Col Satish Singh Lalotra
“When the road ahead seems impossible start the engine”–Anonymous
Ladakh the cold desert with its ubiquitous azure blue skies, shimmering lakes, Bactrian double hump camels and the ever elusive snow leopards has always been the cynosure of discerning tourists and visitors spanning timelines from across the globe. Ladakh still retains its numero Uno position in northern India to gravitate tourists of all hues to its rugged beauty irrespective of their pocket size, shape etc. Secluded from the outside world for hundreds of years and sitting on a huge pile of timelessness afforded by its geographically dauntless granite grey peaks, its first brush with modernity was in May 1948 when during the infamous Kashmir war of 1947/48 Air Commodore Mehar Singh (Baba) landed with the first DC-3/ Dakota aircraft of the IAF on a dusty piece of flat ground with an elite passenger in its belly, Maj Gen KS Thimayya as part of the big rescue operation of linking Ladakh with rest of India even while Pak tribals were closing in fast to tighten the noose around the peace and tranquility of that cold desert.
Lot of water has flown down the river Indus since then. Cut to the present times, Ladakh has suddenly been catapulted into the eye of a storm by three recent events which will have a long term implication for its thriving in a peaceful manner for times to come. All these events have started casting its shadow on each other thereby impacting the general life of a Ladakhi to no end. The abrogation of article 370, and formation of a separate entity in the form of UT (Union territory) Ladakh has raised the heckles of our northern neighbour which sees Ladakh as a larger part of Tibet autonomous region ,(TAR ) accusing India of changing the status quo thereby upping the ante in the high Himalayas. The above has goaded China to unilaterally flex its muscles in eastern Ladakh which resulted in coming face to face of two Asian Giants at Galwan in May/June 2020. Closely followed by the Chinese misadventure the region was under the onslaught of the pandemic Covid-19 which further shrunk the options of Ladakh to strike out on its own. Be that as it may, Ladakh has come out of its being as an appendage of J&K and has gingerly started to explore other vistas to develop in the right earnest.
The tourism industry accounts for almost 60% of Ladakh’s total revenue. More than half of population of Ladakh, in particular Leh district is dependent on this industry as a source of income, particularly in the short window of opportunity afforded by the ever changing weather from May to September. As per the “BOTT travel sentiment tracker” in partnership with 7 national associations, as many as 40% of companies faced the risk of closure in the past more than 1.5 years ,while 35.7% may go in for a temporary closure or shut down . The BOTT report further says that about 80% of travel and tourism companies have lost their revenues up to 100% whereas 15% of companies have witnessed it slide up to 75%. Making matters worse quite a few of these businesses are overleveraged. With no income coming in, but forced to pay installments with interest, the losses these businesses are incurring are possibly far worse than initial estimates. However there’s a silver lining to it, provided we see it. May be this is just the opportunity to slowly wean away many of the dependencies on tourism and diversify into other sectors. The pandemic for all you know may be a subtle indication to knock off the single-minded track of leaning on tourism as the sine quo non of this cold desert. But the current border standoff is like a proverbial sword of Damocles hanging over the heads of Ladakhis to be of any real arbiter of their destinies. In any case one can’t have an entire population hijacked by vagaries of geopolitical /national policies. As brought out earlier though tourism has brought the much sought after wealth and prosperity, it has extracted its pound of flesh too.
So what are the options available for income generation at the disposal of the locals? Well here steps in DIHAR (Defence Institute of High Altitude Research) a Leh based DRDO venture which is pioneering a collective sentiment of cold desert agriculture particularly the organic kind, the animal husbandry etc which could be one possible alternative to the conventional ones. Instead of building more and more guest houses, hotels etc why not grow a variety of crops around the year? In fact under the guidance of award winning scientist Dr Tsering Stobdan ,a research team from the “DIHAR” have found unique ways of helping small and marginal farmers in Ladakh double their crop productivity. These methods are helping them save water, without the use of chemical fertilizers or pesticides, to grow crops even like watermelons and tomatoes. DIHAR has on its rolls various programmes, pilot projects to enhance the overall ecosystem in Ladakh which they roll out from time to time. The main thrust areas of DIHAR has been to do basic research for providing enhancement of fresh vegetables and animal origin food ,exploitation of high altitude plant wealth for herbal product formulation ,up gradation of native livestock germ plasam ,semi permafrost based conservation of elite plant germplasm, post-harvest technology for agro-horticulture crops ,improvised hatching technology and extension services for ‘Lab to land “communication etc to name a few.
“DIHAR” has in fact provided the local Ladakhis with technologies like” Black polythene mulching” and building their own brand of passive solar green houses that can allow crops to form even through the harshest of winters . In fact Ladakh has some of the best varieties of apricots and sea buckthorn in the world and offers fertile ground for non- native crops like quinoa that are potential money makers. I distinctly remember sea buck thorn juice used to find favour with us while serving in the Siachen glacier in 1995 instead of the normal frooti juice cans provided to us by the army supply drops. To procure them special efforts used to be endeavoured to the Leh market by us to cater for their humongous demand in the base camp as well as the posts on the glacier. There is also the option of desert agriculture already practiced by the likes of Israel where one can grow large varieties of fruits and vegetables. This can help turn large tracts of cold desert into veritable greens given the right technology and necessary environmental clearances. Before Ladakh became a UT in Aug 2019 , there were major export restrictions on fruits and vegetables outside the region . Hence it is imperative that local authorities and farmers are coalesced into FPOs (Farmer producer organisations) to find ways for selling their produce at competitive prices in a larger market.
The Government of the day has even turned focus on building a major high altitude, all weather, snow free rail axis for connecting Ladakh to rest of India. This I am sure will go a long way in harnessing the true potential of the cold desert. In fact given the historical linkages of Ladakh region with the ‘Tarim basin & the Tibetan highlands it is desired that these historical linkages are given a new boost of life and injected with cultural and business opportunities which as of now stand in a moribund state. But with the present standoff at the LAC seeing no turn of abating all seems a fairy tale. Though opening of trade routes like the one from Demchok will be a very viable option to jumpstart on KM Yatra (Kailash Mansarovar) , it will also provide India to either branch off its trade deep into Tibet or into Xingjian since this route from Demchok joins Tibet-Xingjian highway . If one turns to the left you go further deep into the Xingjian region over the Aksai chin and on taking a right turn one goes deep into the Tibetan autonomous region. In other words the potential to boost up Ladakh’s fortunes are immense, but subject to national priorities on security. But as quoted in the beginning, when the road ahead seems impossible, start the engine.
(The writer is a retired Army officer)
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