Migrant Workers in Leh- Ladakh: Politics and Process

Considered crucial to the development of any ecologically and culturally embedded community is the moving in of outside populations. In the context of communities in Leh - Ladakh, human progression coupled with external influence has brought tremendous change to the traditional socio - economic system and physical habitat. This has furthered dynamic transformation in lifestyle, coterminous with rapid and constant redefinition of the community s fundamental needs and wants. In such a dynamic reality, gaps emerge within the existing skill set of the community as the transition demands new skill and capacity - that which the community does not yet possess. In the case of Leh - Ladakh, migrants who have the required expertise to carry forth the task at hand, fill this lacuna. Over a period of time, these migrants have become an important component in the lives of the local community, maintaining an essential systemic equilibrium. This book is the product of a two hundred sample size empirical study, that engages with politics and processes of migration and the impact migrants have had on the Ladakhi community.