New Political Map of India after Reorganization of Jammu & Kashmir

The Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Act, 2019 that came into force after the abrogation of Article 370 of the Indian Constitution, has reorganized the former state of Jammu & Kashmir into two new Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh.

The new Union Territory of Ladakh consists of two districts of Kargil and Leh. The rest of the former State of Jammu and Kashmir is in the new Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.

In 1947, the former State of Jammu and Kashmir had the following 14 districts - Kathua, Jammu, Udhampur, Reasi, Anantnag, Baramulla, Poonch, Mirpur, Muzaffarabad, Leh and Ladakh, Gilgit, Gilgit Wazarat, Chilhas and Tribal Territory.

By 2019, the state government of former Jammu and Kashmir had reorganized the areas of these 14 districts into 28 districts. The names of the new districts are as follows - Kupwara, Bandipur, Ganderbal, Srinagar, Budgam, Pulwama, Shupian, Kulgam, Rajouri, Ramban, Doda, Kishtivar, Samba and Kargil.

Out of these, Kargil district was carved out from the area of Leh and Ladakh district. The Leh district of the new Union Territory of Ladakh has been defined in the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization (Removal of Difficulties) Second Order, 2019, issued by the President of India, to include the areas of the districts of Gilgit, Gilgit Wazarat, Chilhas and Tribal Territory of 1947, in addition to the remaining areas of Leh and Ladakh districts of 1947, after carving out the Kargil District.

On this basis, the maps have been prepared by Survey General of India depicting the new Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh, as created on 31 October 2019.

While R K Mathur is the first Lieutenant Governor of the newly carved UT of Ladakh, Girish Chand Murmu took over as first Lieutenant Governor of UT of Jammu & Kashmir. The creation of two new UTs of J&K and Ladakh follows a landmark decision by the centre to abrogate Article 370 and 35A of the constitution on 5th August this year. Under the provision, Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir will have an elected assembly and Chief Minister on the lines of Puducherry. Ladakh will be a UT on the lines of Andaman and Nicobar, directly governed by Lieutenant Governor. The Legislative Council of the state of J&K has been abolished. The J&K assembly will be reconstituted after de-limitation of seats. Ladakh will have two Hill councils directly under LG. The High Court of Jammu and Kashmir will be common for both Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir. Ladakh shall come under the ambit of the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) for the recruitment of officers. Jammu and Kashmir will continue to have the Public Service Commission (PSC) as the recruiting agency for the gazetted services. Government employees of the new union territories will start getting salaries and other benefits according to the recommendations of the seventh Pay Commission.

-PIB