Integrating with India; Know how Jammu Kashmir and Ladakh will change course forming Union Territories

Srinagar, October 31: A dream that came true, a promised fulfilled after 72 years of independence, uniting the entire India in a thread; history was created scrapping Article 370 giving special status to Jammu and Kashmir. Ceasing to be a state and officially bifurcating into Union Territories, Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh will now be ruled under central government with two new Lieutenant Governor.

According to the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, the appointed day for the two UTs was October 31 and these came into existence at midnight (Wednesday-Thursday), nearly three months after the announcement in Rajya Sabha.

Know what changes after Jammu and Kashmir's conversion into two union territories from one state:

1. India will now have one state less and two union territories more as Presidential proclamation of August 9 giving assent to the bifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir into two Union Territories comes into effect.

2. The total number of states in the country will now be 28, while the total UTs will go up to nine.

3. The UT of Jammu and Kashmir will have a legislature like Puducherry while Ladakh will be a UT without legislature like Chandigarh. Both UTs will be headed by lieutenant governors (LG), under the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019.

4. The UTs of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh will be headed by lieutenant governors G C Murmu and R K Mathur, respectively. Interestingly, Murmu is a former bureaucrat from PM Narendra Modi’s home state of Gujarat.

5. The Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir and the Ranbir Penal Code will cease to exist from Thursday.

6. The Centre will be in direct control of the police and law and order in Jammu and Kashmir from Thursday as it becomes a UT. Land will be under the purview of the elected government there.

7. The new UTs come into existence on National Unity Day to mark the birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel who was India’s first home minister and a freedom fighter.

As Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh become Union Territories, the Election Commission will now carry out a delimitation process in Jammu and Kashmir. The Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act 2019 states that the J&K Assembly will have 114 seats following the delimitation. Addressing the event commemorating the 144th birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel near the Statue of Unity, PM Modi says, "Article 370 had divided Jammu and Kashmir and was the gateway to terrorism. In the whole country, J&K was the only place where this was effective. And in the whole country Jammu and Kashmir was the only place where terrorists had taken the lives of over 40,000 people."

Paving path of developmental projects, these two Union territories will now see real participation of Co-Operative Federalism. New highways, new railway lines, new schools, new colleges, new hospitals, will take the development of the people of Jammu and Kashmir to a new height. The identity announcements from these stations have been changed to "All India Radio"/"Akashvani" from "Radio Kashmir".