🛑 Editorial | Ladakh’s Patience Is Running Out: New Policy Isn’t the Full Answer

By TheTrendingPeople Editorial Board | June 4, 2025

On June 3, 2025, the Centre announced long-awaited policy changes for the Union Territory of Ladakh — including 85% reservation in government jobs for locals, new domicile rules, language recognition, and one-third reservation for women in the hill development councils. These steps are being projected as a sincere attempt to respond to the region’s persistent concerns about identity, representation, and inclusion since Article 370 was scrapped and Ladakh was carved out as a UT in 2019.

But let’s not confuse administrative reform with political resolution.

These new measures may be a start, but for the people of Leh and Kargil, they are far from the finish line. In fact, they appear to be more of a firefighting measure than a nation-building strategy.

Locals Wanted Statehood. They Got a Policy PDF.

The popular demand from Ladakh has been loud and clear for five years:

• Full statehood
• Inclusion in the Sixth Schedule
• A second Lok Sabha seat
• Constitution of a Public Service Commission

What they’ve received is a policy notification — commendable in ambition but vague in execution. The 85% job quota for locals, for instance, sounds transformative on paper, but the rules haven’t been framed. Who qualifies as indigenous? Which departments will enforce it? What enforcement mechanisms are in place?

There is reason to be skeptical — as a parliamentary panel earlier revealed, not one of the 1,275 gazetted posts in Ladakh has been filled since 2019.

Domicile Clause: A Wall Against Migrants or a Band-Aid for Locals?

According to the new rules, a person will be eligible for domicile in Ladakh only after a continuous 15-year stay from 2019. That pushes eligibility for new residents to 2034. While this does protect Ladakhi land and demography, it also defers justice and opportunity for those who may have genuinely moved for service or business.

By contrast, Jammu & Kashmir’s revised domicile rule considers registered migrants who have stayed for 15 years eligible already. Why the double standard?

Language Recognition Is a Cultural Win, But Is It Enough?

The recognition of Bhoti and Purgi alongside Hindi, English, and Urdu as official languages is a welcome acknowledgment of cultural plurality. But languages thrive only in ecosystems that support them. Will this recognition come with funding for Bhoti-medium schools, digital content, and publications? Or is it another case of symbolic inclusion without infrastructural support?

Strategic Geography, Neglected Governance

Ladakh is not just another borderland. It is a geostrategic triangle wedged between China and Pakistan, both of whom have shown increasing diplomatic and military collaboration. Ladakh has been the epicentre of Chinese incursions since 2020. Ignoring Ladakh’s legitimate political aspirations is not only morally indefensible — it is strategically unsound.

When you have youth-led protests across both Leh and Kargil, demanding constitutional safeguards, it is not just a political movement. It’s a national alarm.

Delhi Needs to Act North, Not Just Look North

The Centre’s policy announcement feels more like a reaction to protests than a response to people. For a region that has consistently displayed nationalist sentiment, from Kargil War sacrifices to border patrols, the lack of constitutional dignity is glaring.

If the Northeast can be protected under the Sixth Schedule, if states like Nagaland, Mizoram, and Arunachal Pradesh can have local autonomy frameworks, why not Ladakh?

The Way Forward: Dialogue, Dignity, and Decentralisation

Here’s what must happen next:

• The High-Powered Committee, headed by Minister Nityanand Rai, must publicly table its roadmap, not sit on it.
• A Ladakh Public Service Commission must be established immediately, ensuring jobs for local youth.
• The demand for Sixth Schedule inclusion must be taken up in Parliament with tribal welfare experts, not just bureaucrats.
• Women’s political participation, now reserved at 33% in hill councils, should be extended to decision-making roles in UT administration.

Final Word: Policy Can’t Replace Political Empowerment

India has the moral responsibility to protect its most remote citizens, not just administratively, but democratically. Ladakhis didn’t demand charity — they demanded constitutional clarity and civic dignity.

The Centre has opened the door with these June 3 reforms. But unless that door leads to greater participation, autonomy, and respect, it risks becoming another closed chapter in the long story of centralised neglect.

Ladakh deserves better. And more than ever, India needs to show that its unity is not about sameness, but respecting the unique.