Survival at 15,000 feet: A tiny Himalayan village fights for water and jobs

Tashigang: Tucked high in the icy Himalayas at an altitude 15,256 feet, this small village, which houses the world’s highest polling station serving just 62 voters, tells a tale of survival among the harshest odds and the many vagaries of climate change.

As Tashigang and neighbouring Gete prepare to vote on Saturday in the last lap of the seven-phase elections, the demand for jobs and livelihoods in the face of dwindling agriculture returns, water and roads echo loud in the desolate, rugged landscape.

Kalzang Dolma, for instance, said she struggles to pay her daughter’s school fees after losing her job with the state’s Public Welfare Department, which paid her a “decent” Rs 13,000 a month.

Her family of six has reverted to agriculture, which was their primary source of income until Dolma joined the PWD’s road construction team as a contractual worker.

They primarily grow peas but that is barely enough to make ends meet.

“Pea production has plummeted from 100 gunny sacks a decade ago to 20-25 sacks now. As a result, we purchase less rations and consume less,” Dolma told news agency.

Since Tashigang doesn’t have a school, her five-year-old daughter studies in a boarding school in Kaza, the headquarters of Lahaul-Spiti district, around 30 km away.

“With my job gone and agriculture in decline, we could barely pay the school fees for our daughter this year,” the 30-year-old said, trying to smile but not really succeeding.

She is not the only one to have lost her job.

Several others who worked as contractual workers like her are grappling with uncertainty and have asked the

government to give them permanent jobs.

Agriculture is just not viable any more, they said.