SRINAGAR: Ladakh is likely to receive a new set of special constitutional safeguards under Article 371, with Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs and Minority Affairs Kiren Rijiju saying the Centre is committed to providing the Union Territory with a customised framework to protect its culture, traditions and interests.
Rijiju made the announcement during the Silver Jubilee Founder’s Day celebrations of the Druk Padma Karpo School at Shey in Leh on Friday, saying the process was being worked out by the Ministry of Home Affairs under the guidance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“Ladakh will soon get special provisions under Article 371 as an exceptional case,” Rijiju said, adding that Home Minister Amit Shah had already given a commitment to the people of Ladakh on the issue.
The announcement is significant because Ladakh currently has no legislature and has been seeking stronger constitutional safeguards since it was separated from Jammu and Kashmir and made a Union Territory in 2019. Ladakhi political and civil society groups have been demanding protection for land, employment, culture and tribal interests, along with greater political representation. They have also sought statehood and inclusion under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution.
Rijiju’s remarks indicate that the Centre is moving towards an arrangement specifically designed for Ladakh rather than simply extending an existing constitutional provision applicable to another state.
In July, Ladakh Chief Secretary Ashish Kundra had said that the Centre and Ladakh leadership had reached an in-principle understanding on a customised Article 371 framework for the Union Territory. The proposed arrangement envisages a Union Territory-level institution above the district councils, with legislative, executive, financial and administrative powers.
The Ladakh administration has also decided to establish Autonomous Hill Development Councils in all seven districts of the Union Territory. Until now, such councils existed only in Leh and Kargil. Five new districts — Sham, Nubra, Changthang, Zanskar and Drass — were created this year, taking Ladakh’s total number of districts to seven.
The emerging arrangement therefore appears to have two components: stronger grassroots institutions through district level councils and a new Union Territory level constitutional mechanism under Article 371.
Rijiju said the earlier arrangements relating to autonomous councils did not provide the same level of empowerment and that preparations were now underway for the new framework.
Article 371 and Articles 371A to 371J form part of the Constitution’s special provisions for particular states and communities. These provisions have been used to accommodate distinctive social, cultural, customary and administrative circumstances in different parts of the country.
The constitutional arrangement being discussed for Ladakh would be important because the region’s principal political demand since 2019 has been for safeguards that can protect its distinctive demographic and cultural character.
The Sixth Schedule, which Ladakhi groups have repeatedly demanded, provides autonomous district and regional councils in tribal areas of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram. Such councils possess legislative, judicial, administrative and financial powers over specified matters, including aspects of land, forests, social customs and local governance.
The Centre, however, has previously indicated that it was not prepared to extend Sixth Schedule status to Ladakh, while offering to consider Article 371 type protections instead.
The proposed Article 371 arrangement could therefore become the Centre’s alternative constitutional response to Ladakh’s demand for stronger safeguards.
The move comes after prolonged negotiations between the Union government and representatives of Ladakh, including the Leh Apex Body and the Kargil Democratic Alliance.
Ladakhi groups have sought not merely cultural protection but also an elected political institution capable of exercising meaningful authority over the administration of the Union Territory. In July, representatives were still awaiting a draft from the Ministry of Home Affairs on the proposed structure of an elected UT-level body and the promised constitutional safeguards.
The proposed framework announced by the administration would place such a body above the seven district councils and give it legislative, executive, financial and administrative powers.
This could represent a substantial change in Ladakh’s governance architecture, which since 2019 has been administered directly as a Union Territory without an elected Legislative Assembly.
Rijiju also said Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to visit Ladakh, although he did not announce a date.
He said Modi had a special focus on Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir and the Northeast and had wanted to visit the region for a long time to share his thoughts with the people.
The Prime Minister is expected to inaugurate or launch development projects during the visit, with some projects already nearing completion.
Rijiju credited Modi’s government with what he described as a major transformation of Ladakh over the past decade, particularly in road connectivity and other infrastructure.
He also referred to the creation of the five new districts, saying the changes would eventually benefit the population by bringing administration closer to people. He said a High Court bench would also be established in Ladakh in the near future.
Rijiju portrayed the proposed constitutional safeguards as part of a wider transformation of Ladakh since it became a Union Territory.
He said journeys that previously took days could now be completed within hours because of improved road connectivity and argued that the creation of new districts would further strengthen administration and development.
But for Ladakh’s political groups, the question is not only about development. Their central concern has been whether the region’s land, employment opportunities, culture and political interests will have adequate constitutional protection in the absence of statehood.
Rijiju’s announcement that Ladakh will receive special provisions under Article 371 therefore marks a potentially important shift in the Centre’s approach.
The precise nature of those provisions, however, remains to be formally spelt out. The extent of powers to be granted to the proposed UT-level institution, the relationship between it and the Hill Development Councils, and the safeguards for land, employment and cultural interests will determine how far the new arrangement addresses the demands that have driven Ladakh’s political movement since 2019.
For now, the Centre’s commitment represents a move towards a Ladakh-specific constitutional model under Article 371, rather than the Sixth Schedule framework that Ladakhi groups had originally sought.
