If you believe that your thoughts originated from your brain, then you  have  to  also  believe  that  TV  shows  are  made  inside  your television sets!

Wait, I am not saying that. Warren Ellis, a famous British author, had said that a few years ago in the context of a talk regarding the importance  and  necessity  of  media  as  an  effective  player  in  any civilised society.

That tells us how the mass media has its impact on our minds and psyche and, as a result, on our behavior and actions as well. In a survey done some years ago, Leh district was found to be the fastest-growing district in the state. And, even in literacy, Leh city is ahead of Srinagar, with nearly 80.48 and 71.21%, respectively.

The kind of influence media has been having on the totality of changes  in  Ladakh  is  phenomenal.  Over  the  years,  in  this  fast- developing  region,  the  media’s  role  in  creating  public  awareness regarding developments in crucial areas of politics, culture and social sphere helped it win the epithet of ‘mini-Mumbai’.

The local media, the regional media and the national media have played their distinctive roles in a manner that could deeply influence the minds of the people for definite and crucial changes in their lives.

The biggest media impact has been on the second generation of educated  youth,  of  Ladakh,  including  myself,  who  were  highly influenced, particularly by the electronic media. The number of the first generation of educated youth, coming out from colleges outside Ladakh in the 1940s-50s, was very negligible, hardly a dozen or so.

And they weren’t exposed to the media to any significant extent.

Today, we have the third generation of educated youth who have gone several steps ahead of the second generation of educated youth. They are media-savvy and form nearly half of the total population of over two lakh, and they are scattered all over India and abroad.

And thus they are the biggest beneficiaries of media bonanza in terms of not only news and knowledge but also in totally changing their culture, language, economic status, and their overall psyche. And, as tourism has been the biggest attraction for most of the educated  youth,  the  media  has  helped  them  in  highlighting  the pristine natural beauty and to introduce the tourists to the land of Lamas  and  passes  that  seem  like  pillars  to  the  sky,  particularly between Srinagar and Leh. Starting only with a few dozen tourists when Ladakh was thrown open to tourists in 1974, the number of tourists visiting the ‘moonland’ region has been growing rapidly, so much  so  that  the  summer  of  2017  had  more  tourists  visiting  the region than the entire local population of over two lakh, as against the first lot o 527 in 1974.

The latest number of tourist arrivals may not be big in itself, but it is huge for a region whose total population is just a little over two lakh. As a result, in the city areas, you see only tourists and migrant workers during the summer season.

A  few  years  ago,  in  the  city  of  Leh,  a  survey  found,  on  an average, only one local person out of ten people entering or exiting the city’s main market.

And, of late, the local media, of which there are a dozen of them, has played a very important role as the local people are seen more interested in reading local newspapers and journals to know what is  happening  in  their  own  land  where  people  are  either  related  to each other or known to each other very well.

The electronic media, in the form of ‘community radios,’ was first introduced in Ladakh in the late 1960s, and the print media came to play an important role in people’s lives only towards the end of 20th century. But for the far-flung and landlocked areas of Ladakh, AIR has been the only means of news and entertainment. One could see people glued to transistors whenever Ladakhi programmes were broadcast.  To  some  extent,  the  scenario  is  the  same  even  today, particularly  in  rural  areas.  In  the  city  of  Leh  and  nearby  areas, Doordarshan has been able to hugely impact the minds of the people.

Every household has at least one or two TV sets.

To begin with, Ladakh had mainly journals like Ladakh Melong, Kargil Today, Kargil Frontier, The Magpie and a few others. I have seen that every educated person would religiously go to the nearest book shop to buy and read these journals. And these journals would change several hands, not only in urban areas but in rural areas as well, thereby increasing their readership. It is unfortunate that some of  these  journals  are  no  more  in  publication  because  of  several reasons,  mainly  poor Ad  content  in  a  non-industrial  society  like Ladakh.

And of late, we have the emergence of new journals like Stawa, Reach Ladakh Bulletin, Rangyul and a few more. They have avid and loyal readers who never forget to get them because these journals have become a kind of compulsive habit like their morning cuppa.

I  have  seen  their  subscribers  even  in  Delhi—Ladakhis  and  non- Ladakhis who have something or the other to do with Ladakh.

One interesting thing about some of the Ladakh journals is that some of them are 2-in-1 or even 3-in-1, meaning thereby the editions would  have  news  and  views  in  English  and  one  or  two  other languages like Ladakhi and Urdu.

In a way, therefore, they have turned out to be the effective voice of Ladakh, and, if you let me take the liberty of saying, they are the conscience-keepers of Ladakh. They have been able to alert the so- called  “sleeping,  bragging  and  careless”  Babus  and  those  in governance,  and  put  them  into  action  for  the  welfare  of  the  local people.

A couple of years ago, Ladakh had another good thing happening.

After  a  struggle  for  several  years  by  a  few  energetic  and  young scribes, it got a Press Club, which is now very effective, and I am told the Government officials who never took the local journalists seriously, are now quite alert vis-à-vis the media.

But let me make it clear and straight that I am not here to assert that big changes have taken place in Ladakh because of the media, all  that  I  say  is  that  it  has  played  its  role  very  well  as  a  catalytic agent.

Note: This is a little-changed version of the author’s paper at a recent seminar in New Delhi.