History of Ladakh

Information about Ladakh before the birth of the kingdom during the 9th century is scarce. Ladakh can hardly be considered a separate political entity before the establishment of the kingdom about 950 CE, after the collapse of the early Tibetan Empire and the border regions became independent kingdoms under independent rulers, most of whom came from branches of the Tibetan royal family.

Ladakh

Leh (Ladakh) was known in the past by different names. It was called Maryul or low land by some Kha- chumpa by others. Fa-Hein referred to it as Kia-Chha and Hiuen Tsang as Ma-Lo-Pho. It is said that the first Immigrants to this land appears to have been the Brokpas from Dadarstan who inhabited the lower reaches of the Indus Valley popularly known as Sham. Another wave of Immigrants who came from Karja (Kulu) were the Mons an Aryan type who first settled in Gya and spread to Rong, Shayok, Sakti Tangtse and Durbuk, the area extending from Martselang to Khaltsi. Gia was the seat of government of the first Mon ruler having been elected by the whole tribe. His kingdom included the villages mentioned above, all of which was inhabited by the Mons people He was known by the title Gyapacho, derived from his being the master of Gia.

The ancient inhabitants of Ladakh were Dards, an Indo- Aryan race. Immigrants of Tibet, Skardo and nearby parts like Purang, Guge settled in Ladakh, whose racial characters and cultures were in consonance with early settlers. Buddhism traveled from central India to Tibet via Ladakh leaving its imprint in Ladakh. Islamic missionaries also made a peaceful penetration of Islam in the early 16th century. German Moravian Missionaries having cognizance of East India Company also made inroads towards conversion but with little success.

In the 10th century AD, Skit Lde Nemagon, the ruler of Tibet, invaded Ladakh where there was no central authority. The lands divided in small principalities were at war with each other. Nemagon defeated them one by one and established a strong kingdom at Shey, 15 Kms from Leh, as its capital. Ladakh was an independent country since the middle of the 10th century.

King Singge Namgyal had consolidated the Ladakhi Empire into a strong kingdom. He was not only a strong monarch but a statesman, a diplomat and a builder. He built the historic 9- storeyed Leh palace and made the other neighboring countries envy of such an elegant palace. He also promoted horse polo in Ladakh.

In the ancient times the present Leh district was a part of Greater Ladakh spread over from Kailash Mansarover to Swaat (Dardistan). The Greater Ladakh was neither under the Domain of Tibet or its influence. Not much information is available about the ancient History of Ladakh. However, reference about the place and its neighbourhood in Arab, Chinese and Mongolian histories gives an idea that in the 7th Century A.D fierce wars were fought by Tibet and China in Baltistan area of the Greater Ladakh in which deserts and barren mountains of Ladakh was turned into battle fields for the warring armies.

In the 8th century A.D Arabs also jumped into these wars and changed their sides between China and Tibet. Around this period, the ruler of Kashmir, Laltadita conquered Ladakh. In the 8th Century A.D itself, The Arabs conquered Kashghar and established their control over Central Asia which embraced Islam in the 9th century A.D and thus a buffer state came into being between Tibet and China, terminating the hostilities between the two warring countries. The greater Ladakh also fell into pieces.

A thousand years ago before the control of Tibets rule, king Skitde Nemagon, ruled over Ladakh which was known as Muryul (Red Country), as most of the mountains and the soil in Ladakh wears a red tinge. In the 10th Century A.D Skitday Nemagon, along with a couple of hundred men, invaded Ladakh where there was no central authority. The Land was divided in small principalities, which were at war with each other. Nemagon defeated all of them and established a strong central authority. Those days Shey, was the capital of Ladakh became to be known as Nariskorsoom, a country of three provinces. The present Ladakh was divided into two provinces while the third comprised western Tibet. The area of western Tibet slipped away from the kingdom but was reunited in 16th Century A.D. by the famous Ladakhi ruler Sengge Namgyal. Ladakh was an independent country since the middle of 10th century.

In the post-partition scenario, Pakistan and China illegally occupied 78,114 sq. km and 37,555 sq.km of the state, respectively while the remaining part of the state acceded to India. Pakistan also illegally gifted 5180 sq.kms of this area to China. Ladakh, comprising the areas of present Leh and Kargil districts, became one of the seven districts of the State. In 1979 when the reorganization of the districts was carried out, the Ladakh district was divided into two full fledged district of Leh and Kargil.

The History of Ladakh Before the 9th Century

The earliest population of Ladakh has been asserted to be that of Dards or Brokpas. Many ancient accounts by the Greek historians, Herodotus and Megasthenes, and the admiral of Alexander the Great, Nearchus have confirmed the existence of the Brokpas (Dards) in Ladakh. An interesting fact tells that Herodotus also mentioned the gold-digging ants of central Asia, which is also mentioned in connection with the Dardi people of Ladakh by Nearchus. The Kharoshti inscription discovered near Khalatse Bridge tells that Ladakh in the 1st Century was under the rule of the Kushan Empire.

The Formation of Ladakh Kingdom and the Inhabitation of Tibetans

Nyima-Gon, a representative of the ancient Tibetan royal house founded the first Ladakh dynasty after the breakup of the Tibetan Empire in 842 CE. From this time, the Tibetan population started to cohabit with the Brokpas. So, the total population of Ladakh wasn’t only made of Brokpas but also the Tibetan people. During this era, Buddhism and Tibetan religion of Bon were also spread across the region. An early king, Lde-dpal-hkhor-btsan (c. 870 -900) was responsible for the construction of several monasteries in Ladakh, including the Upper Manahris Monastery.

The Rise of Namgyal Dynasty

Ladakh was divided into two parts: Upper Ladakh and Lower Ladakh. Upper Ladakh was ruled by King Takbumde from Leh and Shey, and Lower Ladakh was ruled by King Takpabum from Basgo and Temisgam. Later, Bhagan, a king from Lower Ladakh of the Basgo Dynasty, defeated the king of Leh and took on the surname Namgyal (victorious), and founded a new dynasty which still survives today. 

Namgyal Dynasty

Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir

In 1947, partition left Ladakh a part of the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, to be administered from Srinagar. In 1948, Pakistani raiders invaded Ladakh and occupied Kargil and Zanskar, reaching within 30 km of Leh. Reinforcement troops were sent in by air, and a battalion of Gurkhas made its way slowly to Leh on foot from south. Kargil was a scene of fighting again in 1965, 1971, and 1999.

In 1949, China closed the border between Nubra and Sinkiang, blocking the 1000-year-old trade route from India to Central Asia. In 1950, China invaded Tibet, and thousands of Tibetans, including the Dalai Lama sought refuge in India. In 1962, China occupied Aksai Chin, and promptly built roads connecting Xinjiang and Tibet, and the Karakoram Highway, jointly with Pakistan. India built the Srinagar-Leh highway during this period, cutting the journey time between Srinagar to Leh from 16 days to two. Simultaneously, China closed the Ladakh-Tibet border, ending the 700-year-old Ladakh-Tibet relationship.

Since the early 1960s the number of immigrants from Tibet (including Changpa nomads) have increased as they flee the occupation of their homeland by the Chinese. Today, Leh has some 3,500 refugees from Tibet. They hold no passports, only customs papers. Some Tibetan refugees in Ladakh claim dual Tibetan/Indian citizenship, although their Indian citizenship is unofficial. Since partition Ladakh has been governed by the State government based in Srinagar, never to the complete satisfaction of the Ladakhis, who demand that Ladakh be directly governed from New Delhi as a Union Territory. They allege continued apathy, Muslim bias, and corruption of the state government as reasons for their demands. In 1989, there were violent riots between Buddhists and Muslims, provoking the Ladakh Buddhist Council to call for a social and economic boycott of Muslims, which was lifted in 1992. In October 1993, the Indian government and the State government agreed to grant Ladakh the status of Autonomous Hill Council. In 1995, the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council was created.

In February 2019, Ladakh became a separate Revenue and Administrative Division within Jammu and Kashmir, having previously been part of the Kashmir Division. As a division, Ladakh was granted its own Divisional Commissioner and Inspector General of Police.

Leh was initially chosen to be the headquarters of the new division however, following protests, it was announced that Leh and Kargil will jointly serve as the divisional headquarters, each hosting an Additional Divisional Commissioner to assist the Divisional Commissioner and Inspector General of Police who will spend half their time in each town.

Jammu Kashmir and Ladakh

Indian union territory of Ladakh

In August 2019, a reorganisation act was passed by the Parliament of India which contained provisions to reconstitute Ladakh as a union territory, separate from the rest of Jammu and Kashmir on 31 October 2019. Under the terms of the act, the union territory was to be administered by a Lieutenant Governor acting on behalf of the central Government of India and would not have an elected legislative assembly or chief minister. Each district within the new union territory will continue to elect an autonomous district council as done previously.

See Also

• Ladakh
• Ladakh Scouts
• History of Kargil

 History of Kargil

History of Kargil

Kargil with a population of 1.25 lakhs is scattered over an area of 14,086 Sq. Km. It is situated at a distance of 205 KM from Srinagar towards Leh. Kargil is called the land of Agas in the present day world. It is due to the fact that Kargil is mostly inhabited by Shia Muslims and Agas are the religious head and preachers.

Kargil Town

The name Kargil is derived from two words Khar and rKil. Khar means castle and rKil means center thus a place between castles as the place lay between many kingdoms. In the views of many critics, the word Kargil has been derived from the words Gar and Khil. Gar in local language mean ‘Any where’ and Khil means a central place where people could stay. This has the support of the fact that the place is equidistant from Srinagar, Skardo, Leh and Padum with around 200 Kms. With the passage of time Khar rKil or Gar Khil came to be known as Kargil. The present bureaucrat and historian Parvez Dewan in his contribution to the book “Kargil Blunder” reveals that a pioneer namely Kargeel cleared the forests in Poyen and Shilikchay area before the advent of Thatha Khan to dwell in the area and later the place assumed its name.

Gasho Tha Tha Khan is said to be the first renowned crusader who established a dynasty in the area. Tha Tha Khan was a scion of the royal family of Gilgit who captured Kargil in early 8th century. His dynasty ruled the Sod area of Kargil in early period and later permanently settled in Shakar Chiktan area where the dynasty is till in existence. Kacho’s of Kargil are believed to be the off-shoots of Tha Tha Khan. Purik Sulatan believed to be a renowned builder of Kargil who established his domain in Suru area and ruled from Karchay Khar near Sankoo. Kunchok Sherabtan of Fokar, Kalon of Mulback and many Kachos, Sultans and Maqpons of Sod, Pashkum, Wakha, Chiktan, Karchey ruled the area of Kargil and expanded their principalities to be merged with the State of Jammu and Kashmir. Ladakh became a Union Territory on 31st  October 2019 and Kargil  came under The Union Territory of Ladakh .

In ancient time, the major part of present Kargil was named as Purik. This name has been given by the Tibetan scholars as the people living in this part of the land have the features of Tibetans. Drass is inhabited by the people of the Dard race and Zanskar has Ladakhi – Tibeto stock. The racial stocks of Kargilis are Aryans, Dard, Tibetans and Mongoloids. Kargil is a place where people of multi- ethnic, multi-languish, multi- cultural are living in. The types of people are Brogpas, Baltis, Purik, Shinas and Ladakhi. The languages spoken are Shina, Balti, Purig , Ladakhi ec. As the Balti and Shina languages are written in Urdu script, Urdu is common in the area.

Islam came to Kargil in 15th century. Mir Shams-ud-Din Iraqi, a scholar of Shia school of central Asia visited Baltistan and Kargil with his missionaries to preach Islam. The chief of Baltistan embraced Islam first and it was later followed by the Chiefs of Kargil. Prior to Mir Shams-ud-Din Iraqi Khawaja Noorbaksh visited Kargil and done a lot of Islamic preaching. Thus Buddhism remained sequeezed in Kargil to the places like Sapi, Phokar, Mulback, Wakha Bodh-Kharboo areas a Darchik Garkon and Zanskar.

Kargil became a separate district in the Ladakh region during the year 1979 when it was bifurcated from the earstwhile Leh ditrict.

Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council Kargil was commissioned in July 2003 in the district. The Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council has 30 Councilors out of which 26 Councilors are elected while the remaining 4 are nominated. Kargil district is consisting of nine administrative Blocks.

Kargil Vijay divas

Post 1947

During the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947, there were pitched battles fought around Kargil, which saw the entire area including Drass and Zoji La Pass initially coming under Pakistan control before most of it being reclaimed by Indian troops by November 1948. It remained with India after the ceasefire. It again saw some action in the Second Kashmir War with India managing to wrest back the remainder of the Kargil area twice. The first capture was 17 May 1965, when skirmishes broke out in Rann of Kutch, and India retaliated in the Kashmir sector.

However, this had to be returned as per UNMOGIP treatise. On 15 August, the same year Kargil fell to Indian forces, though it was once again returned as part of the Tashkent Agreement. However, in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 the entire Kargil region including key posts was captured by Indian troops under leadership of Col. Chewang Rinchen.

To straighten the line of control in the area, the Indian Army launched night attacks when the ground temperatures sank to below −17 °C and about 15 enemy posts located at height of 16,000 feet and more were captured. After Pakistan forces lost the war and agreed to the Shimla Agreement, Kargil and other strategic areas nearby remained with India. Kargil became a separate district in the Ladakh region during the year 1979 when it was bifurcated from the Leh district.

In the spring of 1999, under a covert plan of the then Army Chief Pervez Musharraf, armed infiltrators from Pakistan, aided by the Pakistani army, occupied vacant high posts in the Kargil and Drass regions. The result was a limited scale conflict (Kargil War) between the two nuclear equipped nations that ended with India regaining the Kargil region through military power and diplomatic pressure.

In August 2019 the Parliament of India passed an act that contains provisions to make Kargil a district of the new union territory of Ladakh, which was to be formed 31 October 2019.

Kargil war

See Also

• Ladakh
• History of Ladakh
• Ladakh Scouts

Ladakh Scouts | Indian Army's regiment which acts as eyes and ears at LAC

Ladakh Scouts

Ladakh Scouts

The Ladakh Scouts is an infantry regiment of the Indian Army, nicknamed the "Snow Warriors" or "Snow Tigers". The regiment specialises in mountain warfare, and its primary role is to guard India's borders in the high altitudes of the union territory of Ladakh.

Logo of Ladakh Scouts

Raised by Colonel S.P. Salunke, the Ladakh Scouts were converted into an Army regiment in 2000. The Ladakh Scouts recruits mainly from India's Ladakhi and Tibetan ethnic communities, and is among the army's most decorated units. Its soldiers have been honored with over 300 gallantry awards and citations including a Unit citation, one Ashok Chakra, ten Maha Vir Chakras and two Kirti Chakras.

Ladakh Scouts

Ladakh Scouts, Indian Army's regiment which acts as eyes and ears at LAC

Amid the rising border tensions between India and China at lAC, the jawans of  'Ladakh Scouts' are fully ready with the Indian Army to fight against the enemy on the high hills of Ladakh. 
The soldiers of this regiment are recruited from Ladakh because they know every details of the area and are skilled enough to survive on this barren land. Several battalions of Ladakh Scouts are stationed at the Line of Actual Control during the ongoing tension between India and China. The 'Ladakh Scouts' are also called the eyes and ears of other soldiers deployed in the region as they save their lives from enemies.
Ladakh is the only region of India that faces the conspiracy of both Pakistan and China. In 1947, Pakistani intruders attempted to loot the Buddhist monasteries of Ladakh via Kargil, but were driven out by the Ladakhi civilians. During that time, Ladakhi youth had formed 7th and 14th Jammu and Kashmir militia and both these battalions took strong positions in areas like Daulat Beg Oldi, Galvan, Hot Spring, Pangang, Chushul during the 1962 Chinese attack. Later the 'Ladakh Scouts' were formed from these two battalions, which was made into a regiment after they displayed exemplary courage and valour during 1999 Kargil war.
Currently, there are 5 battalions in the Ladakh Scouts Regiment, which is made up of youth living in the most difficult regions of Ladakh. These youth are well-trained to function in low oxygen, extremely cold and high altitude operations. The soldiers of 'Ladakh Scouts' are are posted in small teams in the most difficult areas of LAC. There are often soldiers from other regiments who patrol the most difficult areas of the LAC and soldiers of 'Ladakh Scouts' protect them from several threats.

History

In 1948, the "Nubra Guards" were raised from local Ladakhi warriors to patrol India's mountainous border in the Ladakh region. In 1952, the Nubra Guards were merged as the 7th Battalion, Jammu & Kashmir Militia (which itself later became the Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry). The 14th Battalion of the militia was also raised from Ladakh in 1959.

On 1 June 1963, following the Sino-Indian War of 1962, the Ladakh Scouts was formed by spinning off the 7th and 14th Battalions of the J&K Militia, and the unit was given the role of reconnaissance and interdiction in the high-altitude border regions by the Government of India.

After the Kargil War, the Ladakh Scouts was reformed as a standard infantry regiment on 1 June 2000. Its parent regiment is the Jammu & Kashmir Rifles, but it trains and fights as an independent unit for all intents and purposes.

On 2 June 2013, it celebrated its Golden Jubilee to mark the merger between the Nubra Guards and the 7th Battalion of the J&K light infantry.

Units

The regiment currently consists of 5 battalions, with support personnel affiliated to other arms of the Indian army seconded in on rotation.

Recent Engagements

Indo-Pakistani Wars of 1965 and 1971

Units of the regiment have been deployed in combat in every major Indian operation since the Indo-Pakistan War of 1965. The Scouts also received battle honours in the undeclared western theatre of the Indo-Pakistan War of 1971 which led to the independence of East Pakistan.

Operation Meghdoot

Units of the Ladakh Scouts were deployed with 3 rd Kumaon Rifles to capture the Siachen Glacier in April 1984, as a part of Operation Meghdoot.

Kargil War

The Ladakh Scouts were one of the first units to be deployed in combat action for Operation Vijay. Its units displayed exemplary gallantry and won numerous awards, including a Maha Vir Chakra for Major Sonam Wangchuk. The Scouts were awarded a Unit Citation for their gallantry during the battles of Point 5000 on 5-6 July 1999, Dog Hill on the night 30 June-1 July, and Padma Go on 9-10 July 1999, in the Batalik Sector. The citation recognised the unit's performance with distinction during Operation Vijay and display of exemplary valour and grit in the face of the enemy.

Kargil war

See also

• Indian Army

• Gorkha Regiments

• Ladakh

Ladakh | Union territory of Ladakh

 Ladakh

Ladakh

Ladakh is a region administered by India as a union territory, and constituting a part of the larger Kashmir region, which has been the subject of dispute between India, Pakistan, and China since 1947.It is bordered by the Tibet Autonomous Region to the east, the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh to the south, both the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir and the Pakistan-administered Gilgit-Baltistan to the west, and the southwest corner of Xinjiang across the Karakoram Pass in the far north. It extends from the Siachen Glacier in the Karakoram range to the north to the main Great Himalayas to the south.The eastern end, consisting of the uninhabited Aksai Chin plains, is claimed by the Indian Government as part of Ladakh, and has been under Chinese control since 1962.Until 2019, Ladakh was a region of the state of Jammu and Kashmir. In August 2019, the Parliament of India passed an act by which Ladakh became a union territory on 31 October 2019.

Ladakh, large area of the northern and eastern Kashmir region, northwestern Indian subcontinent. Administratively, Ladakh is divided between Pakistan (northwest), as part of the Northern Areas, and India (southeast), as part of Ladakh union territory (until October 31, 2019, part of Jammu and Kashmir state); in addition, China administers portions of northeastern Ladakh.

 

Ladakh

Ladakh covers about 45,000 square miles (117,000 square km) and contains the Ladakh Range, which is a southeastern extension of the Karakoram Range, and the upper Indus River valley. Ladakh is one of the highest regions of the world. Its natural features consist mainly of high plains and deep valleys. The high plain predominates in the east, diminishing gradually toward the west. In southeastern Ladakh lies Rupshu, an area of large, brackish lakes with a uniform elevation of about 13,500 feet (4,100 metres). To the northwest of Rupshu lies the Zaskar Range, an inaccessible region where the people and the cattle remain indoors for much of the year because of the cold. Zaskar is drained by the Zaskar River, which, flowing northward, joins the Indus River below Leh. In the heart of Ladakh, farther to the north, cultivation by means of manuring and irrigation is practiced by farmers living in valley villages at elevations between about 9,000 and 15,000 feet (2,750 and 4,550 metres). Shepherds tend flocks in the upland valleys that are too high for cultivation. Leh, the most accessible town of Ladakh, is an important trade centre located 160 miles (260 km) east of Srinagar.

The climate of Ladakh is cold and dry. Average annual precipitation is roughly 3 inches (80 mm); fine, dry, flaked snow is frequent and sometimes falls heavily. Vegetation is confined to valleys and sheltered spots, where a stunted growth of tamarisk (genus Tamarix) shrubs, furze (also called gorse; spiny plants of the legume family), and other plants supply much-needed firewood. The principal products are wheat, barley, millet, buckwheat, peas, beans, and turnips. Woolen cloth and other textiles are the primary manufactures.

Ladakh has been contested by India and Pakistan since the dissolution of British India in 1947; after the cease-fire agreement of 1949, its southeastern portion went to India and the remainder to Pakistan. China gained control of its portion of Ladakh when its forces entered the region in the early 1960s.

Map of Ladakh

Etymology

The Tibetan and Ladakhi name La-dwags ལ་དྭགས (historically transliterated as La-dvags) means "land of high passes". Ladak is its pronunciation in several Tibetan districts, and Ladakh is a transliteration of the Hindi and Urdu spelling.

The region was previously known as Maryul.

History

Click here view to history of Ladakh

Union territory of Ladakh

Some activists from Leh in recent times called for Ladakh to be constituted as a union territory because of perceived unfair treatment by Kashmir and Ladakh's cultural differences with predominantly Muslim Kashmir valley, while some people in Kargil opposed union territory status for Ladakh.

In August 2019, a reorganisation act was passed by the Parliament of India which contained provisions to reconstitute Ladakh as a union territory, separate from the rest of Jammu and Kashmir on 31 October 2019.Under the terms of the act, the union territory is administered by a Lieutenant Governor acting on behalf of the Central Government of India and does not have an elected legislative assembly or chief minister. Each district within the union territory continues to elect an autonomous district council as done previously.

The demand for Ladakh as separate Union Territory (UT) was first raised by the parliamentarian Kushok Bakula Rinpoche around 1955, which was later carried forward by another parliamentarian Thupstan Chhewang.The former Jammu and Kashmir state use to obtain large allocation of annual funds from the union government based on the fact that the large geographical area of the Ladakh (comprising 65% of total area), but Ladakh was allocated only 2% of the state budget based on its relative population. Within the first year of the formation of Ladakh as separate union territory, its annual budget allocation has increased 4 times from ₹57 crore to ₹232 crore.

Administration

Under the terms of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, Ladakh is administered as a union territory without a legislative assembly or elected government. The head of government is a Lieutenant Governor appointed by the President of India who is assisted by civil servants of the Indian Administrative Service.

Districts

Ladakh is divided into two districts:

Name of District	Headquarters	Area (km2)	Population 2001 Census	Population 2011 Census
Kargil District	Kargil	14,036	119,307	143,388
Leh District	Leh	45,110	117,232	147,104
Total	2	59,146	236,539	290,492

Autonomous District Councils

Each district of Ladakh is administered by an autonomous district council, they are:

• Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council, Kargil

• Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council, Leh

The two autonomous district councils work with village panchayats to take decisions on economic development, healthcare, education, land use, taxation, and local governance which are further reviewed at the block headquarters in the presence of the chief executive councillor and executive councillors. The government of Jammu and Kashmir looks after law and order, the judicial system, communications and the higher education in the region.

The two autonomous district councils continue to exist following the formation of the union territory of Ladakh on 31 October 2019.

Region

Region, in the social sciences, a cohesive area that is homogeneous in selected defining criteria and is distinguished from neighbouring areas or regions by those criteria. It is an intellectual construct created by the selection of features relevant to a particular problem and the disregard of other features considered to be irrelevant. A region is distinguished from an area, which is usually a broader concept designating a portion of the surface of Earth. Area boundaries are arbitrary, established for convenience. Regional boundaries are determined by the homogeneity and cohesiveness of the section.

Regions may be nodal, defined by the organization of activity about some central place (e.g., a town and its hinterland, or tributary area), or uniform, defined by the homogeneous distribution of some phenomena within it (e.g., a tropical rainforest).

Regions may be defined in terms of single or multiple features or in terms that approach the total content of human occupancy of an area. The most common features in social science are ethnic, cultural, or linguistic (Provence), climatic or topographical (the Tennessee Valley), industrial or urban (the Ruhr), economic specialization (the Cotton Belt of North America), administrative units (standard government regions in Great Britain), and international political areas (the Middle East).

The concept of region is currently used in analysis, planning, and administration of many national and international public programs. Regionalism, or regional consciousness, the ideological correlate of the concept that develops from a sense of identity within the region, is important in many historical, political, and sociological analyses.

Culture

Ladakhi culture is similar to Tibetan culture.

Cuisine

 Ladakhi food has much in common with Tibetan food, the most prominent foods being thukpa (noodle soup) and tsampa, known in Ladakhi as ngampe (roasted barley flour). Edible without cooking, tsampa makes useful trekking food. A dish that is strictly Ladakhi is skyu, a heavy pasta dish with root vegetables. As Ladakh moves toward a cash-based economy, foods from the plains of India are becoming more common. As in other parts of Central Asia, tea in Ladakh is traditionally made with strong green tea, butter, and salt. It is mixed in a large churn and known as gurgur cha, after the sound it makes when mixed. Sweet tea (cha ngarmo) is common now, made in the Indian style with milk and sugar. Most of the surplus barley that is produced is fermented into chang, an alcoholic beverage drunk especially on festive occasions.

Coisine of Ladakh

Thukpa

Momos

Music and dance

The music of Ladakhi Buddhist monastic festivals, like Tibetan music, often involves religious chanting in Tibetan as an integral part of the religion. These chants are complex, often recitations of sacred texts or in celebration of various festivals. Yang chanting, performed without metrical timing, is accompanied by resonant drums and low, sustained syllables. Religious mask dances are an important part of Ladakh's cultural life. Hemis monastery, a leading centre of the Drukpa tradition of Buddhism, holds an annual masked dance festival, as do all major Ladakhi monasteries. The dances typically narrate a story of the fight between good and evil, ending with the eventual victory of the former. Weaving is an important part of traditional life in eastern Ladakh. Both women and men weave, on different looms.

Sport

The most popular sport in Ladakh is ice hockey, which is played only on natural ice generally mid-December through mid-February. Cricket is also very popular.

Archery is a traditional sport in Ladakh, and many villages hold archery festivals, which are as much about traditional dancing, drinking and gambling, as they are about the sport. The sport is conducted with strict etiquette, to the accompaniment of the music of surna and daman (shehnai and drum). Polo, the other traditional sport of Ladakh, is indigenous to Baltistan and Gilgit, and was probably introduced into Ladakh in the mid-17th century by King Singge Namgyal, whose mother was a Balti princess.

Polo, popular among the Baltis, is an annual affair in Drass region of Kargil district.

The Ladakh Marathon is a high-altitude marathon held in Leh every year since 2012. Held at a height of 11,500 to 17,618 feet (3,505 to 5,370 m), it is one of the world's highest marathons.

Education

According to the 2001 census, the overall literacy rate in Leh District is 62% (72% for males and 50% for females), and in Kargil District 58% (74% for males and 41% for females). Traditionally there was little or nothing by way of formal education except in the monasteries. Usually, one son from every family was obliged to master the Tibetan script in order to read the holy books.

The Moravian Mission opened a school in Leh in October 1889, and the Wazir-i Wazarat (ex officio Joint Commissioner with a British officer) of Baltistan and Ladakh ordered that every family with more than one child should send one of them to school. This order met with great resistance from the local people who feared that the children would be forced to convert to Christianity. The school taught Tibetan, Urdu, English, Geography, Sciences, Nature study, Arithmetic, Geometry and Bible study. It is still in existence today. The first local school to provide western education was opened by a local Society called "Lamdon Social Welfare Society" in 1973. Later, with support from Dalai Lama and some international organisations, the school, now known as Lamdon Model Senior Secondary School, has grown to accommodate approximately two thousand pupils in several branches. It prides itself on preserving Ladakhi tradition and culture.

Schools are well distributed throughout Ladakh but 75% of them provide only primary education. 65% of children attend school, but absenteeism of both students and teachers remains high. In both districts the failure rate at school-leaving level (class X) had for many years been around 85–95%, while of those managing to scrape through, barely half succeeded in qualifying for college entrance (class XII). Before 1993, students were taught in Urdu until they were 14, after which the medium of instruction shifted to English.

In 1994 the Students' Educational and Cultural Movement of Ladakh (SECMOL) launched Operation New Hope (ONH), a campaign to provide "culturally appropriate and locally relevant education" and make government schools more functional and effective.

University of Ladakh and Eliezer Joldan Memorial College, a government degree college, enables students to pursue higher education without having to leave Ladakh.

In December 2019, the union minister of state for home affairs Mr G Kishan Reddy, in a written response has stated in Parliament that the Government of India has approved to establish a Medical College and National Research Institute for Sowa-Rigpa in the district of Leh.

Economy

The land is irrigated by a system of channels which funnel water from the ice and snow of the mountains. The principal crops are barley and wheat. Rice was previously a luxury in the Ladakhi diet, but, subsidised by the government, has now become a cheap staple.

Naked barley (Ladakhi: nas, Urdu: grim) was traditionally a staple crop all over Ladakh. Growing times vary considerably with altitude. The extreme limit of cultivation is at Korzok, on the Tso-moriri lake, at 4,600 m (15,100 ft), which has what are widely considered to be the highest fields in the world.

A minority of Ladakhi people were also employed as merchants and caravan traders, facilitating trade in textiles, carpets, dyestuffs and narcotics between Punjab and Xinjiang. However, since the Chinese Government closed the borders between Tibet Autonomous Region and Ladakh, this international trade has completely dried up.

Indus river flowing in the Ladakh region is endowed with vast hydropower potential. Solar and wind power potentials are also substantial. Though the region is a remote hilly area without all-weather roads, the area is also rich in limestone deposits to manufacture cement from the locally available cheap electricity for various construction needs.

Since 1974, the Indian Government has encouraged a shift in trekking and other tourist activities from the troubled Kashmir region to the relatively unaffected areas of Ladakh. Although tourism employs only 4% of Ladakh's working population, it now accounts for 50% of the region's GNP.

This era is recorded in Arthur Neves The Tourist's Guide to Kashmir, Ladakh, and Skardo, first published in 1911.

Transportation

There are about 1,800 km (1,100 mi) of roads in Ladakh of which 800 km (500 mi) are surfaced.The majority of roads in Ladakh are looked after by the Border Roads Organisation. The third road to Ladakh is the Nimmu-Padam-Darcha road, which is under construction.

There is an airport in Leh, Kushok Bakula Rimpochee Airport, from which there are daily flights to Delhi and weekly flights to Srinagar and Jammu. There are two airstrips at Daulat Beg Oldie and Fukche for military transport. The airport at Kargil, Kargil Airport, was intended for civilian flights but is currently is used by the Indian Army. The airport is a political issue for the locals who argue that the airport should serve its original purpose, i.e., should open up for civilian flights. Since past few years the Indian Air Force has been operating AN-32 air courier service to transport the locals during the winter seasons to Jammu, Srinagar and Chandigarh. A private aeroplane company Air Mantra landed a 17-seater aircraft at the airport, in presence of dignitaries like the Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, marking the first ever landing by a civilian airline company at Kargil Airport.