High in arid Ladakh, the Magsaysay Award winner and climate activist was on a fast demanding justice for the marginal farmers and the downtrodden of the region being driven away by mega corporate projects that are sure to destroy the delicate ecological balance of the region. The people of India do not care, neither does much of the media
By Sujit Bhar
Every spiritual story in India connects with the hills of India, specifically the mighty Himalayas. It is as if the very aatma of India resides in the lap of the snowy cliffs. We have, historically, revered the mountains of our country. On the ground, though, plainspeople have barely had the time or inclination to acknowledge the contribution of the people of the hills in the development of this ancient civilisation.
The saints of myth used to travel from the plains to and through the Himalayas to gain divine knowledge, to try and achieve nirvana. But when the original people of the hills came down, wanting to teach the plainspeople some natural and age-old truths, telling them how actions from the plains can spell disaster for the abode of the divine, they came face to face with utter disregard and undiluted contempt.
In recent months we have seen how the virus of “development” has spelt disaster for the fragile subsoil of Joshimath in Uttarakhand, another pilgrimage gateway from the plains. We have also seen how rampant concretisation and urbanisation has harmed the delicate ecological balance in Uttarkashi. And now, we are witnessing the destruction of another delicate treasure of India, the ecology of the highest plateau of India, Ladakh.
While the plainspeople exulted in the obtuse and macabre joy of moving into another general election, politicians enumerating successes of mega projects, the media remained virtually quiet about one lonely man, Sonam Wangchuk, who was fasting in Ladakh, in temperatures as low as -15 degrees Centigrade, appealing all to stop mega projects in the hills. These projects, he said, will kill nature, kill humanity, and might even end up killing our ancient history. Few cared to listen.
India not only has had a tradition of protecting the environment, with our epics and our sacred texts advocating equal respect for the environment, modern India has also given itself enough laws that are meant to protect the environment from powerful lobbies that want to destroy nature for profit.
Yet, the political apathy towards the hills of India sustained. Policies adopted by Union governments for the highly sensitive climes of the hill regions over the years have not benefited humanity. And the entire approach to handling these regions has been flawed. As Wangchuk, an engineer, an inventor, a climate activist and a Magsaysay Award winner, says: “A top-down model of development and governance cannot work for the region which has its unique topography, culture and lifestyle.”
Basic objective
The basic objective of the “People for Himalaya” campaign, one Wangchuk associates himself with, is to secure the Himalayas from disasters caused by excessive corporatisation of the region over the years, in the name of development and pilgrim tourism.
As Wangchuk highlighted the ground realities in the Ladakh region, he announced a “border march”. He had just ended his 21-day hunger strike and was weak, yet joined hands with the “People for Himalaya’ campaign along with several civil society groups and activists from the Himalayan region. He pointed out how such extreme activities (termed “development”) have resulted in frequent extreme climatic events such as landslides, intense rainfall, floods, cloudbursts and heat waves alongside slow onset events of decreasing snowfall, rising temperatures and glacial melts.
The immediate outcome has been felt by the farming communities in the region, who saw drastic fall in crop yields. The basic thought that experts have espoused is that central planning has often failed. The top example was in the regulation of wetlands in the Himalayan region, with farming communities adversely affected by mindless policymaking in the corridors of power today.
On demand is a complete halt on mega infrastructures like large dams, railways and four-lane roads in ecologically sensitive areas, which alter the local geology and livelihoods of many. These have been supported by Guman Singh from Himalaya Niti Abhiyan and Atul Sati of Joshimath Bachao Sangharsh Samiti, Vimla Vishwapremi of Parvatiya Mahila Adhikar Manch, Aman Gujjar of Van Gujjar Tribal Yuva Sangathan and Anmol Ohri of Climate Front Jammu.
They pointed out that the most affected are landless labourers, Dalits, adivasis and women.
Excessive mining
They have also raised their voices against excessive mining in the Himalayan rivers such as Leh and Doodhganga. Mayalmit Lepcha from Affected Citizens of Teesta has expressed serious concerns over the ecological impacts of massive hydropower development proposed on the Brahmaputra and its river basins without the consent of local indigenous communities.
Within this Wangchuk held his fast, on a plateau at 9,800 feet where even oxygen is at a premium. He had demanded that Ladakh be given its statehood and included in the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution. He went on a hunger strike when his talks with the Union home ministry failed.
The Sixth Schedule, under Article 244 of the Constitution, grants constitutional protections to tribal communities and empowers them to establish autonomous development councils. The Schedule has provisions related to the administration of tribal areas in Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram through autonomous district councils. These councils have the authority to enact laws relating to the land, public health and agriculture. It was only natural that the Ladakh region be included in this schedule.
The fact that Wangchuk kept faith in his Gandhian principles and opted for a peaceful form of agitation, a Satyagraha, shows that his intentions rise above petty politics. He said: “We are followers of (Mahatma) Gandhi’s Satyagraha. We are demanding the fulfilment of the promises made to us by this (BJP) government through its manifestos which led its candidates to win parliamentary polls (in 2019) and hill council polls in Leh (2020).”
And he does have serious concerns about mega corporate projects planned in the region. When a part of Article 370 was abrogated, the Apex Body Leh, a coalition of various social groups (formed after the abrogation) had expressed serious concerns over a new industrial policy. Their apprehensions came true when news spread that 4,000 acres had been awarded to an industrial house in an incursive and intrusive measure that could be disastrous for the ecologically fragile region.
The entire policy seems to have been drafted and passed without involving local stakeholders. A high-level committee by the Union home ministry had been formed, but no solution has emerged.
Disaster creeps in
But the seeds of disaster had already been sown. Wangchuk said: “The Changthang grazers, famous for producing Pashmina wool, are being forced to sell their animals because over 20,000 acres of grazing land was taken by industrialists to set up their plants… we do not want solar energy at the cost of our people’s livelihood and dislocation… They are taking away our land because there are no safeguards available.”
Warm clothes from Pashmina wool are famous around the world and there are a large number of people whose very sustenance depends on this. Solar energy is no substitute for a person and a family’s traditional livelihood.
Inclusion in the Sixth Schedule would have protected these families. Also needed is a special look into the lives of the poor, those without voices. It is not that natural solutions aren’t available or possible to be invented. Wangchuk himself has shown this, gaining international fame. He invented the Ice Stupa technique that creates artificial glaciers, used for storing winter water in the form of a cone-shaped ice heap. With global warming killing most glaciers, these Stupas helped farmers find water resources in dry seasons.
When the government tries to ride roughshod over a person of such calibre and dedication, one finds sinister objectives in what the government wants to do.
In a democracy local human issues should be as important as defence priorities and industrialisation. In the name of Chinese incursions, large tracts of land in the region have been taken over by the military. These are regions that are fast losing all their natural beauty and their natural advantages, while those poor farmers and shepherds who depended on the land and their cattle are losing their livelihoods and would, soon, their lives.
Border tensions are something that a government is elected to handle. It is the responsibility of the government to ensure that these tensions do not overflow into people’s lives.
In these contexts, a Wangchuk is the only breath of fresh air today in India’s sacred hills.