The government has introduced new reservation and domicile rules for the Union Territory (UT) of Ladakh. These new rules reserve 85 percent of jobs for local people. Also, one-third of the total seats in the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Councils will be reserved for women. The government said these changes are to protect the interests of the people of Ladakh. This comes after long protests by locals who want constitutional safeguards to protect their language, culture, and land. These protests started after the special status of Jammu and Kashmir was removed in 2019.

The new rules about reservation in jobs, autonomous councils, and domicile will start immediately, the government said in several official notifications. According to the new domicile rules, a person who has lived in Ladakh for 15 years or studied there for seven years and passed class 10th or 12th from a school in Ladakh will be called a Ladakh domicile. This status is important for job appointments in the UT or local authorities, except for the cantonment board.

Who can get a Ladakh domicile?

The new rules also include children of central government officials, All India Services Officers, and officials working in public sector banks, universities, research institutes, and other central government bodies. If these officials have worked in Ladakh for 10 years, their children can get Ladakh domicile. The government kept a 10 percent reservation for Economically Weaker Sections, which remains the same.

Regarding women’s reservation, the government said that in the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Councils Act, 1997, at least one-third of the seats will be reserved for women. These seats will be rotated among different areas so that different constituencies get reserved seats for women over time. The rotation will be based on the serial number of each constituency published in the official gazette.

Efforts to address Ladakh’s concerns

A high-level committee led by Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai was formed in January 2023. The committee met several times with Ladakh’s representatives to find solutions to their demands. In October 2024, famous climate activist Sonam Wangchuk went on an indefinite fast in Delhi to support the demands of the people of Ladakh. After that, talks were held with civil society leaders from Ladakh on December 3, 2024, January 15, 2025, and May 27, 2025.

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