Ladakh Innovator Sonam Wangchuk Ends 9-Day "Climatic Fast"

Mr Wangchuk's fast, which he started on June 18 drew hundreds of people to NDS Stadium in Leh. Intially the fast was planned for seven days but he extended it to two more days.

Engineer turned educational reformist Sonam Wangchuk, has ended in Leh his nine-day fast, that he had initiated to to draw the attention of the authorities to the importance of safeguarding Ladakh's fragile mountain ecology and indigenous people.

Mr Wangchuk's fast, which he started on June 18 drew hundreds of people to NDS Stadium in Leh. Intially the fast was planned for seven days but he extended it to two more days and ended it on Monday.

Earlier this February he held a five-day hunger strike demanding the inclusion of the Union Territory (UT) in the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution. Then thousands of people from all over Ladakh joined him as he completed his five-day hunger strike in sub-zero temperatures.

Sonam Wangchuk, whose remarkable life story inspired the blockbuster '3 Idiots', sat on a hunger strike to draw the attention of the central government and the world to the environmental hazards the Union Territory faced, and seek safeguards for an eco-fragile Ladakh.