Lessons from Ladakh more

Are autonomous hill councils the answer to Highlanders' woes? Not necessarily, if the Ladakh Hill Council is taken as an example. by Martijn van Beek 5her-e-Kashmir Sheihh Abdullah will, I have no doubt, do whatever lies in his power to improve your lot... In Ladakh you are backward and un- less you learn and train yourselves you cannot run the affairs of your country." Thus spoke Jawaharlal Nehru on 8 July 1949, addressing a crowd in Leh during his first visit to the Ladakh region of India's Jammu and Kashmir sLate. Ladakh's political leaders spent much of the next 40 years trying to convince the Centre that self-rule was not only possible, but necessary for the proper development of the region and the protection of its 'unique iden- tity'. The arguments they used to support Ladakh's case included na- tional security, patriotism, economic progress, and cultural preservation. For decades, 'Ladakhis practised the art of representing themselves as victims of state governments and bu- reaucrats in Srinagar, at best disinter- ested and at worst out to destroy Ladakh. If only the Ladakhis were left to themselves, went the argument, their society would regain its course towards general prosperity, ecological balance, and cultural richness. When, in September 1995, Ladakh's Leh district was finally granted a measure of 'independence' from Kashmir after decades of struggle, expectations were high among political leaders and the popu- lation at large (see Himal/vol 8 nos 2, Happier days: Krishna Rao, Thupstan Chhewang, Thikse Rinpoche, P. Namgyal ond others at the inauguration of the Hill Council. 4 & 5). Modelled on a similar admin- istrative arrangement for the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council, the Ladakh Autonomous Hill District Development Council (LAHDC) was given far-reaching powers in nearly all aspects of local government except the judiciary. At that time, the autonomous council formula was regarded by some as the most promising model for resolving the longstanding antago- nisms between jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh, the constituent regions of J&K. The National Conference party of Farooq Abdullah put an "au- tonomy" solution to the Kashmir problem high on its agenda, and two commissions continue to deliberate on a series of proposals. Some provi- sions of India's Panchayati Raj Act are to be incorporated into such a pack- age of administrative reform. The first Hill Council, dominated by the Congress party, is now halfway through its tenure and even the friendliest observer cannot fail to see the problems. The transition from 'agitation' to 'governance' has been a difficult one for the executives of LAHDC. Held responsible for every- thing from petrol shortages to inclem- ent weather, the popularity of the hill councillors among the people of Leh has declined steadily since they took the oath of office three years ago. They, for their part, blame the state government for obstructing their work. Whoever is to blame, frustra- tion is increasing among the popula- tion, whose alienation from state and local leaders is reaching a potentially dangerous level. 42 HIMAL 11/9 SEPTEMBER 1998 The spring of 1998 brought yet another election campaign to Ladakh, the fifth in less than three years. Months later than the rest of India, on 3 June, the "cold desert" region went to the polls to elect their Lok Sabha representative. The landslide victory of the National Conference candidate, Aga Syed Hussain of Kargil must be seen as a strong warning to the Council and the political estab- lishment in Leh. Since elections were first held in Ladakh in 1962, the Lok Sabha seat had always gone to a Bud- dhist candidate from Leh, and never to the J&K National Conference. Only in 1989, at the height of the communal agitation for Union Terri- tory status, was the seat captured by a Kargil Muslim, the independent Commander Ghulam Mohd. Hassan. This year's campaign was unusual in that no less than four parties con- tested: the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party also joined the fray, apart from the 'traditional' antagonists, the National Conference and the Congress (1). Candidates of the new entrants ate into the support of the incumbent, P. Namgyal, the re- spected and experienced former Union Minister of State and the Con- gress party candidate. During the campaign, even the Congress cam- paigners were hard pressed to come up with examples of the Council's achievements, and preferred to highlight instead the personal qualities of Namgyal. Indeed, the Council seems to have enough to answer for. Rather than taking Ladakh in new direc- tions, adopting appropriate devel- opment strategies, protecting local farmers, the environment and Ladakh's 'identity', it in effect merely continued along established paths. "The signatures are differ- ent, that's all," says one disillu- sioned Leh-pa. Corruption is said to be rampant; the pace of illegal construction in Leh continues un- abated; the education system re- mains in shambles; filth is piling up on the streets and stream beds; unemployment continues to rise; and prices are skyrocketing. Little wonder that people are disillu- sioned with their hard-won au- tonomous status. Blaming Farooq Before his election and induction into the Executive Council, candidate Rigzin Jora had said that "we will no longer have to blame outsiders, but only ourselves". However, old habits die hard, and the Srinagar govern- ment continues to be targeted by the Council and the Congress party. "The source of all evils", as the 1989 slo- gan had it, is accused of obstructing all initiatives taken by the Council. The complaints are not entirely unwarranted. Due to the 'normal- isation' of the law and order situation in the Kashmir Valley, the councillors soon found the sympathetic Gover- nor K.V Krishna Rao replaced by a 'popular' National Conference gov- ernment headed by their old nemesis, Farooq Abdullah. According to Con- gress members, Farooq has done ev- erything in his power to obstruct the Council. Indeed, under the Hill Council Act, reluctantly approved by the J&K Assembly in October 1997, the chief minister's power to do so is considerable. Practically all major decisions of the LAHDC, all plans, bud- gets and activities, have to be ap- proved by the state government. Chief Executive Councillor Thupstan Chhewang complains: "We have been having problems with func- tioning because whatever proposals we have sent, whatever rules and regulations are to be enacted with the concurrence of the government, all these issues have been pending with them for months." Chhering Dorjay Lagrook, firebrand MLA for Leh, of the Buddhist Association Youth Wing, says, "Basically, they are anti-Ladakhi. They have never made any conces- sion, whether it is ST [Scheduled Tribe status] or the Hill Council, with conviction, but only because they were compelled." Thupstan Chhewang gives the example of the 1997-98 budget. The LAHDC had asked for INR 360 million. The state government unilaterally re- duced the amount to INR 270 mil- lion, although later it did add an ex- tra five. Kargil, by contrast, had asked for only INR 230 million and, says Lagrook, "The government gave them also 27 crore [270 million]. Why should Kargil and Leh be given the same resources in this case, but not when it comes to schools, Develop- ment Blocks, and so on?" (The Hill Council Act provides for hill coun- cils for both of Ladakh's districts, Kargil and Leh, although only Leh has so far set up one and the Muslim-ma- jority Kargil continues to he admin- istered directly by Srinagar.) But opponents of the LAHDC leadership point out that the Coun- cil has not even been able to spend the 320 million it did get in the last budget. This invites unwelcome comparisons with the old district administrations, which had exhib- ited the same inability to spend al- located sums. Chhewang com- plains, "The money was released late, in September when the sea- son in Leh is practically over." Moreover, the Public Works De- partment was faced with an acute shortage of superintendent engi- neers to supervise several of the larger projects. The formulation of a Master Plan for the development of Leh town and its immediate surround- ings - what is known as the "Noti- Congress candidate P. Namgyal campaigning during the last Lok Sabha elections 1998 SEPTEMBER HIMAL 11/9 43 Prisoners of Shaneri-La THE RENOWNED Tibetologist, Donald Lopez Jr, re- cently published an excellent account of how Tibetan Buddhism in the West was decontextualised and sanitised. Lopez Jr, echoing a recent spate of similar warn- ings about the dangers of stereotyping Himalayan popu- lations and their cultures, suggests that such images deny full humanity to Tibetans and in the long run do more harm than good. For Ladakh, a similar story applies. This rose-tinted vision of the Himalaya and Tibetan Buddhism brings not only a significant number of tour- ists to the region, but also a generous flow of foreign aid. Ladakhis, never slow to cash in on a business op- portunity, have been effectively marketing their situa- tion to meet the expectations of Western donors, who more often than not tend to be badly infected with the Shangri-La bug. In line with Western expectations which are com- monly informed by Helena Norberg-Hodge's book, An- cient Futures: Learning from Ladakh (Sierra Book Club, 1991), Ladakhis have successfully represented them- selves as poor victims of Westernisation and what some call "industrial monoculture". At the same time, the population of Ladakh is deemed to possess the kind of social and economic characteristics and practices that are among the top criteria of contemporary sus- tainable development ideology: demo- cratic decision making, environmen- tal sensitivity, and little differentia- tion between rich and poor. Ladakhi ngos have become adept at emphasising their 'ancient' tradi- tions, incorporating the current de- velopment jargon, and successfully applying for funds. The success of groups such as the Ladakh Ecologi- cal Development Group (LEDeG), the Leh Nutrition Project (LNP), and, more recently, the Students' Educa- tional and Cultural Movement of Ladakh (SECMOL) in accessing a con- siderable amount of foreign funds over the past decade has led to a pro- liferation of ngos in Leh district. Al- most every village, it seems, now has some non-profit school project, while more and more environmental, rural development, and public health-oriented organisations are putting up signboards in Leh town. It could be argued, as some Ladakhis do, that it is only fair that the colonial powers repay some of the wealth they have extracted from the blood, sweat and tears of their former colonial subjects, although this is a problematic argument with respect to Ladakh (where the British were often seen and in some respects did act Sign of the times. as protectors of the interests of the locals against the usurpatory designs of the princely Dogra rulers). One famous Ladakhi ngo, which had been plodding along in what many locals and outsiders thought was an ^unproductive direction, suddenly in the Late 1980s re- ceived a vast increase in its funds through the effective marketing of both Ladakh and the project in line with Western expectations and stereotypes about the region. This economic equivalent of steroids promoted the rapid growth of the organisation and reinforced the negative trends which soon became evident in its work. In spite of more than a decade of vehement local criticism and warnings about the direction the project was taking, for- eign donors continue to line up to give money, partly encouraged by the reports of consultants equally blinded by the Shangri-La imagery. Several other ngos have gone through similar devel- opments, leading to great increases in staff, cars, and other "operating costs", while achieving little of sub- stance in the field. In a few recent cases, some foreign donors have finally owned up to the years of misman- agement that they themselves had encouraged and funded. These donors have either cut back support or pulled out altogether. But as one ngo leader points out, for every donor that pulls out, there are many more willing to take its place. The donors are keen to support projects which appear to meet the po- litically correct criteria of the day: com- munity participation, uplifting the poor, protecting the environment, empower- ing women. And how nice if all this can be done in Shangri-La! Ladakh appears to have it all: a barren but picturesque landscape inhabited by photogenic, smil- ing villagers; a warm, fuzzy 2500-year- old philosophy made safe for 20th-cen- tury Western new-agers, with a built-in ecological ethic; an "evil threat" in the form of Westernisation and (bonus!) Is- lam; and articulate English-speaking leaders who are excellent spokesmen for fund-raising efforts. Ladakhi ngos are the perfect 'coun- terpart' to the development industry, never mind whether all this money actually accomplishes very much. In any case, if the living conditions of the people in Ladakh continue to deteriorate, this merely indicates the need for more aid to the ngos . Already, every Ladakhi, it seems, has a guest house, a taxi, an STD/lSD/PCO shop, and a German Bakery. Be- fore long, there will be an ngo for every cause, every village, every monastery, every household. And the West- ern funders will still be clamouring for more. 44 HIMAL 11/9 SEPTEMBER 1998 fied Area" of Leh - has also been ob- aj structed by Farooq Abdullah's govern- | raent, maintains Executive Council- l lor for Public Works Sonam Dawa. A | draft plan was submitted to Srinagar suggesting changes, which were in- corporated and a final version resub- mitted. No action has been taken on it since, and so in the absence of the planned Leh Development Authority, unregulated development of the town continues. "People are expecting us to per- form, but how can this system func- tion if the government does not let it," asks Thupstan Chhewang. "A proper atmosphere has to be created. But every time there are elections, re- lations get strained, and it takes time to get relations back to normal. And every time there are elections we lose two months because the election code of conduct means that we cannot sanction any plans." Farooq Abdullah and Thikse Rinpoche at Lett's Gonpa Soma earlier this year. Commissioner vs Councillor The achievements of LAHDC have been few and far in between, even though it may seem to be a model of calm in comparison to the turbulence in other autonomous councils of India, such as Darjeeling and Jharkhand. While quite a few obstructions may indeed be attributed to ill will in Srinagar, it wouldn't be easy to absolve the Coun- cil of blame for its lack of perfor- mance. A common complaint is that the councillors have been more con- cerned with their status according to J&K state protocol than with estab- lishing a working relationship with the bureaucracy. "They have managed to antagonise the entire bureaucracy," points out Pinto Narboo. It seems undeniable that the councillors have lacked tact in dealing with the Indian Administrative Service officers as well as with local bureaucrats. According to the Hill Council Act, the Deputy Commissioner serves as Chief Executive Officer of the Coun- cil, and presides over meetings. But real power is supposed to lie with the Chief Executive Councillor, who is elected by the members of the Coun- cil from among themselves, While the previous Deputy Commissioner as- signed to Leh, P.K. Tripathi, was said to be very cooperative, his successor, claim the councillors, is creating se- vere obstacles. Allegedly obsessed with his own status and power - much like the councillors themselves, according to some - R.K. Goyal has been accused of incompetence and obstruction. Says Thupstan Chhewang, "They are posting very junior persons here. They have an ego problem because they cannot tolerate that a popularly elected official should be boss over them." Apart from the slowdown in all administrative affairs, the feud be- tween the Deputy Commissioner and the Chief Executive Councillor led to the enactment of a farce: on Republic Day last year, the two held separate, simultaneous flag-raising ceremonies as they could not reach agreement on whose prerogative this event should be. Meanwhile, the executive coun- cillors repeatedly scoffed at Farooq Abdullah, refusing to receive or even meet with him during his several vis- its to Leh over the past two years. Other than bickering with local and state bureaucrats, the apparently monolithic Congress-dominated Council has been diverted by inter- nal revolts. As early as the time of their swearing in, the councillors from Changthang were reported to have accused their colleagues of re- gional bias and even corruption. This winter, one of those involved in that episode, Councillor Rigzin Namgyal, defected to the National Conference, giving that party its first presence in the Council. More serious was the resignation of Khanpo Rinpoche of Thikse mon- astery, soon after his induction into the Executive Council in September 1995. He said in an interview in May that he did so because he felt he could strengthen the Council through his rapport with Farooq Abdullah. The Rinpoche, with a career in Ladakhi politics going back 35 years, ended up joining Farooq's NC, and was 'given' a Rajya Sabha seat as reward. Many are convinced that the Council's ineffectiveness has to do with the members' lack of political acumen and administrative experi- ence. The one executive councillor who had both, Mohd. Akbar Ladakhi, unfortunately passed away in June 1996. "Those remaining are amateurs, part-time politicians," said one ob- server. Currently, the most senior councillor is Sonam Dawa, a former Chief Engineer of J&K, who is re- spected for his integrity but accused of being too bureaucratic. Sonam Dawa himself makes no secret of the fact that he does not like the job, and . that he might seize the first opportu- nity to return to his previous position as Director of the Ladakh Ecological Development Group, a private organisation that has done much to promote sustainable development in the region. Fit to rule? When one considers the history of Ladakhi politics in the past decades as well as the ways in which consecu- tive Kashmiri governments have dealt with the region, the developments since regional autonomy was achieved in 1995 should not cause too much surprise. Among the first initiatives of the Council was the launching of a monthly newsletter, tadags Phonya. This newsletter is supposed to serve, together with local radio, as the main public information instrument of the Council. Yet, there are councillors who do not even know of its exist- ence, and its appearance is extremely irregular. Rumour and gossip remain 1998 SEPTEMBER H1MAL. 11/9 45 the main source of information among the population. If the Coun- cil is to survive the coming restruc- turing of the State's administration - which will be done on the basis of the recommendations of the long-delayed reports of the autonomy commissions and the Panchayati Raj Act - the people need to be informed more regularly and in more depth about what the Council does, and can do. There is little doubt that an aboli- tion of Leh's Hill Council, as has been threatened by Farooq Abdullah, would trigger a fierce, possibly vio- lent, response from sections of the population, especially the youth. Ladakh's representatives at the Cen- tral and State levels should work to- gether with the Council in a major effort to generate popular support for the institution of the Hill Council and the principle of autonomy in general. The councillors are required to look beyond the immediate party-political interests of the Congress. Similarly, Ladakh's leading National Conference members, such as Thikse and Togdan Rinpoches and Tsetan Namgyal, as well as the newly elected Kargil-based MP Aga Syed Hussain, must prove that they represent Ladakh's interests rather than those of Farooq Abdullah's or some faction within Lada kn- it is clear that 'independence' has not been enough. The present Coun- cil has a little more than two years left to show that Ladakhis are not only able to rule themselves, but that au- tonomy serves the demands for peace, prosperity and stability in the region. The state government will have to realise that the proper functioning of the Council is also in its interest. It is time to forget personal feuds and po- litical rivalries, and get on with the job that they were elected to do. The cost of failure would be enormous. Ask a Kashmiri. A M. van Beek teaches Ethnography and Social Anthropology atAarhus Univer- sity, Denmark, and is member of the permanent committee of the Interna- tional Association for Ladakh Studies. What's New at Pilgrims? Two Sandwich Shops and an Art Gallery! Pilgrims' -histti SAndwiah Shop overlooking Nagpokhri Hundreds of burgers and sandwiches representing the true taste and excellence of European recipes. Hatti prides itself on the strictest hygenlc conditions, best quality food, friendly and charming cafe, efficient service, and a convenient home-pack system. Garden seating is coming soon! Open daily 9 am to 8 pm. Telephone 415454 The Inner Eye Gallery Exhibiting the works of renowned Nepali and Indian artists & The M&W\ Sandwich Coffee i-ounge The perfect break after browsing the gallery and Pilgrims' huge collection of books and gifts. Both in Asia's largest bookstore PILGRIMSBOOKHOUSE, KOPUNDOLE Open daily 10 am to 8 pm. 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