Months after the Centre approved the creation of districts in the Union Territory of Ladakh, Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena on Thursday gave his nod to the notification for the creation of Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Councils (LAHDCs) for each of them, stating that the move will "empower the people." This decision follows an announcement made by the Ladakh administration two months prior.
Context
With this initiative, the framework of elected local self-governance, previously limited to Leh and Kargil, will now extend to the five newly created districts in the Union Territory. In April, L-G VK Saxena notified the creation of new districts in Ladakh. This development comes at a time when representative groups from Ladakh — the Leh Apex Body (LAB) and the Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA) — are in discussions with the Ministry of Home Affairs, seeking greater democratic representation, a legislature, and protections for their land and environment under the sixth schedule of the Constitution.
Developments
The L-G emphasized that the establishment of the seven councils will decentralize and strengthen "participatory local governance, allowing local aspirations and priorities to be reflected more effectively in district-level planning and development." With the notification, LAHDCs will now be extended to all seven districts of Ladakh: Leh, Kargil, Sham, Nubra, Changthang, Zanskar, and Drass.
