Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Monday that five new districts — Zanskar, Drass, Sham, Nubra and Changthang — would be created in the union territory of Ladakh for “bolstering governance in every nook and cranny.” Ladakh presently has two districts — Leh and Kargil — with autonomous hill development councils.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said it was a step towards better governance and prosperity and the districts would “now receive more focused attention, bringing services and opportunities even closer to the people.”
A statement by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said the Ladakh administration would form a committee to assess various aspects related to the formation of the new districts, such as headquarters, boundaries, structure, creation of posts among others and submit the report within three months.
“After receiving the report of the said committee, the union territory of Ladakh will send the final proposal regarding the creation of new districts on the basis of this report to the Home Ministry for further action,” the MHA said.
Delhi march call
The decision comes days before the September 1-October 2 padayatra (march) call given by the Leh Apex Body (LAB) to Delhi, an influential civil society group in the region. Since 2020, the LAB, along with the Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA), has been demanding Statehood, inclusion of Ladakh under the sixth schedule of the Constitution (protection of tribal areas), job reservation for locals and two Lok Sabha and one Rajya Sabha seat for the region.
People have hit the streets on several occasions demanding protection of their culture, identity, land and jobs from “outsiders.”
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Cherring Dorjay Lakruk, co-chairman, LAB told The Hindu, “There is no giving up on our march to Delhi proposal. Our struggle will continue. The decision to create the new districts does not change our demand for a sixth schedule status. While there were demands from Zanskar and Nubra to create new districts, there was no such demand from the other three districts.”
Echoing this, Sajjad Kargili of the KDA said, “Ladakh should be given an Assembly, the creation of seven districts validate the demand. If there is no Assembly and if it is only being done for bureaucratic control, then it should not be a reason to divert our demand for sixth schedule and statehood.”
Congress’s poser
The Congress questioned the intention behind the move and asked whether the new districts will have elected councils on the lines of Leh and Kargil.
Jairam Ramesh, Congress general secretary, communications in-charge, said on X, “The elected Autonomous Hill Development Council for Leh was established in 1995. The elected Autonomous Hill Development Council for Kargil was set up in 2003. Now 5 new districts have been formed in Ladakh in addition to Leh and Kargil. Will there be elected Autonomous Hill Development Councils for each of the 5 new districts as well? Presently, the two existing elected Autonomous Hill Development Councils have control over less than 10% of the total expenditure allocated to Ladakh, the balance 90% being under the control of the LG and the bureaucracy. Will the elected AHDCs have a much more meaningful and relevant say in how budgets are spent?”
Mr. Shah said the new districts would take the benefits meant for the people to their doorstep by bolstering governance in every nook and cranny. After the formation of these five districts, there would now be a total of seven districts in Ladakh, including Leh and Kargil, he said.
The MHA said Ladakh was a very large union territory in terms of area. “It is one of the least populated areas of India. Being extremely difficult and inaccessible, at present the district administration was facing many difficulties in reaching the grass roots level. After the formation of these districts, now all the public welfare schemes of the Central government and the Ladakh Administration will be able to reach the people easily and more and more people will be able to take advantage of them. This important decision will prove to be very useful in the all-round development of Ladakh,” the MHA said.
The special status of Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 of the Constitution was revoked by the Parliament on August 5, 2019 and the former State was split into two Union Territories — Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. The population of Ladakh is 2.74 lakh according to 2011 Census.
A high-powered committee (HPC) chaired by Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai was constituted in January 2023 and later revived in December the same year to address the grievances of the people. The members met Mr. Shah on March 4 after which they stated that the “meeting did not result in any positive outcome.” No meeting has taken place since.
