Chhewang Dorje
The people from Zanskar Sub-Division under the banner of All Zanskar Coordination Committee, (which was specially formed to spearhead the movement for district and separate Assembly seat for Zanskar Sub-Division) held a strong protest demonstration at Padum, Zanskar on 11th March and blocked the main road of the Padum, the administrative headquarter of the Zanskar Sub-Division and this protest demonstration was followed complete shut down demanding separate district status and separate Assembly seat for Zanskar Sub-Division. All the religious, political organization and merchant association from the Zanskar Sub-Division supported this protest and shut down to demand separate district status for Zanskar Sub-Division with its headquarter at Padum, Zanskar and for separate assembly seat for Zanskar Sub-Division. It is pertinent to mention here that this demand from Zanskar has been there for long time now and most of the political parties have contested election with the manifesto of separate District for the Zanskar Sub-Division and have been able to register their victory on the plank of separate district and separate assembly seat for Zanskar Sub-Division.
Zanskar Sub-Division is one of the oldest tehsils in the Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir, as it was formed with the Leh and Kargil Sub-Division but subsequently at the later stage Leh and Kargil was carved out as separate Districts in the year 1979. Following the partition of Ladakh into two district of Leh and Kargil in 1979, Zanskar got separated from the Leh district. And it was combined with the Kargil district and reconstituted into a Sub -Division of the Kargil district. So despite being one of the oldest tehsil in the region, this region is still languishing under the remotely located Kargil administration. Given its spatial and demographic extent, Zanskar has been given the status of a Sub-Division, in order to bring the administration closer to the people of the areas, the power of Sub – Divisional Magistrate, who is an overall in charge of the Sub-Division, was increased by giving him the power of Area Development Officer by the Ladakh Affairs department of the State Government in 1986. The duties of the SDM, within his sub-division are almost similar to those of the Deputy Commissioner at the District level. As the administrative remoteness and the inconvenience of administering Zanskar Sub Division from the Kargil was recognized by this Government in the year 1986 and accordingly SDM Zanskar was delegated with the power of Deputy Commissioner but under the overall supervision of the Deputy Commissioner. Due to this supervisory power given to the Deputy Commissioner, Kargil, Zanskar Sub-Division is facing the problem of Administrative remoteness. With majority of people dependent on the agriculture, the Zanskar Sub-Division presents a picture of complete neglect with its residents accusing the Government of not doing anything to improving the road infrastructure and improving the standards of living. Residents of areas complain that the Government has failed to complete many key projects including the most important and eagerly awaited Nimmo – Padum – Darcha, Inter State Road project. Several roads that connect the constituency to the rest of the Ladakh are in bad shape leading to problems of commuting for the residents. One such road is 245 kilometers Padum – Kargil road that connects the constituency to its District headquarter Kargil. Residents of Zanskar said that due to the dilapidated condition of this road taxi drivers are either discouraged to ferry passengers or charge exorbitant prices for the same. “Several vehicles have broken on this dangerous road and that has marred the transport service to this area,” a local said. One more such road is 259 Km Nimmo – Padum – Darcha Road that connects the state of Jammu and Kashmir with its neighboring state of Himachal Pradesh. Government has failed to complete this inter state road project and this road project is notoriously infamous for its missing deadlines. The road would have connected the Ladakh region to the Himachal Pradesh and would have become lone all weather surface connectivity for strategic Ladakh. This Nimmo-Padum-Darcha road project has been approved by the Central Government way back in 2000 but this road is nowhere near completion and now deadline for its completion has been extended to 2021 and this is not for the first time that this deadline has been extended.
The people of Zanska have, for long time, been demanding separate district status for the Zanskar Sub-Division, with its headquater at Padum, Zanskar, which can help promote and accelerate the pace of development and ensure all round development. During the winter month the enitre Zanskar Sub-Division remains cut off from rest of the country and even from its admiistrative headquarter, Kargil for alomost for 6 months with no air connectivity to this strategic track of land, which makes it impossible for the people to visit other parts of the country for various purpose. The remotenes from its administrative headquarter, Kargil and inaccessbility of the area makes the area eligible for establishing as a separate district with separate assembly constituency for the Zanskar Sub-Division. Currently, the Zanskar Sub-Division forms a part of the Kargil distrcit of the state of the Jammu and Kashmir. There has been persistent demand from the region for the creation of separate district and separate assembly constituency claiming that the tough and distinct topographic condition and unique cultural status, the Zanskar Sub-Division deserves a special treatment particularly due to the distance from the district headquarter, Kargil.
In terms of the electoral district the Zanskar Sub-Division falls in the disputed Zanskar assembly constituency named after the region but it is for the politics of gerry mandering that the Sankoo region having higher population than the Zanskar Sub -Division has been included in the Zanskar assembly constituency, giving Zanskar region a very slim chance for electing it’s own leader from Zanskar in the assembly. Zanskar Assembly Constituency, the best example of gerrymandering you will ever see. Gerrymandering means redrawing political boundaries to give one party a numeric advantage over an opposing party, but here in this case it is the one region favored over an other region.
Underlying all these in the Zanskar assembly constituency is a numbers game fixed in favour of the Sankoo region of the Kargil District. The delimitation of the assembly constituencies by the 20th amendment act 1988, according to which the strength of the JK legislative assembly has been increased to 111, has not empowered Zanskar to elect a representative who can voice its concerns in the Assembly. Because Sankoo region, otherwise not part of Zanskar Sub Division has been included in the Zanskar Assembly Constituency and this region with larger population than the Zanskar Sub Division in the Zanskar Assembly Constituency, use their dominance to determine the winning candidates in the Zanskar Assembly Constituency so leading a candidates from Sankoo winning from MLA Zanskar seat, who area least concerned about the development of Zanskar Sub – Division. The Zanskar Assembly Constituency is the highest case of gerrymandering as pick and choose has been done for demarcation of this assembly constituency. As Rangdum which falls in the Zanskar has been excluded from the Zanskar assembly constituency ( included in the Kargil assembly constituency) and Sankoo which does not fall in the Zanskar has been included in the Zanskar assembly constituency.
The issue of gerrymandering of the Zanskar assembly constituency should be rectified at the earliest as it violates the constitutionally granted right to seek representation for the marginalized population in the temples of democracy. So neglecting the population from the Zanskar Sub-Division in the legislative assembly does not go well with the ethos of the representative democracy. Because of the political marginalization of the strategic Zanskar Sub-Division in the corridors of power, their interest tend to be marginalized and ignored altogether.
The present demarcation of Zanskar Assembly Constituency also violates the two basic tenets of electoral apportionment that is compactness and equality of the constituent for being elected as MP or MLA. It is also in clear violation of the Jammu and Kashmir People’s Representation act, 1957, which has listed the ‘Geographical Compactness’ and the ‘Nature of Terrain’ as one of the two criteria for the delimitation of the assembly constituency. Due to this gerrymandering, which has denied due representation to Zanskar in the assembly constituency, and the administrative remoteness from its District headquarter, the Zanskar assembly constituency in Ladakh is facing multiple problems including extremely poor road conditions, inadequate and poor health services, lack of educational facilities, less support for the agriculture sector and lack of both digital and all weather surface connectivity. Taking all these into consideration, the Government should decide in favour of separate district and separate assembly constituency for the Zanskar Sub-Division. This decision of the Government would go a long way in fulfilling the governance and development aspiration of the people of the Zanskar Sub-Division. As the objective of development is to create an enabling environment for people to enjoy a productive, healthy and creative life, it is important to address the issue of underdevelopment of the Zanskar Sub-Division. The problem faced by the people of Zanskar Sub-Division needs to be addressed at the policy level.
(The author is Lecturer, Political Science)
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