It is unusual that Ladakh enters the national spotlight, as it has since October this year, when the final location survey of the Bilaspur-Manali-Leh (BML) railway track got underway. All-weather connectivity projects promise security and development to the Ladagspas, the people of Ladakh, but whether they achieve that purpose is understudied in mainstream media.
From a few hundred in the 1990s, the number of tourists arriving in Ladakh rose to about 2.7 lakh last year – almost the total population of the entire territory. While tourism is helping the local economy boom, it has also raised concerns over its effect on the fragile environment and ecology.
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The uncontrolled influx of tourists adds to the region’s growing environmental insecurity. While the water level is reducing considerably due to a mushrooming of hotels, a research paper detected contamination of ground water. This can be attributed to the popular use of non-traditional water-based toilets in these hotels and lack of sewerage system.
The region is also facing untimely melting of glaciers, resulting in severe shortage of water in summers. Sonam Wangchuk, the 2018 Ramon Magsaysay award winner, said in an interview that a major reason for this is the carbon emission from tourist vehicles.
Mass tourism has also led to waste piling up in the region. Pangong lake and other destinations are now littered with plastic waste. The tourism has also disturbed the ecosystem of wild animals. Wangchuk warns that if this issue is not addressed, Leh city will soon turn into a ‘deserted moonscape’.
As Sonam Angmo writes, the basic survival of Ladakh does not rely on its economic progress. Rather, it has more to do with its close relationship with nature.
Tso Moriri lake in Ladakh. Credit: Flickr CC BY NC ND 2.0
Connectivity or accessibility?
In October this year, the completion of the first phase of survey for the BML railway project was celebrated by the media as a strategic project by India. For New Delhi, all-weather connectivity to Ladakh challenges growing military developments across the borders of China and Pakistan. Ironically, it was during the outbreak of war with these two states that Ladakh saw the first road connecting it to the rest of the India.
The ill-road connectivity to Zanskar valley, where pregnant women still have to walk on the frozen Zanskar River to reach areas where they can deliver safely in winters, is testimony to connectivity-development in Ladakh. However, for New Delhi, this seems normal, as there is no external security threat in this part of Ladakh.
The popular narrative of all-weather connectivity to boost the economy of Ladakh by bringing more tourists is illogical. The mainstream media seems to be ignorant about the problems excess tourists cause.
For New Delhi, all-weather connectivity will not only help quick mobilisation and deployment of defence personnel, but would also ensure convenient transfer of rich natural resources out of Ladakh. It is only with time that the region will be susceptible to exploitation at the hands of corporate giants. Hence, the all-weather connectivity is more about accessibility to Ladakh’s resources.
Political insecurity
One must wonder how from an ancient Himalayan kingdom, Ladakh has been reduced to the districts of Leh and Kargil. Former ambassador and security analyst, P. Stobdan raises the concern of Ladakh’s political instability.
The only Member of Parliament (MP) from the region resigned from the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) because of unfulfilled promises such as making the region a union territory and including Bhoti under the eighth schedule of constitution. These promises were made by the BJP leaders during the 2014 election campaign. These longstanding demands, which Thupstan Chewang said in his resignation letter fell on “deaf ears”, are crucial to preserve the region’s cultural and social heritage.
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However, the state and Central governments are not the only parties to be blamed. The Ladakh Vision Document 2025 highlights the lack of formal structure to preserve cultural and social heritage of Ladakh within the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Council Development. This indicates lack of political will and vision among Ladakh’s leaders towards preserving its cultural and social heritage.
Army trucks in Ladakh. Credit: Flickr/Pranav Bhasin CC BY NC ND 2.0
Conclusion
To Ladagspas, all-weather connectivity means forcing them look South (Kashmir and New Delhi) for basic needs such as healthcare and education. Merely building roads and railway tracks does not amount to development. Ladakh’ security encompasses the security and development of its cultural heritage and environment. All-weather connectivity projects, at least presently, do not seem to address either.
Rather than empowering the region to survive and grow on its own, the thrust is on accessing this isolated region from the outside. All-weather connectivity to Ladakh, as of now, is more about New Delhi’s accessibility to the region. Internal connectivity is more necessary, to places like Zanskar, Nubra and Changthang, which remain cut off from Leh city during the winters.
Stanzin Lhaskyabs is a research scholar at the Centre for International Politics, Organisation and Disarmament at Jawaharlal Nehru University.