UPSC Civil Services Model Paper 2

● In News -
◦ The Chinese Army’s intrusion in Chumur and Demchok has left Ladakh’s nomadic herding Changpa community cut off from large parts of summer pastures.
● About Changpa
◦ The Changpa of Ladakh is high altitude pastoralists, raising mainly yaks and goats . They are also found in Jammu and Kashmir . Hence, Statement 1 is NOT correct .
◦ Among the Ladakh Changpa, those who are still nomadic are known as Phalpa, and they take their herds from in the Hanley Valley to the village of Lato.
◦ Hanley is home to six isolated settlements, where the sedentary Changpa, the Fangpa reside.
◦ Despite their different lifestyles, both these groups intermarry.
◦ The Changpa speak Changskhat, a dialect of Tibetan, and practice Tibetan Buddhism.
What is the issue?
● The Chinese Army has taken over 16 kanals (two acres) of cultivable land in Chumur and advanced around 15 km inside Demchok, taking over traditional grazing pastures and cultivable lowlands.
● In a cascading effect, this has resulted in a sharp rise in deaths of young Pashmina goats this year in the Korzok-Chumur belt of Changthang plateau in Ladakh. ● This incursion has destabilized the annual seasonal migration of lives tocks, including yaks and Pashmina goats.