On September 24, Ladakh witnessed unprecedented violence and protests which left four persons dead in police action. Two days later, climate activist Sonam Wangchuk, who was sitting on a hunger strike with 15 others, was detained under the National Security Act (NSA) and taken to Jodhpur Central Jail in Rajasthan. The government accused the activist of instigating the violence, a charge denied by Wangchuk.
A year after it was turned into a Union Territory in 2019, the region, with a population of around three lakh, has been protesting for constitutional safeguards, the two major demands being statehood and tribal status under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution. The government is engaged in talks with two civil society groups, the Leh Apex Body and the Kargil Democratic Alliance, representing the Leh and Kargil regions, respectively, for the past three years. The talks led to few outcomes regarding policies on reservation and domicile status, but this was not acceptable to the groups as the two core demands remained unmet.
Should Ladakh get statehood? Here we discuss the question.
Guests: Rangarajan R, former IAS officer and author of Courseware on Quality Simplified, and Sajjad Kargili, member of the Kargil Democratic Alliance.
Host: Vijaita Singh
Produced by Jude Francis Weston
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