Meeting Wangchuk, hearing out the mountain states

PUTTING Sonam Wangchuk and Ladakh on the cover was a no-brainer for us. We have been reporting on the Himalayas over the years and have some understanding of how fragile their condition is. That apart, there is a story waiting to be told when someone with Sonam Wangchuk’s credentials is compelled to walk 1,000 km to Delhi and then go on a fast just to be heard by the Union government.

Wangchuk deserved to be treated more respectfully because of his own personal credentials and the issues that he is raising. The demand for Ladakh is for implementation of the Sixth Schedule. In actual terms that means decentralization, respect for community rights and respect for the environment. It is the intertwining of all these that makes governance in the Himalayas complicated. These areas just can’t be developed like any other part of the country. The failure to treat the mountain states as having special needs has resulted in the string of disasters that have been witnessed in recent times.

The Himalayas are important not just for the people who live there, like the Ladakhis, but the country as a whole and the planet too. The Indian government sitting in Delhi has a moral responsibility to grow and invest in institutions that will allow the mountain states to flourish in ways that are customized for them.

Ladakh shouldn’t be left to seethe. Its young don’t have employment. Education is not up to scratch. There is a growing sense of being used, dumped and ignored. It is a potent mix of problems that won’t go away unless the government meets people like Wangchuk and opens itself up to new solutions.

Junior doctors in Kolkata have sacrificed their Pujas to be on an agitation to improve State-run hospitals in West Bengal. This is no small thing. Yet the Trinamool Congress-run state government won’t listen. We spoke to these doctors and found that they are only asking for hospital basics. Why can’t the government get such basics in place? If parties like the Trinamool which came out of an agitation won’t listen to protesters when they clearly have a case, such as the doctors do, who will?

Talk about reservation for sub-castes is fine. But real solutions don’t come easy. Our interview of the month is with Raees Mohammad, a Dalit who converted. He has been running a sanitation company. Why so? Because he believes caste begins in the toilet and sanitation should be made into a respectable activity to deal with discrimination.

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