Sonam Wangchuk, the climate activist from Ladakh, along with his friends and supporters, are continuing their indefinite hunger strike in New Delhi to press for their demands to include Ladakh in the Sixth Schedule of the Indian Constitution.
The Sixth Schedule provides exclusive rights to people living in a particular setting or geographical location; with special focus on tribal populations.
Ladakh was given Union Territory status in 2019 after it was bifurcated from Jammu and Kashmir.
The people of Ladakh have since raised the Sixth Schedule demand, although the stalemate continues between the Ministry of Home Affairs and the representatives of the Ladakh Apex Body and the Kargil Development Authority.
Former AAP leader and politician Yogendra Yadav paid a visit to the visionary activist from Ladakh.
Wangchuk told Yadav that “Ladakh has 97 per cent of the ethnic population, and therefore there should be no problem for the Centre to extend the Sixth Schedule to Ladakh.”
He then added that “a lot of promises were made when Ladakh was declared as a separate UT in 2019. However, nothing promised has been done, which is why we are here protesting for it.”
In a video interview with Yadav, Wangchuk displayed the manifesto letter of the BJP 2019 promising them the extended Sixth Schedule.
All of North India depends on the Himalayas for water resources, and hostility towards Mother Nature will mean catastrophic results to the population of this nation, he added.
“The fight we are fighting is not just for the Ladakh region, but this is a fight of the entire nation that is being fought by Ladakh.”
While India was a democracy, there is no democracy in Ladakh as one man as lieutenant governor forces his own will on the UT, the activist said.
“Those people who are parachuted to such places often take two years to learn and one year to make mistakes, and when they are able to understand (the situation) they are removed from office.
“This needs to end, and there must be a proper legislative assembly in Ladakh,” Wangchuk said.
His fight he said “is for democracy, environment, future, and truth.
“Promising things in the manifesto and refusing to fulfil them is setting a bad precedent for the political leaders and democracy in front of the future generations,” he said.
Urging “everyone to fight for the truth through peaceful means to protect the environment for future generations,” he advised people to observe a “Himalayan fast” for one day and then raise awareness about their fast on social media, which will encourage more people to join and understand the importance of climate change.
“On a day when people decide to join our climate fast, they don’t just need to eat less; rather, they should try to minimise the usage of electricity.”
He said, “While the eco-sensitive places are witnessing floods, landslides, and destruction of the natural resources, the metropolitan cities are overusing electricity, causing the destruction of the entire Himalayan ranges and the populations residing alongside it.”
Towards the end of the interview, Wangchuk added, “I am requesting people to use minimum electricity because what you see dropping from the ACs is not water but the blood of the animals who lost grazing land and the people who lost the green pastures because of greed.”
People can easily live a comfortable life with 10 per cent energy demands, but because of the greed of the people, 90 per cent of the Himalayas was being destroyed, he said.
“Those who consider themselves educated are the ones contributing to the degradation of the climate; if education doesn’t make you climate sensitive, then it is better to be illiterate, like those who survive on very little resources and still safeguard their climate as they understand the consequences of the climate destruction, ” he concluded.
Follow us
