At a meeting of September 11, 2019, the National Commission for Planned Tribes recommended “after careful consideration” to “UT from Ladak to be subjected to the sixth schedule of the Constitution”. | Photo Credit: Neither
Weeks after the Ladakh Union was created in August 2019, gave three ministries of the Union Green Light the National Commission for Planned Strains (NCST) to recommend Ladakhovo integration as a tribal area according to the sixth schedule of the Constitution.
On Wednesday (September 24, 2025), the protests in Leh Ladakh for statehood and integration into the sixth schedule were forcibly changed, leading to four deaths. The Ministry of the Interior of the Union was accused by the climate activist Sonam Wangchuk, who was the face of the protests in Ladakh of alleged “incitement” of violence.
Six years ago, weeks after the Union’s government, the former status of Jamm and Kashmir was divided into two trade union territories – Jammu and Kashmir (with legislation) and Ladakh (without the legislative corps) – NCST took Suo Motu awareness of integrating Ladakh into the sixth plan. At a meeting of September 11, 2019 he recommended “after careful consideration” to “UT Ladakh to be subjected to the sixth schedule of the Constitution”.
According to the minutes of this 119. The Commission’s meeting at the meeting of September 4, 2019, the ministries of the home, the tribal matters and the law and justice were consulted to discuss the matter. At this meeting, the Commission stated that after the negotiations “the ministry believed that they had no objection in case the Commission recommended to provide the status of the tribal space of the UT in Ladak in the sixth plan of the Constitution”.
In accordance with this, the Commission recommended the integration of UT into the sixth schedule and also noted that before creating Ladakh as UT, the locals had certain agrarian rights and land rights that limited people from the external region before buying or obtaining land in Ladak. In its recommendation, the panel said that it believes that Ladakhov’s integration into the sixth schedule will protect these agrarian rights, including land rights.
The Commission also stated that they believe that the status of the sixth schedule Ladakh would help with “democratic transfer of powers”, “maintaining and supporting the region’s culture” and “strengthen the transfer of funds for the rapid development of the Ladakh region”. While the Ministry of Major Affairs issued a declaration of this recommendation of the Commission at that time, this statement omitted the Ministry’s opinion.
In December 2019, the Ministry of the Interior said in December 2019 that the Ladakh Hill Act of 1997 has already established the creation of autonomous councils for the development of the Hill in the Ladakh region, for which it is “more or less in accordance with the sixth Indian Constitution”.
However, the following year, when Hill Council of Leh left for public opinion surveys in 2020, the Bharatiya Janata party promised constitutional guarantees for the region according to the sixth plan in its manifesto.
In December 2022, however, responding to the proposal of the parliamentary panel to explore the possibility of the sixth schedule for Ladakh, the Ministry of the Interior stated: “The main goal for incorporating the tribal population under the fifth/sixth schedule is to ensure that their overall socio-economic development, which is already old.
The NCST records showed that the 2019 recommendations to include Ladakh in the sixth schedule came when the panel was under the chairmanship of BJP Nand Kumar Sai. The Commission noted that the crop of August 2019 reports expressing the demand of leaders Ladakhi for the sixth schedule caused her to take over the problem.
He said he discussed this month about this meeting and then decided to call for a special meeting with the three ministries, after which the recommendation was completed.
Published – 26 September 2025 21:35
