Formation of 5 new districts in Ladakh

Why in news?

• Recently, the Home Ministry approved the formation of 5 new districts in the Union Territory of Ladakh.

• These 5 districts are - Zanskar, Drass, Sham, Nubra and Changthang.
• After the formation of these five districts, Ladakh will now have a total of seven districts, including Leh and Kargil.
• Ladakh was a part of Jammu and Kashmir before 2019.
• After delimitation, it was separated from Jammu and Kashmir and made a new Union Territory.

Formation of Committee

• The Home Ministry has asked the Ladakh administration to form a committee to assess various aspects related to the formation of new districts, such as, headquarters, boundaries, structure, creation of posts, any other aspect related to district formation etc.
• This committee will submit its report within three months.
• After receiving the report of this committee, Ladakh will send the final proposal regarding the creation of new districts on the basis of this report to the Home Ministry for further action.

Benefits of formation of new districts

• Ladakh is a very large union territory in terms of area.
• It is one of the least populated areas of India.
• Being extremely difficult and inaccessible, at present the district administration was facing many difficulties in reaching the grassroots level.
• After the formation of these districts, now all the public welfare schemes of the Central Government and Ladakh Administration will be able to reach the people easily and more and more people will be able to take advantage of them.