Government of India Releases ‘New Map of India’

The Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India has recently issued a notification detailing the boundaries of the newly created Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. This resulted in a new political map of India.

The map was released to the media two days after the nation’s two newest union territories were formally created and received their first Lieutenant Governors, Girish Chandra Murmu, the former Union Expenditure Secretary, who is sworn in as the first Lieutenant-Governor of Jammu and Kashmir and Radha Krishna Mathur, former Defence Secretary, who is sworn in as the first Lieutenant Governor of Ladakh.

According to the notification, the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir will have all the districts from the former state, but Kargil and Leh, will now form the Union Territory of Ladakh.

The notification also says, when India became independent in the year 1947, the former State of Jammu and Kashmir has 14 districts, which includes Kathua, Jammu, Udhampur, Reasi, Anantnag, Baramullàh, Poonch, Mirpur, Muzaffarabad, Leh and Ladakh, Gilgit, Gilgit Wazarat, Chilhas and Tribal Territory. Now with the bifurcation, the state has been divided into two Union Territories namely Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.

The two new Union Territories came into existence formally on Thursday, on the occasion of the 144th birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, the first home minister of India, who is credited for the merger of more than 560 princely states into the Union of India.

Now, with the bifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, the number of states in India has now come down to 28 and the number of Union Territories has gone up to 9.

The centre has paved the way for the bifurcation, which also ended the special status granted to the former state of Jammu and Kashmir on August 5, thereby fulfilling the BJP's promise to do so in the first 100 days of its second term in power. 

The government has reasoned that both the Article 370 and 35A are constitutionally vulnerable and discriminatory, which has slowed the development of the state.

Since the government announced the changes on August 5, many local politicians, which also include former Chief Ministers Farooq Abdullah, Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti, have been put under detention.

The government has said restrictions, especially the blockade on communication is very much needed to prevent a possible backlash and terror strikes, following the declaration of the scrapping of Article 370 would be withdrawn in phases.