With reference to ‘Changpa’ community of India, consider the following statements:

Answer: (b) 2 and 3 only

Pashmina ✓ and ST ✓.

Statement by statement

1. ✗ WRONG — Ladakh The Changpa are nomadic herders of the Changthang plateau in Ladakh.

2. ✓ CORRECT Their Changthangi goats give Pashmina — the fine under-wool of Kashmiri shawls.

3. ✓ CORRECT They are notified as a Scheduled Tribe.

The idea

Pastoralism is a livelihood based on keeping animals and finding grazing land for them. On a cold, dry plateau, herding can support people where crop farming is difficult. Match a community to its home landscape before testing its occupation or legal status.

Cold, dry high plateau → Short growing season limits crops → Herders keep goats, sheep and yaks → Herds move between grazing grounds → Goats grow a fine insulating undercoat → Collected fibre supports the pashmina trade

Why the others are wrong

(a) They live in Ladakh, not Uttarakhand.

(c) Misses the Pashmina link, their best-known trait.

(d) Accepts Uttarakhand because it too has high-altitude herders (the Bhotia). The Changpa belong to Ladakh’s Changthang.

The trap

Uttarakhand has high-altitude herders too (the Bhotia), so the state sounds plausible. The Changpa belong to Ladakh’s Changthang.

Elimination technique

Rejecting the Uttarakhand location removes (a) and (d). The pashmina link then separates (b) from (c); Scheduled Tribe status confirms the pair.

Also know

Gaddi herders are associated with Himachal Pradesh; Gujjar–Bakarwal herders with Jammu and Kashmir; Bhotia communities with the high valleys of Uttarakhand. These are distinct communities, even where seasonal movement is shared. Ladakh was part of Jammu and Kashmir at the 2014 exam; it became a Union Territory in 2019.