For the first time in the history of independent India, astate on Tuesday was made a Union Territory after the Jammu and KashmirReservation Bill was passed by the Lok Sabha. While Jammu and Kashmir will be aUT with legislature, it has also been bifurcated with Ladakh emerging as aseparate UT, albeit without legislature.While the Jammu and Kashmir ReservationBill was already passed by Rajya Sabha on Monday, it was passed by Lok Sabha aday later with 370 voting in favour and 70 voting against it. The Bill will nowgo to President Ram Nath Kovind for his signature. India will now have one lessstate with the number at 28 while the number of Union Territories will go up tonine.

 Jammu and Kashmir will be the largest UT in terms of area, followed byLadakh. It is the vast expanse of Ladakh, as well as the dreams and aspirationsof people here, that prompted the move to have it as a separate UT.The UTs willbe administered much like other UTs like Delhi and Puducherry. 

A LieutenantGovernor will replace the Governor in Jammu and Kashmir as well as Ladakh. TheAssembly in Jammu and Kashmir will now have a tenure of five years, instead ofsix, while there will be 107 MLAs now. Of these, 24 seats will be vacant forthe Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir. In Lok Sabha, Jammu and Kashmir will have fiveseats while Ladakh will now get one.

Law and Order will be maintained by the Centre.

Home Minister Amit Shah, the pioneer of the Bill, hadalready assured Parliament that Jammu and Kashmir would return to being a stateonce the ground situation normalises there. The justification for thebifurcation is that both UTs can be better administered and work for thewelfare and development of people can be carried out at a quicker pace -especially as Article 370 stands revoked.