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

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.

Born in 1966, Mr Wangchuk, a mechanical engineer and director of the Himalayan Institute of Alternatives, Ladakh (HIAL), is a recipient of the Magsaysay Award in 2018.

Mr Wangchuk inspired the fictional character of Phunsukh Wangdu essayed by Aamir Khan in '3 Idiots', which was released in 2009.

The Ladakh-based engineer is known for setting up his innovative school, the Students' Educational and Cultural Movement of Ladakh (SECMOL), whose campus runs on solar energy and uses no fossil fuels for cooking, lighting, or heating.

He set up the SECMOL in 1988 with the aim of supporting Ladakhi children and youth and training the students whom the system termed as failures.

In 1994, Mr Wangchuk launched Operation New Hope to bring reforms to the government school system.

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