CHANGPA TRIBE

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.

Pashmina shawl is a landmark product of the Kashmir Valley. But make a note here. It carries only a BIS certification and not a Geographical Indicator.

Changpa Tribes

• The Changpa of Ladakh is high altitude pastoralists, raising mainly yaks and goats.
• 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 livestocks, including yaks and Pashmina goats.

 Pashmina

• The Changthangi or Ladakh Pashmina is a breed of Cashmere goat native to the high plateau of Ladakh.
• The much-valued wool from the Ladakh herds is essential for the prized Pashmina shawls woven in Kashmir and famous for their intricate handwork.
• They survive on the grass in Ladakh, where temperatures plunge to as low as −20 °C.
• These goats provide the wool for Kashmir’s famous pashmina shawls. Shawls made from Pashmina wool are considered very fine and are exported worldwide.
• Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has recently published an Indian Standard for identification, marking and labelling of Pashmina products to certify its purity.