In 2019, three Ministries gave nod to Ladakh’s tribal status

Weeks after the Union Territory of Ladakh was created in August 2019, three Ministries of the Union government gave a green light to the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) to recommend Ladakh’s inclusion as a tribal area under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution, according to minutes of an NCST meeting held on September 11, 2019, seen by The Hindu.

On Wednesday (September 24, 2025), protests in Leh town of Ladakh for Statehood and inclusion in the Sixth Schedule turned violent, leading to four deaths. The Union Home Ministry has accused climate activist Sonam Wangchuk, who has been the face of the protests in Ladakh, of allegedly “instigating” the violence.

Six years ago, weeks after the Union government bifurcated the erstwhile State of Jammu and Kashmir into two Union Territories – Jammu and Kashmir (with legislature) and Ladakh (without legislature) – the NCST had taken suo motu cognisance of the demand for the inclusion of Ladakh in the Sixth Schedule. In a meeting on September 11, 2019, it had recommended “after careful consideration” that the “UT of Ladakh be brought under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution”.

As per the minutes of this 119th meeting of the Commission, the panel had consulted the Ministries of Home, Tribal Affairs, and Law and Justice in a meeting on September 4, 2019, to discuss the issue. In this meeting, the Commission said that after deliberations, the “Ministries were of the opinion that they have no objection in case the Commission recommends for granting Tribal area status to the UT of Ladakh in the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution.”

Accordingly, the Commission had recommended the UT’s inclusion in the Sixth Schedule, also noting that before the creation of Ladakh as a UT, the locals had certain agrarian rights and rights over land that restricted people from outside the region from purchasing or acquiring land in Ladakh. In its recommendation, the panel said it felt that Ladakh’s inclusion in the Sixth Schedule would protect these agrarian rights, including rights on land.

The Commission also said it believed Sixth Schedule status to Ladakh would help with “democratic devolution of powers”, “preserve and promote distinct culture of the region”, and “enhance devolution of funds for speedy development of Ladakh region”. While the Ministry of Tribal Affairs issued a statement on this recommendation of the Commission at the time, this statement had left out the opinion of the Ministries. 

The Home Ministry told Parliament in December 2019 that the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council Act, 1997, already provided for the creation of autonomous hill development councils in the Ladakh region, the powers for which are “more or less in line with the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution of India”.

However, the following year, when the Hill Council of Leh went to polls in 2020, the Bharatiya Janata Party had promised constitutional safeguards for the region under the Sixth Schedule in its manifesto.

Yet, in December 2022, responding to a Parliamentary panel’s suggestion to explore the possibility of Sixth Schedule status to Ladakh, the Home Ministry had said, “The main objective for inclusion of tribal population under Fifth/Sixth Schedule is to ensure their overall socio-economic development, which, the UT Administration has already been taking care of since its creation. Sufficient funds are being provided to Ladakh to meet its overall developmental requirements.” 

Records of the NCST showed that the 2019 recommendation to include Ladakh in the Sixth Schedule came when the panel was under the chairmanship of BJP leader Nand Kumar Sai. The Commission had noted that a news clipping from August 2019 voicing Ladakhi leaders’ demand for Sixth Schedule status prompted it to take up the issue.

It said that it discussed the issue in its meeting that month itself and had then decided to call for a special meeting with the three Ministries, following which the recommendation was finalised.