Urbanization in mountain areas

Despite its ubiquitous nature, the process of urbanization is commonly thought of as a lowland phenomenon. The stereotype persists that mountain people are generally leaving mountain areas (Goldstein et al 1983; Skeldon 1985). Certainly some areas of the Himalaya such as Kumaon and Nepal are characterized by permanent outmigration (Shrestha 1989; Thapa and Bilsborrow 1995). However, Karan (1987) and Bätzing et al (1996) also draw attention to the high degree of variability that exists within high mountain areas. While some regions are experiencing depopulation, others are seeing a concentration of population around market towns (MacDonald 1996). What differentiates urbanization in the Himalayan region from that of more developed countries is the context of continued high population growth throughout this region (UNCSD 1995).

Current knowledge of the processes of urbanization has largely been developed from empirical analyses of lowland areas. A number of authors have convincingly argued, however, that characteristics particular to high mountain areas, such as inaccessibility, resource limitations and sensitivity to population change, result in a path of urbanization different from that implied by models developed in lowland areas or in a ‘Western’ setting (Conway and Shrestha 1980; Skeldon 1985; Khawas 2003). The present article makes a small contribution in this area, using a case study of rural-to-urban migration in the high altitude trans-Himalayan region of Ladakh. It is structured around the broad findings of the research and subsequent policy implications. A brief overview of the urbanization process in Ladakh precedes, and establishes the context for, this discussion.

Urbanization in Ladakh: evidence and trends

Ladakh is located in the temperate latitudes between the Karakoram and Himalaya Ranges (Leh 34.10°N, 77.35°E). It is a semi-autonomous region in the Indian State of Jammu and Kashmir that is characterized by high altitude, extreme aridity, and marked variation in diurnal and seasonal temperatures. Ladakh is comprised of 2 districts: the predominantly Muslim district of Kargil to the west and south, and the largely Buddhist district of Leh in the central and eastern parts of the region. Geographically situated on the western extension of the Tibetan plateau, Ladakh has cultural and linguistic affinities with Tibet (Rizvi 1996).

Owing to its strategic location, and to unresolved border disputes with Pakistan and China, the region has been host to a large and permanent military presence over the past 50 years. Prior to Indian Independence (1947), Leh town was an important market center along the trade routes connecting India to central Asia and Tibet (Rizvi 1999). Closure of the international borders due to hostilities has resulted in a significant shift in the local economy from subsistence agriculture and trade to a heavy reliance on goods imported and subsidized by the central government. This reliance on external economies, particularly through tourism, has exposed the local economy to fluctuations in regional and international markets. As in many mountain areas, Ladakh is now a typical example of an ‘internal periphery’ (Michaud 1996), whose destiny is largely controlled by a centralized, lowland political power (Skeldon 1985; Ives and Messerli 1989). For a more detailed discussion of change and development in Ladakh, see Goldstein (1981), Norberg-Hodge (1991), and Rizvi (1996; 1999).

The present discussion of urbanization is limited to Leh District and the administrative capital of Leh, where the process has been most pronounced. Urbanization is defined in terms of natural increase (excess births over deaths), net migration gain, and reclassification of rural areas to urban. Increasing levels of urbanization usually accompany the shift in a developing economy away from an agricultural basis (primary sector) to an industrial (secondary) and services (tertiary) basis (Jones 2004). At 23% in 2001, the level of urbanization in Leh District is similar to both the state (25%) and national (28%) averages (Census of India 2001). Despite the immense size of its urban population, India's level of urbanization is relatively low, and the nation remains predominantly rural in character (Mathur 1994; Pathak and Mehta 1995).

Ladakh may have only a moderate level of urbanization, yet the pace of this transformation has major implications for this mountain area. Leh District (and indeed Ladakh as a region) has a population growth rate well above the national average (Table 1). Due to ‘disturbed conditions’ the 1991 Census of India was not conducted in the State of Jammu and Kashmir. Population growth rates must therefore be calculated over a 20-year period to enable comparison with national figures. Between 1981 and 2001, India's urban population grew at an average annual rate of 2.95%. During the same period, the urban population in Leh grew at an average rate of 5.92% each year.

The annual population growth rate in Kargil District is slightly higher than in Leh District, due to a higher rate of growth among the rural population. Considering the percentage of urban to total population, however, it was found that Leh has a substantially higher level of urbanization (23%) than Kargil (9%). In the last 2 decades, the population of Leh town has more than tripled in size.

Urban populations are often significantly under-enumerated and this is undoubtedly the case in Leh, where a sizeable ‘floating’ population exists, comprised of circular migrants, tourists and defense-related personnel. Furthermore, the relative contribution of rural-to-urban migration to urban growth in Leh is, as yet, unclear. Even at a national scale, there is no consensus amongst scholars on the exact contribution of rural-to-urban migration in India. However, there is general agreement that rural-to-urban migration is of secondary—and declining—importance to the role of natural increase in explaining urban growth (Mathur 1994; Pathak and Mehta 1995). In Ladakh, a more extensive examination of the urbanization process is required. This would include the complex task of establishing the relative contribution of each of the components of urban growth in the absence of a complete census record. Nonetheless, migration from Ladakh's rural villages to the capital of Leh has been a highly conspicuous factor in the town's rapid expansion. In absolute terms, the contribution of migrants from the nomadic pastoral communities to the growth of Leh is small. However, given the economic, demographic, and social implications for both sending and receiving regions, this form of migration is of tremendous importance (Bose 1980).

Rural-to-urban migration of Ladakh's nomadic pastoralists

Rupshu-Kharnak is home to 3 nomadic pastoral communities. This region lies in the elevated south-east corner of Ladakh (Figure 1). The combined effects of low precipitation, extreme temperature fluctuations, low nutrient and poor soil conditions limit the natural vegetation of Rupshu-Kharnak to various species of grasses and small woody shrubs, and make the area unsuitable for agriculture or permanent settlements. The broad, undulating, high altitude plains are, however, well suited to mobile pastoralism and have been managed as such by the nomadic Changpa for many thousands of years.

The nomadic pastoral population of Rupshu-Kharnak is comprised of 3 independent groups located at Kharnak, Samad and Korzok. The household (as represented by the main and subsidiary tent) is the basic unit of social and economic organization. Each community follows a year-round migration cycle, living in tents and grazing their herds of sheep, goats and yak on pastures that are communally regulated.

Based on information gathered from the origin communities and figures from a range of secondary sources, the total nomadic population of Rupshu-Kharnak, prior to significant levels of outmigration (pre-1960), is estimated at approximately 1200 individuals. Historical evidence suggests that, as throughout the region, the population of Rupshu-Kharnak remained relatively stable over many years (Rizvi 1996; Ahmed 1996). Given recent changes in the nomadic areas such as improved food security, improved access to health care, and a decline in the prevalence of polyandry, it would not be unreasonable to expect a consequent increase in population due to reduced mortality and increased fertility. However, information from the origin communities concerning past and present community size, coupled with data from the household survey, does not reveal any evidence of significant population growth during recent decades. Based on current evidence, albeit limited, rapid population growth in the origin communities does not appear to provide a satisfactory explanation for the recent high level of outmigration from Rupshu-Kharnak.

Despite their relative isolation, the nomadic pastoral communities of Rupshu-Kharnak have experienced significant changes as a result of the broader economic and political changes during the past 40 years. The increasing rate of outmigration and settlement has accompanied these broader changes. One of the more significant events was the closure of the border with Tibet following the Sino-Indian conflict of 1962 and the subsequent loss of important pastures. In addition to a reduction in the total area available for grazing, the Changpa communities have also had to accommodate a large number of Tibetan refugees and their herds. The introduction of subsidized food rations and improved road access have reduced the need for arduous long-distance trade journeys. However this has occurred at the expense of traditional inter-village trade networks and has increased the need for cash in the local economy. With the increased availability of education and health care to the settled population in and around Leh, there is also a growing sense of relative deprivation among many of the nomadic pastoralists. More recently, issues surrounding access to the rangelands from the competing interests of tourism and wildlife conservation have added to the challenges facing pastoralists in Rupshu-Kharnak (Fox et al 1994; Gujja et al 2003).

Over the past 4 decades, approximately one-quarter of the original population of Rupshu-Kharnak has settled in and around Leh. A loss of productivity from the pastoral areas associated with significant outmigration will have important implications for Ladakh's economy. This relates to the supply of animal products to the urban population, but more importantly, to the valuable export commodity of pashmina, which is the raw fiber for cashmere produced by the goats in Rupshu-Kharnak.

Methods

The data presented in this paper were collected as part of an investigation into the rural-to-urban migration of nomadic pastoralists in Ladakh, carried out between February 2000 and November 2001. A census-type survey of the migrant population was necessitated by the absence of relevant secondary sources of population data. In addition to providing temporal and spatial information on the migration process, the survey generated demographic information about the migrant population, which was used to examine the causes and consequences of outmigration. The survey data were supplemented with detailed case studies of migrants in the destination areas, and in-depth interviews with non-migrants and return, or ‘failed’, migrants in each of the origin communities.

A ‘household reconstruction’ methodology made it possible to include absent or deceased members of the household who were present at the time of migration. Demographic information was collected for each member of the household. Basic details of non-resident, immediate family members were also gathered. Information was sought regarding each person's place of origin, date of migration, and employment and educational status. The survey also included open-ended questions concerning the reasons for migration, the maintenance of economic and social ties with the origin community, and attitudes regarding the decision to settle down.

Migrant households were located using a number of techniques: door-to-door surveying in the Kharnakling migrant settlement; tracing relatives and friends of migrants; and using information gathered in the origin communities. Information from the origin communities was particularly important in identifying the destinations of past migrants. Cases of migration to areas not encompassed by the household survey were identified, including migration to Zangskar, the Markha Valley, and Nyoma. This form of intrarural migration of individuals for marriage or monastic training was not investigated, as the focus of the study was large-scale labor migration.

Results and discussion

Migrants were located in subdivisions of Leh town, in the Housing Colony adjacent to Leh, in the Kharnakling settlement, and in the villages of Shey, Thikse, Matho, and Stok. A total of 103 migrant households were surveyed, which included a population of 306 first generation migrants. All attempts were made to include the maximum number of cases, although the survey cannot be said to be exhaustive. It does, however, represent an accurate depiction of the outmigration process since the 1960s, as well as provide a demographic ‘snapshot’ of the migrant population in Leh District in 2000.

The results of the household survey reveal that urban migration from Rupshu-Kharnak is highly variable in terms of both the level of outmigration and types of mobility, with distinct variations between each community. The following sections provide a summary of the main characteristics of outmigration from each nomadic community in Rupshu-Kharnak.

Policy implications

In India, efforts to address urbanization and rural-to-urban migration have been directed toward rural development programs in the belief that rural poverty is the underlying problem. In Ladakh, development efforts in Rupshu-Kharnak have been undertaken in a largely ad hoc fashion, often with little community consultation.

As a component of urban growth, rural-to-urban migration should not be viewed as a problem per se. This is not to deny the existence of very real problems for rural and urban areas in Ladakh as a result of rapid and unplanned growth (Bhasin 1999). It does, however, require an acceptance that urbanization and rural-to-urban migration are inevitable. Past evidence has shown that policies designed to restrict or reverse population mobility have universally failed. Similarly, efforts to restrict rural-to-urban migration by improving conditions in rural areas have often had the reverse effect through labor displacement and by raising skills and expectations beyond what can be satisfied in rural areas (Parnwell 1993).

Studies have confirmed that circulation—particularly seasonal migration—between urban and rural areas can benefit both origin and destination (Hugo 1975). The Samad Changpa have effectively utilized this strategy for a number of decades. The institutional arrangements and social networks that promote this adaptation should be studied further with the aim of determining, for example, whether a similar strategy can be facilitated among the Kharnak Changpa.

Prospects for the future

Almost 20 years ago, Skeldon (1985) painted a bleak picture of the future for Ladakh. On the basis of a comparative review of population mobility and socioeconomic change in mountain areas, he predicted that Ladakh was destined to follow the path of so many other small, isolated communities: depopulation and wasted landscapes. These so-called ‘regions of refuge’ are characterized as ‘remnant cultures’ that occupy a precarious existence, subservient to and dependent on the modernizing ‘core’ regions located in the plains and lowland areas. The persistence of nomadic pastoralism in Ladakh could well be used as an example of a ‘region of refuge.’ However, the present examination of 3 communities has shown that responses to the pressures exerted by a developing ‘core’ (in this case, Leh) have varied remarkably between the 3 nomadic pastoral communities, indicating that the outcome is not predetermined.

There is a need to encourage and promote pastoralism in Rupshu-Kharnak. Not out of a sense of sentimentality for a ‘remnant culture,’ but because as a livelihood system, it has the potential to provide a higher standard of living than subsistence farming (Barfield 1993), or indeed, life in the informal sector of an urban area (Meir 1986). The Changpa nomadic pastoralists have a long and successful history of pastoral management in the rangelands of Rupshu-Kharnak. Rather than focusing on change as uni-directional and negative, this study has underlined the importance of adaptive strategies such as seasonal circulation and absentee pastoralism that enable the Changpa to meet their changing circumstances. It is toward such positive strategies that attention should be focused, as it is here that the ‘future’ of pastoralism in Ladakh lies.