PrintFriendlyLadakh gets, among others, 33% reservation for women in polls
The Modi Government has ‘rained’ Ladakh with several gifts, and all of them were crucial and long-standing issues. On June 3, 2025, President Droupadi Murmu signed a notification that grants 33% reservation for Ladakhi women in elections; 85 per cent job reservation for the locals; and official status for local languages like Bhoti and Purgi.
It is learnt that English will remain the language used in all government offices, and the other languages like Hindi, Bhoti, Purgi and Urdu will come under special promotional schemes of the government. The local people in Ladakh have been demanding official status for Bhoti and Purgi for a long time now. Their contention was that until such a promotional scheme was done. Bhoti is a language of the Buddhists in the entire Himalaya range from Kashmir to Arunachal Pradesh; and Purgi is the language of the Baltis(Shia Muslims) of Ladakh, mainly in the Kargil side of the region.
It is of great importance that the 33% reservation for women would enable the local women to contest the upcoming Hill Council elections both in Leh and Kargil. This is a historical move by the Modi Government to uplift the local women and make them participate in electoral ‘battle’. Except for the former queen, the late Diskit Angmo, who was elected MP decades ago, there has been no elected woman member in the history of Ladakh in any of the legislative bodies.
The Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Councils Regulation 2025, states that no less than one-third of the total number of seats in the Councils shall be reserved for women, and such seats may be allotted by rotation to different territorial constituencies. Experts believe that this provision is directly in line with the spirit of the Nari Shakti Vandan Act. This Act provides for a 33% quota for women in the Lok Sabha and state Assemblies. Ladakh has only Councils, one each in Leh and Kargil, but without legislative powers. It is in this context that one of the demands refers to Councils with legislatures.
The immediate gain is the increase in the number of women present in the legislative council will move up to 5 to 6 women holding office which is a historic landmark in the politics of Ladakh.
On the job reservation issue, the locals will get 85% reservation in government jobs, and for others like the children of Central government officials, there is a ‘domicile tag’ that enables them to be ‘locals’. Such people will have to show that they have been living for 15 years continuously as residents of Ladakh from October 31, 2019. This date and year are very significant for Ladakh because the day is celebrated as Ladakh’s Foundation Day.
To make the whole thing a little simpler in terms of explanation, President Droupadi Murmu notified the Union Territory of Ladakh Reservation (Amendment) Regulation, 2025, which amends the Jammu and Kashmir Reservation Act, 2004, in Ladakh’s context. As per the new provision, it substitutes a section in the 2004 Act which had capped the reservation at 50%, but now it gives a raise in the total percentage of reservation to 85%, excluding the reservation for Economically Weaker Sections (10%). And that makes the total reservation for government jobs in the UT stand at 95%. And that, it is said, is one of the highest in the country. Such reservation facilities have been provided for tribal areas in the North-East states of the country too, but the reservation percentage does not go beyond 80%. For instance, in Arunachal Pradesh, there is a reservation of 80% for the locals. And, “these reservation facilities”, as a journo-friend says, “are there all because of the need to uplift the absolutely backward people who have been denied their rights for decades.”
Actually, Ladakh’s main demands are yet to be taken up for discussion by the High-power Committee headed by Minister of State Nityanand Rai, and the Apex- KDF bodies of Ladakh. The government, in their latest meeting, had assured the Ladakhi leaders that their main demands too would be discussed in the next meeting, likely to be held in July.
Specifically, Ladakh has been seeking the grant of Sixth Schedule of the Constitution and Statehood in place of Articles 370 and 35A which were abrogated on the 5th of August, 2019, thereby creating two UTs of J&K and Ladakh. Apart from this other pressing demands are : Two MPs, each from Leh and Kargil. That is, however, no more in the talks-frame because that can’t be granted until the delimitation process, currently on, is complete. Presently, the region has only one MP, and no MLAs and MLCs because the two Hill Councils in Leh and Kargil are not legislative bodies.
The Modi government has told the Ladakhis on numerous occasions that the Centre is committed to fast-track all the developmental activities in the UT, Ladakh, to meet the aspirations of the local people. In 2024, the Centre created five new districts in Ladakh: Zanskar, Sham, Drass Nubra and Changthang. Right now, there are only two districts: Leh and Kargil, and the five others are in the process of being set up.
Soon after President Murmu had signed the notification on such a largesse for Ladakh, the news spread like wildfire. And the people of Ladakh were in a joyous mood of celebration all over the region. Various women groups, in particular, were so overjoyed that they held press conferences to thank Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and all those officials at the local level who were instrumental in taking up their issues. They also met the Hill Council Chairman in Leh to thank him and express their heartfelt gratitude for taking up these issues. Now that they would have a ‘big say’ in the local affairs, they are hopeful that things would change dramatically, particularly in the affairs of women who never had a good share in decision-making regarding the overall progressive measures at the local level.
To sum up, one can say that good wishes, particularly demands that are genuine, get resolved. It is quite possible that, at times, they get delayed; but as one of the leaders quoted the proverb saying: “It is better late than never. Now that the local women are going to be empowered in a great way, Ladakh will surely look forward to a more progressive and happier region hereafter.”
And then the fact that reservation that goes up to as high as 95% for the local youths in government jobs, plus the official recognition of the local languages, Bhoti and Purgi, will go a long way in taking the backward and landlocked region of Ladakh to a higher platform of social and political developments. Happiness took over the locals, they had never expected that they would get all this together in one go. The nature of their joyful expression had a lot to thank the Central government, particularly Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah.
As much as , the Centre’s move is a pertinent and a timely way to assuage the sentiments of the region’s native population who had been, of late, expressing their anger that they had been left out of the overall developmental schemes of the country. In fact, there had been rallies and agitations in the last one year seeking Constitutional safeguards to protect their land, environment, language and culture.
Keeping all this in view, the Modi Government has surely done a good job with the recent gifts for Ladakh, and one hopes that their other demands also get fulfilled in the near future. In fact, one of the leaders who was among those in talks with the Central government recently told, at a press conference, that the Central government is ready to listen to their other demands and look for a solution. However, the delegation was told by the government that such things take time for any kind of resolution because a number of Central government departments have to go through and approve the demands.
Box for inset:
Jan3, 2023: Committee formed to address Ladakh issues
Nov 30: Committee reconstituted with new members.
March 4, 2024: Talks begin between the government and the Ladakh leaders but fail to arrive at any conclusion.
Oct 21 2024: The Centre agrees to resume talks.
Dec 3, 2024: Talks held again but no outcome.
Jan 15, 2025: Talks resume, and some signs of hopes arise.
May 27, 2025: Some of the demands like domicile and job reservation, language issues are sorted out. 33% reservation for women in elections; 85% job reservation for locals; and Bhoti and Purgi languages are official languages.
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(The views expressed are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect the position of the organisation)