Changpa Community

Subject: Geography

Context:

The ongoing Chinese army intrusion in Chumur and Demchok has left Changpa community cut off from large parts of summer pastures.

Concept:

• The Changpa are a semi-nomadic people: they usually stay in one place for a few months in a row, near pastures where their sheep, yaks and Pashmina goats can graze
• They are mainly found in the Changtang, a high plateau that stretches across the cold desert of Ladakh.
• The process of migration from plain areas to pastures on mountains during summers and again from mountain pastures to plain areas during winters is known as transhumance.
• The Pashmina goat is a breed of goat inhabiting the plateaus in Tibet, Nepal, parts of Burma and neighbouring areas of Ladakh in Jammu and Kashmir, India.
• It is also known as ‘Changthangi’, ‘Changra”.
• They are raised for ultra-fine cashmere wool, also known as pashmina once woven.

• Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has published an Indian Standard for identification, marking and labelling of Pashmina products to certify its purity.
• The certification will help curb the adulteration of Pashmina and also protect the interests of local artisans and nomads who are the producers of Pashmina raw material. It will also assure the purity of Pashmina for customers.

Additional information:

• Chiru goat also known as the Tibetan antelope is a ‘near threatened’ species whose underfur isused for making the famous Shahtoosh shawls.