Seven Districts, Two Councils: Ladakh's Arithmetic Problem After Reorganisation
Summary
The creation of five new districts in Ladakh in April 2026 — Drass, Sham, Nubra, Changthang and Zanskar — has taken the Union Territory from two districts to seven, and reopened a structural question about how it is governed.
●Ladakh has two Autonomous Hill Development Councils, at Leh and Kargil, constituted under the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council Act, 1997, whose Section 3 provides the statutory basis.
●On paper these councils handle district planning, budgets, development schemes, management of council land and collection of local taxes; in practice their authority is widely reported to have diminished since Ladakh became a Union Territory without a legislature under the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019.
●The arithmetic now creates its own problem: with seven districts and two councils, five districts have no council of their own, raising the question of whether the council model should be extended to all seven.
●Civil society groups — the Apex Body Leh and the Kargil Democratic Alliance — have pressed for stronger constitutional protection, variously framed as inclusion under the Sixth Schedule or a customised arrangement modelled on Article 371.
●The debate is the clearest current illustration of what happens when a territory loses a legislature without gaining an equivalent alternative.
Ladakh became a Union Territory without a legislature under the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, which bifurcated the former State of Jammu and Kashmir.
●It is India's largest Union Territory by area at roughly 60,000 sq km, and the least densely populated, with a population of about three lakh.
●Its distinctive institution is the Autonomous Hill Development Council, created for Leh and Kargil under the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council Act, 1997, whose Section 3 provides the statutory basis.
●Council functions include district planning, preparation of budgets, implementation of development schemes, management of council land and collection of specified local taxes.
●In April 2026 five new districts were created — Drass, Sham, Nubra, Changthang and Zanskar — taking the total from two to seven, without a corresponding increase in councils.
●Two civil society formations lead the demand for stronger safeguards: the Apex Body, Leh (ABL) and the Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA). Two constitutional models are debated: inclusion under the Sixth Schedule, which provides Autonomous District Councils with law-making powers in Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram, and a customised arrangement on the Article 371 pattern, under which special provisions have been made for several states.
The 1997 Act is ordinary legislation — Parliament can amend or repeal it. That is the difference the Sixth Schedule demand is really about.
◎ In Simple Words
Ladakh is India's largest Union Territory by area but has only about three lakh people. Until recently it had two districts, Leh and Kargil, each with an elected council that handled local planning and development. In April 2026 the government created five more districts, so there are now seven — but still only two councils. That means most of Ladakh has no elected local body of the kind Leh and Kargil have. Local organisations are asking for stronger, constitutionally guaranteed powers, because Ladakh has no legislature of its own since it became a Union Territory in 2019.
Factual Pointers
Practice · 2 questions
With reference to Ladakh, consider the following statements:
1. It is a Union Territory without a legislature.
2. The Autonomous Hill Development Councils of Leh and Kargil derive their authority from a Central Act of 1997.
3. Ladakh is included in the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution.
Which of the statements given above are correct?
The Sixth Schedule to the Constitution of India provides for the administration of tribal areas in which of the following states?
Federalism & Centre-State
This sub-topic has appeared in 12 UPSC Prelims questions.