Statehood for Ladakh
Figure 1: No Copyright Infringement Intended
Context:
- Ladakh observed a shut down on December 13 to press for four demands — statehood for Ladakh, protection under Sixth Schedule of the Constitution, filling of 12,000 vacancies, allocation of two Lok Sabha seats and one Rajya Sabha seat.
Demands:
- Amending the Ladakh Autonomous Hill District Council (LAHDC) Act to clarify the role and responsibilities of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).
- Land, employment and cultural identity of Ladakh be protected under the Sixth Schedule.
About 6th Schedule:
- The Sixth Schedule consists of provisions for the administration of tribal areas in Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram, according to Article 244 of the Indian Constitution.
- It seeks to safeguard the rights of tribal population through the formation of Autonomous District Councils (ADC).
- ADCs are bodies representing a district to which the Constitution has given varying degrees of autonomy within the state legislature.
- The governors of these states are empowered to reorganise boundaries of the tribal areas.
- The roles of the central and state governments are restricted from the territorial jurisdiction of these autonomous regions.
- The councils are empowered to make legislative laws on matters like land, forests, fisheries, social security, entertainment, public health,
About Regional Council:
- The Sixth Schedule also provides for separate Regional Councils for each area constituted as an autonomous region.
- Each autonomous district and regional council consists of not more than 30 members, of which four are nominated by the governor and the rest via elections.