Ladakh observed a shut down on December 13 to press for four demands — statehood for Ladakh, protection under Sixth Schedule of the Constitution, filling of 12,000 vacancies, allocation of two Lok Sabha seats and one Rajya Sabha seat.
Demands:
Amending the Ladakh Autonomous Hill District Council (LAHDC) Act to clarify the role and responsibilities of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).
Land, employment and cultural identity of Ladakh be protected under the Sixth Schedule.
About 6th Schedule:
The Sixth Schedule consists of provisions for the administration of tribal areas in Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram, according to Article 244 of the Indian Constitution.
It seeks to safeguard the rights of tribal population through the formation of Autonomous District Councils (ADC).
ADCs are bodies representing a district to which the Constitution has given varying degrees of autonomy within the state legislature.
The governors of these states are empowered to reorganise boundaries of the tribal areas.
The roles of the central and state governments are restricted from the territorial jurisdiction of these autonomous regions.
The councils are empowered to make legislative laws on matters like land, forests, fisheries, social security, entertainment, public health,
About Regional Council:
The Sixth Schedule also provides for separate Regional Councils for each area constituted as an autonomous region.
Each autonomous district and regional council consists of not more than 30 members, of which four are nominated by the governor and the rest via elections.
