Sonam Wangchuk and the wider Nexus
Ladakh is home to at least 7 major glaciers, including the Siachin Glacier, famous for being the world's highest battlefield. Climatically, it is classified as a cold desert, home to some of the most unique animal species, including the elusive Snow Leopard, the cute-looking Himalayan Marmot, the Blue Sheep, the Eurasian Lynx, and the recently spotted beauty - the Pallas Cat. With an average altitude of 11,500 feet and 35% fewer oxygen molecules to breathe in as compared to the mean sea level, life in Ladakh is not everyone's cup of gur-gur tea.
On my first visit to this unique region, the one thing that struck me and has remained with me ever since then is the warm hospitality and kindness of the locals. It wasn't put up as a show for tourists like us; it was an innate part of their nature. They care for each other, for their environment, for the mountains and even for the outsiders who visit them and bring them a piece of the rest of India. They are minimalist, not hoarders. Their houses are simple, so are their hotels. In choc-o-block traffic, they don't berate or swear at each other like we would in our hot (headed) cities; they wait patiently for their turn to pass the narrow hill-sides, even helping other riders or motorists who are stuck in the slushy mix of melting ice and mud.
A majority of them have played some or the other role in the Indian Army, either as a soldier, a driver, a coolie, a guide, a gatekeeper, or a provider of all sorts. Having survived its extremely cold winters and warm summers, having traversed its many mountains and highest passes, they know the region like the back of their hand. Even in 2017, when I visited Ladakh, our 60-year-old driver (Angchuck Uncle, as we fondly called him) commented on the black soot that was being deposited on the white glaciers due to the rising number of diesel vehicles in the region that were required for the visiting tourists. "Our glaciers have started melting due to the increasing heat. It's no longer as cold as it used to be", he commented casually while wearing a thin jacket on his t-shirt, while we covered ourselves in 3-4 layers of clothing. It was 5°C, too cold for us Mumbaikars.
Fast-forward to 2025. To say that things have changed for Ladakh would be an understatement. Before 2019, Ladakh was a part of Jammu and Kashmir, an autonomous state with its own legislature. The then state of Jammu and Kashmir was divided into two federally administered territories of Ladakh and J&K. In effect, that meant that nobody from outside the state could buy land or invest in the state. From a defence perspective, that was a major hindrance considering the strategic location of J&K and Ladakh. With two-pronged threats from Pakistan on the west and China on the north and north-east, building defence infrastructure along the border was and will always be a government priority. Without these upgrades, India would always be at a relative disadvantage in a war.
While the revocation of Article 370 was widely celebrated in Ladakh, there was a simultaneous demand for statehood with a separate legislature and the implementation of the Sixth Schedule, a constitutional provision effective even in the north-eastern states of India that protects the tribal population and allows them to set up autonomous organisations that frame laws on land, health and agriculture. With nearly 97% of Ladakh's population being tribal, this is not an unjust demand. The locals rightly feel that this provision will protect their fragile and unique landscape from exploitation by TNCs and large industrial houses. While they do need more employment opportunities, the right to decide the type and size of new businesses that can be set up in this unique region must remain in the hands of the locals who understand the limitations of their environment better than any outsider.
"We never asked for only UT. We always wanted UT with a legislature. Srinagar was far, but Delhi is farther. Now, the funds that come from the Centre, only 10% of them go to the Council. If we have a UT with a legislature, then all the funds will come to the legislature. Now, the L-G (Lieutenant Governor), commissioners, and secretaries have become our rulers. We used to curse Article 370, because it was an obstacle in our way to becoming a UT. But it protected us for 70 years. Our land was totally safe. Even people from Jammu and Kashmir did not come here. But now Ladakh has been opened up for entire India. We have no safeguard. So many outsiders have now bought land here. A hotel chain has come up. It is snatching away livelihoods from locals." Apex Body, Leh (ABL) co-chairman and Ladakh Buddhist Association chief Chering Dorje Lakruk
One such example of land-grabbing or 'green-grabbing' cited by the locals is India's largest solar and wind farm being constructed on 48,000 acres of high-altitude pasture land in the Changthang Wildlife Sanctuary, known for its unique alpine tundra landscape and home to the Kiang (Tibetan wild assses), Himalayan Marmots, Wild Yak, Blue Sheep and Tibetan Gazelle. It is also the only known pastureland for the nomadic Changpa herders, who have used it as a grazing ground for the Pashmina goat for centuries. The pashmina shawl, woven from the fine wool of the pashmina goat, has a GI (Geographical Indication) tag and is sold as a luxury product in global markets, sustaining around 7000 local tribal families and earning Ladakh a large part of its income. It is an intricate part of its local culture and heritage, passed down from generations, that cannot be replaced. Without clear paperwork and land titles, local herders are afraid of being displaced from their ancestral grazing land permanently.
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| The Alpine Tundra landscape of the Changthang Wildlife Sanctuary |
The environmental and social impact assessment of this unique region should have highlighted these impacts before passing off such a large-scale project under the guise of achieving climate goals. A 'renewable energy project' that has the potential to destroy one of the most unique landscapes of India, which lies in a wildlife sanctuary and has a direct negative impact on the lives of the locals, cannot be passed off as a 'Green project' in any sense. We are not fulfilling any climate goals by risking the degradation of this unique landform.
In these pastures, those rights are under pressure. “Our life is tied to the land. We don’t worship money. We worship mountains, wind, water,” says Thinless Norbu, a herder from Debring. “If you take the land, you take our culture, gods and stories from us. This community can’t survive that.”
The 'State of India's Environment 2022', published by the Down To Earth magazine, highlighted the threat posed by a 40% increase in water spread in the Himalayan glaciers since 2009. On the backdrop of the recent torrential rain and massive floods in all the Himalayan states in 2025, this data needs to be further updated.
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| Source: Down To Earth Magazine |
With a majority of this increase in melting being seen in Ladakh and Himachal Pradesh, the Ladakhis have every right to be worried about the impacts of climate change on their fragile ecosystem and local livelihood. Mitigating the impacts of climate change while adapting to the changing climate would be an imperative for these mountainous states in the coming years. While Himachal and Uttarakhand have already experienced the deadly consequences of unchecked and unregulated development, with financial losses exceeding Rs 4000 crores, we still have time to ensure that Ladakh and J&K do not fall victim to similar unsustainable methods of development. Whatever happens in these upper riparian states would have a direct impact on the floodplains that are responsible for irrigating India's breadbasket. Simply put, if the glaciers in Ladakh, J&K, Himachal and Uttarakhand melt, we not only lose our dependable supply of hydroelectric power, but also risk losing our summer-time supply of water that irrigates thousands of hectares of farmlands in the Ganga, Indus and Brahmaputra basins. This food-water-energy nexus is crucial to the stability of the Indian subcontinent. Without this stability, we will experience a large-scale, climate-induced exodus of migrants from this fertile, resource-rich landscape.
This is exactly what Sonam Wangchuk, along with the Apex Body of Leh, has been demanding for the past 5 years. The man knows exactly what is ailing Ladakh. But more importantly, he also knows how to solve these issues. He is the one who invented the innovative ice stupas that store water in winter to be released for irrigation and domestic purposes during the dry summer months of Ladakh. This is the same man who also built the 'Portable Solar Tents', passively powered by solar energy and meant to be used for military or tourism purposes in high-altitude areas.
Instead of hailing him as a Climate Champion and a visionary leader, the home ministry has threatened to shut down his centres of innovation and education - HIAL (Himalayan Institute of Alternatives, Ladakh) and SECMOL (Students Education and Cultural Movement of Ladakh).
Can we, and should we, afford to have a one-track mind and only think about upgrading defence infrastructure and selling land parcels in Ladakh for short-term monetary gains under the garb of 'generating employment opportunities' for the 3,00,000 odd Ladakis? Or should we have a 'gur gur chai pe charcha' with the locals, including Sonam Wangchuk, to make good use of the indigenous wisdom that has preserved Ladakh's cultural and environmental heritage and prevented any major man-made ecological disaster in the area, unlike its neighbouring Himachal? That should be the question that our otherwise geopolitically wise government should be asking itself.
An innovator, scientist and a true patriot like Sonam Wangchuk does not deserve to be imprisoned under the draconian NSA, while those responsible for financial fraud, murder, and ecological genocides roam freely.
Sources:
1. https://indianexpress.com/article/political-pulse/we-used-to-curse-article-370-but-it-protected-us-now-ladakh-opened-up-for-entire-india-leh-apex-body-co-chairman-10276192/
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