that the government will also now quickly notify vacancies and fill up posts so that the frustration of youth is addressed,' Kargili told The Indian Express. He, however, said the Ladakhi civil society will continue to push for inclusion in the Sixth Schedule. 'Our demand is that the domicile condition should be 30 years and not 15 years. Also, the new provisions do not address our concerns over land and environment. There is no protection for land in the new regulations. Also, our key demand has been representative politics through the creation of an Assembly. So, these regulations are welcome, but they are only baby steps,' he said. Sources said the Ladakh delegations will meet representatives of the Ministry of Home Affairs next month, and all pending issues will be discussed. 'In our past meetings with Union Home Minister Amit Shah, we have been assured that all issues will be discussed,' Kargili said. Rishika Singh is a Senior sub-editor at the Explained Desk of The Indian Express. She enjoys writing on issues related to international relations, and in particular, likes to follow analyses of news from China. Additionally, she writes on developments related to politics and culture in India. ... Read More
