Sonam Wangchuk urges Narendra Modi to act on Ladakh's demands

Climate activist Sonam Wangchuk requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday, 9 September, to include Ladakh in the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution, granting law-making powers to local people to protect their land and cultural identity.

On 1 September, Wangchuk and around 75 volunteers embarked on a foot march from Leh to New Delhi to request the Centre to resume dialogue with Ladakh's leadership regarding their demands.

At a virtual press conference, Wangchuk said he has not received a response to the memorandum of demands submitted to the prime minister during the latter's visit to Dras for the 25th anniversary of Kargil Vijay Diwas in July.

Wangchuk also said the creation of five additional districts in Ladakh could be "indirectly linked" to their protest.

"However, we still do not know if these districts have been granted decision-making powers," he said, adding that it would be unfortunate if that is not the case.

"Ladakh is an ecologically-fragile region facing industrial and climate-related challenges. I urge the prime minister to include it in the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution to safeguard the autonomy of its people," Wangchuk said.

He said through the march, he aimed at drawing the attention of world leaders and the global community to the severe impacts of climate change in the region.

Responding to a question from PTI, Wangchuk said the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Councils (LAHDCs) of Leh and Kargil have only been granted authority to spend development funds. "The people of Ladakh want law-making powers too," he added.

Wangchuk acknowledged that a single march would not resolve the issue. "We want the Centre to resume discussions on the demands of the Ladakhi people," he said.

Wangchuk said he has no intention of joining politics and that the march is unrelated to the upcoming Assembly elections in several states.

In fact, "we are considering avoiding Haryana, which is about to hold elections", he said.

Wangchuk claimed that the government has withdrawn its promise to provide tribal area status and full statehood to Ladakh under pressure from "industrialists, who want to exploit the resources" of the ecologically-fragile region.

The noted engineer had earlier told PTI that land in Ladakh is being allocated for solar-power projects without the consent of the LAHDCs.

With around 320 clear sunny days a year and an average daily global solar radiation of 2022 kWh/m sq./annum, Ladakh is a solar-power generation hotspot in the country. The cold desert also has the potential to generate 35 GW from solar energy and 100 GW from wind energy.

The government has already approved a 13-GW renewable-energy project, with a 7.5-GW solar park, in Ladakh.

Wangchuk went on a 21-day fast in March, surviving only on salt and water, to demand statehood for Ladakh and its inclusion under the Constitution's Sixth Schedule to help protect the ecologically-fragile region from "greedy" industries.