Union Minister of State for Prime Minister's Office Jitendra Singh on Saturday tweeted a new political map of India showing 28 states and nine Union territories. The map shows the newly-created Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh in two different colour.
“New Map showing the Union Territories of #Jammu & #Kashmir and # Ladakh, as these exist after 31st October, 2019 (sic),” the minister tweeted along with map.
Meanwhile, the Union ministry of home affairs issued a notification with the details of the boundaries of Union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, depicting the two UTs with PoK 'capital' Muzaffarabad within the geographical boundary of the country.
Gilgit-Baltistan also remains within the UT of Ladakh as per the new map.
In 1947, the erstwhile 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, a home ministry statement said.
By 2019, the government of erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir had reorganised the areas of these 14 districts into 28 districts.
The names of the new districts were - Kupwara, Bandipur, Ganderbal, Srinagar, Budgam, Pulwama, Shopian, Kulgam, Rajouri, Ramban, Doda, Kishtwar, Samba and Kargil.
Out of these, Kargil district was carved out from the area of Leh and Ladakh district.
The political map comes two days after the newly formed Union Territories came into effect on October 31 when Girish Chandra Murmu and Radha Krishna Mathur were sworn in as the first Lieutenant Governors of the newly-formed Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh, respectively.
Mathur was first administered the oath by Chief Justice of Jammu and Kashmir High Court, Geeta Mittal, at Leh. This was followed by the oathtaking ceremony of Murmu at Raj Bhavan in Srinagar.
After the revocation of Article 370, a lockdown and communications blockade was imposed in Kashmir that was eased later.
There has been a general shutdown in Kashmir against the scrapping of Article 370 which has taken a toll on business and daily life. Public transport is also off the roads since August 5. Mobile and high-speed internet continue to remain suspended. Post-paid mobile voice calls have been restored but the same is yet to be restored for pre-paid service.
Key political leaders of Kashmir like former Chief Ministers Omar Abdullah, Farooq Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti continue to remain under preventive detention since the scrapping of Article 370.
With the inclusion of J&K and Ladakh, here is the full list of UTs:
1. Andaman and Nicobar
2. Chandigarh
3. Daman and Diu
4. Dadar and Nagar Haveli
5. Delhi
6. Jammu and Kashmir
7. Ladakh
8. Lakshadweep
9. Puducherry
Complete list of states:
1. Andhra Pradesh
2. Arunachal Pradesh
3. Assam
4. Bihar
5. Chhattisgarh
6. Goa
7. Gujarat
8. Haryana
9. Himachal Pradesh
10. Jharkhand
11. Karnataka
12. Kerala
13. Madhya Pradesh
14. Maharashtra
15. Manipur
16. Meghalaya
17. Mizoram
18. Nagaland
19. Odisha
20. Punjab
21. Rajasthan
22. Sikkim
23. Tamil Nadu
24. Telangana
25. Tripura
26. Uttar Pradesh
27. Uttarakhand
28. West Bengal
(With PTI inputs)