Key Ladakh outfits reject centre’s plan

Key Ladakh outfits reject centre’s plan

Subject :Polity

• Ladakh’s two top socio-political bodies, the Leh Apex Body (LAB ) and Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA), on Saturday rejected the Union Home Ministry’s high-powered committee for protection of land and jobs for the people of the Union Territory.
• The bodies hardened their stand on four key points, which include granting Statehood and special status under the Sixth Schedule of Constitution.

High-powered committee for Ladakh

• The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in India has established a High Powered Committee (HPC) to address issues related to the protection of Ladakh’s culture, language, land, and employment opportunities.
• A 17-member committee has been constituted under the Chairmanship of Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai.
• The committee has been formed with the goal of promoting inclusive development and employment generation in the region, as well as empowering the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Councils (LAHDCs) of Leh and Kargil.
• Its mandate includes discussing measures to protect Ladakh’s unique culture and language, and to ensure that the region’s land and employment opportunities are protected for the benefit of its people.

Sixth Schedule

• The Sixth Schedule of the Constitution consists of provisions for the administration of tribal areas in Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram, according to Article 244 of the Indian Constitution.
• Passed by the Constituent Assembly in 1949, 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.
• In simpler terms, she or he can choose to include or exclude any area, increase or decrease the boundaries and unite two or more autonomous districts into one.
• They can also alter or change the names of autonomous regions without a separate legislation.
• Along with ADCs, the Sixth Schedule also provides for separate Regional Councils for each area constituted as an autonomous region.
• In all, there are 10 areas in the Northeast that are registered as autonomous districts – three in Assam, Meghalaya and Mizoram and one in Tripura.
• These regions are named as district council of (name of district) and regional council of (name of 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. All of them remain in power for a term of five years.
• The Bodoland Territorial Council, however, is an exception as it can constitute up to 46 members.