Jammu and Kashmir State Guide: History, Government, Elections, Exams

Overview

Jammu and Kashmir is a Union Territory (UT) in the far north of India, set in the western Himalaya. It has a legislature and a council of ministers, but it is not a full state. It took its present form on 31 October 2019, when the former state of Jammu and Kashmir was split into two UTs under the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019: Jammu and Kashmir (with a legislature) and Ladakh (without one). This guide covers Jammu and Kashmir as it is today. Ladakh, with Leh and Kargil districts, is a separate UT and is mentioned only where history requires it.

The territory has two main regions. The Kashmir Valley in the north is a high basin of about 15,520 sq km drained by the Jhelum, with Srinagar, Dal Lake and Wular Lake. Jammu in the south is a belt of Shivalik foothills and plains crossed by the Tawi and Chenab, with the city of Jammu and the Pir Panjal and Chenab hill districts behind it. The territory has two capitals in a seasonal rotation, Srinagar in summer and Jammu in winter, known as the Darbar Move.

As on October 2026 the UT has 20 districts in two divisions, Jammu and Kashmir, with 10 districts each. Census 2011 counted 12,267,013 people in the area that is the present UT (12,541,302 for the whole former state including Ladakh, explained under Demography). It is the only part of India where Muslims are a majority of the population. Kashmiri and Dogri are the two largest mother tongues, and Gojri and Pahari are spoken by large communities. The principal rivers, the Jhelum and the Chenab, are "western rivers" under the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960.

For exam preparation

• Jammu and Kashmir became a Union Territory with a legislature on 31 October 2019, by the Reorganisation Act, 2019; Ladakh became a UT without a legislature on the same day.
• The UT has 20 districts (as on October 2026): 10 in Jammu division and 10 in Kashmir division.
• Srinagar is the summer capital and Jammu the winter capital.
• The Jhelum rises at Verinag and flows through Srinagar and Wular Lake.
• Census 2011 population of the present UT: 12,267,013.

History

The recorded history of Kashmir is unusually rich because the region produced its own Sanskrit chronicle, Kalhana's Rajatarangini. Jammu's history is tied to the Dogra rulers and the Punjab hills. The modern state of Jammu and Kashmir was created in 1846, joined India in 1947, had a special constitutional status for about seven decades, and lost it in 2019. The sections below follow that order.

Ancient Kashmir and the Rajatarangini

Buddhism reached Kashmir under the Mauryas (traditionally with Ashoka), and the region later became a centre of Buddhist and Shaiva learning. Tradition places the Fourth Buddhist Council at Kashmir under the Kushana king Kanishka in the 2nd century CE (Wikipedia summary; the site and date are debated). Kashmir later became the home of Kashmir Shaivism and of a distinguished school of Sanskrit poetics.

The main source is the Rajatarangini ("river of kings"), a Sanskrit verse chronicle written by Kalhana in the 12th century, usually dated to about 1148-49. It has eight books (tarangas). The early books mix legend with history, and scholars treat it as reliable mainly from the Karkota period onward. Later writers, including Jonaraja and Srivara, continued the chronicle into the 15th and 16th centuries. Marc Aurel Stein's English translation is the best-known edition.

Dynasty	Approximate period	Notes
Karkota	c. 625 to 855	Founded by Durlabhavardhana; peak under Lalitaditya Muktapida (c. 724 to 760)
Utpala	855 to 1003	Founded by Avantivarman; known for irrigation and temples
Lohara	1003 to 1320	Included the queen Didda in the later 10th century

The Karkota king Lalitaditya Muktapida is credited by the Rajatarangini with wide conquests, though modern historians treat the claims as exaggerated. He built the Martand Sun Temple near Anantnag, among the largest temple complexes of its time. Avantivarman's reign is associated with the engineer Suyya's irrigation works (standard account, not re-checked). After the Lohara dynasty weakened, the last ruler of the line was overthrown in 1320, and Kashmir was open to new rulers.

The Sultanate: Shah Mir and Chak

The Shah Mir dynasty (1339 onward) established the first Muslim sultanate in Kashmir. Shah Mir, who is generally said to have come from the Swat region, took power in 1339. The Persian-language Sufi missionary tradition, including the preacher Mir Sayyid Ali Hamadani in the late 14th century, shaped Kashmir's conversion and its craft culture. Sikandar (reigned 1389 to 1413) built the Jama Masjid of Srinagar, dated to 1394 in one account.

Zain-ul-Abidin, known as Budshah ("the great king"), ruled from about 1420 to 1470 (sources differ by a couple of years at each end). He is remembered for religious tolerance, for ending the jizya tax on non-Muslims, and for bringing Persian and Central Asian craftsmen who developed shawl weaving, papier-mache and carpets. After internal feuds and an invasion led by Mirza Haidar Dughlat in 1540, the Chak dynasty took power; sources date the end of Shah Mir rule between 1535 and 1561.

Mughal and Afghan rule

The Mughal emperor Akbar annexed Kashmir in 1586, ending Chak rule. Kashmir became a Mughal province (subah), and Srinagar's gardens, including Shalimar Bagh and Nishat Bagh near Dal Lake, belong to this period. It was a summer retreat for the emperors.

As Mughal power declined, the Afghan Durrani ruler Ahmad Shah took Kashmir in 1752-53. Afghan governors ruled until 1819. The period is remembered locally as one of heavy taxation and harsh government, though accounts vary.

Sikh rule and the Treaty of Amritsar

Maharaja Ranjit Singh of Lahore took Kashmir from the Afghans in 1819. Jammu hill states were under Sikh suzerainty, and the Dogra chief Gulab Singh of Jammu rose in Ranjit Singh's service.

After the First Anglo-Sikh War, the Treaty of Lahore (March 1846) made the Sikh state hand over the hill country between the Beas and the Indus to the East India Company. By the Treaty of Amritsar, signed on 16 March 1846, the Company transferred "all the hilly or mountainous country" east of the Indus and west of the Ravi, including Chamba and excluding Lahul, to Gulab Singh. He paid 75 lakh Nanakshahi rupees, and accepted British paramountcy, shown by a yearly token tribute of one horse, twelve shawl goats and three pairs of Kashmir shawls. Critics, including Kashmiri writers, have long described this as a "sale" of Kashmir; the treaty text itself speaks of a transfer for payment.

The Dogra Maharajas, 1846 to 1947

The princely state of Jammu and Kashmir was ruled by four Dogra Maharajas.

Maharaja	Reign (as commonly dated)
Gulab Singh	1846 to 1856 or 1857 (sources differ)
Ranbir Singh	1857 to 1885
Pratap Singh	1885 to 1925
Hari Singh	1925 to 1947 (formal monarchy ended in 1952)

The Darbar Move between Srinagar and Jammu is dated to 1872 in recent reports, as a Dogra-era arrangement. Under Maharaja Hari Singh, reforms included compulsory primary education and laws against child marriage. A hereditary "State Subject" notification of 1927 reserved state jobs and land for residents of the state (standard accounts; the date was not re-checked), and this became the root of the later Article 35A. In the 1930s a political movement grew against Dogra rule, led by the Muslim Conference (1932) and later the National Conference (1939); the princely state also saw a Praja Sabha assembly with limited powers from 1934 (standard accounts, not re-checked). At the time of Partition the princely state had a Muslim majority and a Hindu Maharaja.

1947: the Instrument of Accession

When British paramountcy lapsed in August 1947, rulers of princely states were free to join India or Pakistan under the Indian Independence Act. Hari Singh did not decide at once. After armed tribesmen from the north-west entered the state in October 1947 and moved towards Srinagar (standard accounts), he asked India for military help. On 26 October 1947 Maharaja Hari Singh signed the Instrument of Accession, and Governor-General Lord Mountbatten accepted it on 27 October. Indian troops were flown into Srinagar the same day.

The Instrument covered three subjects, defence, external affairs and communications, with ancillary matters. In his letter of acceptance Mountbatten wrote that, as soon as law and order were restored and the invaders cleared, the question of the state's accession should be settled by a reference to the people. Pakistan disputed the accession, and the first Indo-Pakistani war followed. India took the matter to the United Nations in January 1948, and a ceasefire came into effect on 1 January 1949 (standard accounts; the dates were not re-verified here). The ceasefire line was later redrawn as the Line of Control after the Simla Agreement of 1972. India, Pakistan and China each administer a part of the former princely state, and India and Pakistan each claim the whole of it.

Article 370, Article 35A and the special status

Article 370 was placed in Part XXI of the Constitution ("Temporary, transitional and special provisions") when the Constituent Assembly adopted it in 1949. It limited Parliament's power over the state to defence, external affairs and communications, unless the state government concurred in applying other laws. The key stages were:

• 1950: a Presidential Order applied selected provisions of the Constitution to the state.
• 1952: the Delhi Agreement ended the monarchy, replacing it with an elected head of state, the Sadr-i-Riyasat. The office and that of Prime Minister were renamed Governor and Chief Minister in 1965.
• 1954: a Presidential Order extended fundamental rights and many Union powers, and inserted Article 35A, which let the state legislature define "permanent residents" and give them exclusive rights in state jobs, land and scholarships.
• 1957: the state's own Constituent Assembly framed a separate State Constitution, and dissolved itself without recommending that Article 370 be repealed.

Article 370 was also used as the route by which central laws were applied to the state over the years through Presidential Orders.

5 August 2019 and the Reorganisation Act

On 5 August 2019 the President issued the Constitution (Application to Jammu and Kashmir) Order, 2019 (C.O. 272), which applied all provisions of the Indian Constitution to the state and superseded the 1954 order. The same day Rajya Sabha passed a statutory resolution and the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Bill, and the Lok Sabha followed on 6 August. A further presidential declaration (C.O. 273) of 6 August made all clauses of Article 370 inoperative except clause 1. The President gave assent to the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, on 9 August, and it took effect on the appointed day, 31 October 2019. A communication shutdown, including mobile internet, was imposed in the state after 5 August, and many political leaders were detained (reported).

The Act made the following changes.

• It created two UTs: Jammu and Kashmir with a Legislative Assembly (section 14 provides for 107 seats, to rise to 114 after delimitation, with 24 reserved for areas under Pakistani occupation), and Ladakh, made up of Leh and Kargil districts, without a legislature.
• It abolished the Legislative Council of the former state (section 57).
• It allotted 4 Rajya Sabha seats (section 9) and 5 Lok Sabha seats (section 10) to J&K, with one Lok Sabha seat for Ladakh.
• It made the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir the common High Court for both UTs (section 75).

The former state had 22 districts, and 20 of them remained in the UT after Leh and Kargil went to Ladakh. A Delimitation Commission was set up under section 63 of the Act and it worked on 2011 Census figures.

On 11 December 2023 a five-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court unanimously upheld the abrogation of Article 370, holding that it was a temporary provision. The Court recorded the Union's statement that statehood would be restored and said it should take place at the earliest; it also directed that Assembly elections be held by 30 September 2024. Elections were held in September-October 2024 (see the elections section of this guide). As on October 2026 the status of statehood restoration is not confirmed here; check the current affairs page.

For exam preparation

• The Karkota dynasty ruled Kashmir from about 625 to 855; Lalitaditya Muktapida built the Martand Sun Temple.
• Kalhana wrote the Rajatarangini in the 12th century, in eight books, in Sanskrit.
• The Shah Mir dynasty began in 1339; Zain-ul-Abidin (Budshah) is its best-known ruler.
• Akbar annexed Kashmir in 1586; the Afghans ruled from 1752-53; the Sikhs took it in 1819.
• The Treaty of Amritsar was signed on 16 March 1846; Gulab Singh paid 75 lakh Nanakshahi rupees.
• The Instrument of Accession was signed on 26 October 1947 and accepted on 27 October; it covered defence, external affairs and communications.
• Article 35A was added in 1954 by a Presidential Order and removed on 5 August 2019.
• The Reorganisation Act received assent on 9 August 2019 and took effect on 31 October 2019.
• The Supreme Court upheld the abrogation on 11 December 2023.

Geography

Jammu and Kashmir lies in the north-western Himalaya, between about 32 and 37 degrees north. It is bordered by Ladakh to the north-east, Himachal Pradesh and Punjab to the south, and by territory administered by Pakistan to the west and north-west; the international boundary with Pakistan in the south and the Line of Control in the north and west are the main frontiers. Areas under Pakistani or Chinese administration are claimed by India, and are not covered by the figures in this guide.

Area. The sum of the district areas listed in Wikipedia's district tables is 42,241 sq km (Jammu division 26,293 sq km and Kashmir division 15,948 sq km). The Wikipedia infobox gives 56,160 sq km for the UT, and sources differ on whether claimed areas are included. This guide uses the first figure as the area administered, and flags the difference as not fully reconciled.

Physiography

Three bands of mountains and plains run in a south-west to north-east direction.

• Shivalik hills and Jammu plains. In the south, a low belt of foothills and narrow plains, with the kandi (rain-eroded foothill) tract, covers Kathua, Samba, Jammu and parts of Udhampur. This area is subtropical and hot in summer.
• Pir Panjal range. A middle range with an average height of about 3,000 m (10,000 feet) separates the Jammu region and the Kashmir Valley. The Banihal Pass lies on it, and it is the main route from Jammu to the Valley.
• Kashmir Valley. An oval intermontane basin about 15,520 sq km at an average height of around 1,850 m, with the Pir Panjal on the south and west and the Great Himalaya on the north and east. Its floor has river terraces and old lake deposits called karewas, which support saffron and almond orchards near Pampore. Mountains on its rim include Kolahoi (around 5,400 m, commonly cited as the highest in the valley area, not re-verified here), Harmukh, and the Amarnath range.

The Chenab basin (Kishtwar, Doda, Ramban, Reasi) is a rugged zone of deep gorges north of the Jammu plains, while Poonch and Rajouri lie south-west of the Pir Panjal. The lowest point in the territory is where the Chenab leaves the state, at about 247 m, per Wikipedia. The Wikipedia page gives Nun Peak (7,135 m) as the highest point, but Nun is in Kargil, now in Ladakh, so it is left out here.

Rivers

All rivers of the territory drain to the Indus system. Under the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960, the Jhelum and the Chenab are "western rivers" assigned mainly to Pakistan, with India allowed non-consumptive uses such as run-of-river hydroelectric power. In April 2025 India announced that it was putting the treaty in abeyance (reported; check the latest position).

River	Length (approx.)	Course in J&K
Jhelum (ancient Vitasta)	725 km	Rises at Verinag in Anantnag; flows through the valley and Srinagar, Wular Lake and Baramulla, and leaves through the gorge near Uri. Tributaries: Lidder, Sind, Pohru
Chenab	974 km	Formed at Tandi in Lahaul (Himachal Pradesh); enters J&K at Kishtwar; flows through Doda, Ramban and Reasi to Akhnoor
Tawi	141 km	Rises in the Kailash Kund area in Bhaderwah (Doda); flows through Udhampur and Jammu city, then to Pakistan and joins the Chenab
Ravi	n/a	Flows along the southern edge of Kathua district, on the border with Punjab

Hydroelectric stations on the Chenab include Baglihar (900 MW), Salal (690 MW) and Dul Hasti (390 MW), and the Uri station on the Jhelum is 480 MW (Wikipedia figures). The Tawi is called "Surya Putri" ("daughter of the Sun") locally.

Lakes and wetlands

Dal Lake in Srinagar covers about 18 sq km (it has shrunk from about 22 sq km), at about 1,583 m, and is known for shikaras, houseboats, floating gardens and the Char Chinar island. Wular Lake in Bandipora is one of the largest freshwater lakes in India, formed by tectonic activity and fed by the Jhelum, with a surface area that varies between 30 and 189 sq km by season. It was designated a Ramsar site in 1990. Others are Manasbal, Anchar and Nigeen. Wikipedia lists five Ramsar sites in the UT: Hokersar, Hygam, Shallabugh, Mansar-Surinsar (all designated on 8 November 2005) and Wular (1990). Check for later additions. Tso Kar and Tsomoriri are in Ladakh.

Climate

The climate varies sharply with height. The Jammu plains have a subtropical climate with hot summers and monsoon rain in July-September. The Kashmir Valley has four seasons, with mild summers (July highs near 32 degrees C, per Wikipedia), cold winters and much snow, and a good share of its rainfall comes in spring from western disturbances (winter storms from the Mediterranean). The coldest spell of winter is called Chillai Kalan, traditionally the 40 days from about 21 December (commonly stated, not re-checked). Higher areas such as Gulmarg and Pahalgam have heavy snow, while the Pir Panjal rain shadow and the Chenab gorges are drier.

Soils, forests and wildlife

The valley has alluvial soils on the floor and karewa soils on terraces, the Jammu plains have alluvial and sandy soils, and the hills have forest and mountain soils (standard description, not source-checked here).

Forest cover was 21,346.39 sq km in India State of Forest Report 2023, up from 20,948.27 sq km in 2013, per a UT government press release; the UT has 43 forest types, the most in India per the same release. The percentage of area is not given in the source, so it is not stated here.

Protected area	Notes
Dachigam National Park	Near Srinagar; about 141 sq km; protected since 1910 and a national park since 1981; the main home of the hangul (Kashmir stag)
Kishtwar National Park	Kishtwar district; about 2,190 sq km; notified 4 February 1981; elevation 1,700 to 4,800 m
Wetland reserves	Hokersar, Hygam, Shallabugh (Kashmir), Surinsar-Mansar (Jammu)

Other notable animals at Dachigam include the Himalayan black bear, musk deer, snow leopard and Himalayan monal; its Dagwan river feeds the Sarband reservoir that supplies drinking water to Srinagar.

For exam preparation

• The Kashmir Valley is about 15,520 sq km, at an average height of about 1,850 m.
• The Pir Panjal separates the Kashmir Valley from the Jammu region.
• The Jhelum (Vitasta) rises at Verinag; the Chenab enters J&K at Kishtwar; the Tawi flows through Jammu city.
• Wular Lake (Bandipora) was made a Ramsar site in 1990; Dal Lake is in Srinagar.
• Dachigam National Park is the home of the hangul; Kishtwar National Park is the largest in the UT.
• Forest cover in ISFR 2023 was 21,346.39 sq km.

Administration and districts

The UT is divided into two administrative divisions, Jammu and Kashmir, each led by a Divisional Commissioner. Below them are 20 districts, each headed by a Deputy Commissioner who is also District Magistrate and Collector. As on October 2026 the district count is 20; proposals for new districts exist but none has been confirmed as created.

Districts

The table follows the Wikipedia district list. The years are the dates of formation as reported there, and "pre-1947" means the district existed before Independence.

District	Division	Formed (reported)
Jammu	Jammu	pre-1947
Samba	Jammu	2007
Kathua	Jammu	1963
Udhampur	Jammu	1931
Reasi	Jammu	2007
Rajouri	Jammu	1967
Poonch	Jammu	1947
Doda	Jammu	1948
Ramban	Jammu	2007
Kishtwar	Jammu	2007
Srinagar	Kashmir	pre-1947
Budgam	Kashmir	1979
Ganderbal	Kashmir	2007
Anantnag	Kashmir	pre-1947
Kulgam	Kashmir	2007
Pulwama	Kashmir	1979
Shopian	Kashmir	2007
Baramulla	Kashmir	pre-1947
Bandipora	Kashmir	2007
Kupwara	Kashmir	1979

The headquarters of each district is the town that gives it its name. Jammu division had a population of about 5.35 million in Census 2011 and Kashmir division about 6.91 million, per Wikipedia's divisional tables; these do not add up exactly to the UT total of 12,267,013 given elsewhere, so use them as approximate.

How the districts came about

Before 2006 the Kashmir and Jammu regions had fewer districts. Several new districts were formed in 2006-07 (the eight marked 2007 above) by splitting older ones, bringing the former state to 22 districts. Leh and Kargil, the other two, went to Ladakh in 2019. In 2025-26 proposals were made for more divisions and districts: a private member's bill, the Territorial Administrative Reorganisation Bill, 2026, was reported as introduced by an MLA in the Assembly, proposing a Chenab division and a Pir Panjal division and many new districts. It is a proposal and not law, and the 20-district count has not been confirmed to have changed.

Government and capitals

The UT is administered by a Lieutenant Governor appointed by the President, together with an elected Assembly and a Council of Ministers; the roles are explained in Part B. The Darbar Move, the seasonal shift of the Civil Secretariat and offices between Srinagar (summer) and Jammu (winter), was started in 1872 per a recent report. It was stopped in 2021 and revived in 2025 (reported).

Local bodies

• Panchayati Raj. The 73rd Constitutional Amendment applied to J&K only after 2019. The three-tier system is Halqa Panchayats (village), Block Development Councils (BDCs) and District Development Councils (DDCs). DDC elections were held in eight phases in November-December 2020, with a turnout reported at 51.7 per cent, and 20 DDC Chairpersons were elected. The terms of these bodies have since run out (reported); current status is not confirmed here.
• Urban bodies. Srinagar and Jammu have Municipal Corporations; other towns have municipal councils and committees. Counts are not confirmed here.
• Schedules. J&K has no Fifth or Sixth Schedule area. Gujjars, Bakarwals and Paharis are covered by Scheduled Tribe reservation instead (see Demography).

Parliament and the Assembly

The UT sends 5 members to the Lok Sabha and has 4 Rajya Sabha seats, per the Reorganisation Act. After the 2022 delimitation the Legislative Assembly has 90 elected seats, 43 in Jammu division and 47 in Kashmir division, with 7 reserved for Scheduled Castes and 9 for Scheduled Tribes (the first time that ST seats were reserved), and up to 5 members nominated by the Lieutenant Governor (Wikipedia). Twenty-four further seats stay vacant, reserved for areas under Pakistani occupation. Before reorganisation the state Assembly had 87 elected seats, including 4 for Ladakh.

For exam preparation

• J&K has 20 districts in two divisions, 10 each in Jammu and Kashmir (as on October 2026).
• The eight districts formed in 2007 are Kishtwar, Ramban, Reasi, Samba, Bandipora, Ganderbal, Kulgam and Shopian.
• Ladakh's two districts, Leh and Kargil, left on 31 October 2019.
• DDC elections were held in 2020, the first under the full three-tier Panchayati Raj system.
• The Assembly has 90 elected seats (43 Jammu, 47 Kashmir) after the 2022 delimitation.
• The J&K High Court is common to J&K and Ladakh.

Demography

Census 2011 is still the latest published census (as on October 2026). It counted 12,267,013 people in the area that now forms the UT of Jammu and Kashmir, and 12,541,302 in the whole former state. The difference of 274,289 is the population of Ladakh (Leh and Kargil), which has since become a separate UT. The 2011 count excluded the areas under Pakistani and Chinese administration.

Census 2011 snapshot (present UT)

Indicator	Figure	Note
Population	12,267,013	Excludes Ladakh
Former state (with Ladakh)	12,541,302	12,267,013 plus 274,289
Sex ratio	889 females per 1,000 males	Wikipedia, citing Census 2011
Density	about 218 per sq km	Wikipedia, citing Census 2011
Literacy	67.17 per cent	Male 75 per cent, female 56.43 per cent (Wikipedia)
Scheduled Castes	about 924,000 (7.5 per cent)	Wikipedia
Kashmir Valley and Jammu regions	6,888,475 and 5,378,538	Regional totals reported by a secondary source

A note on Ladakh. Many websites quote "12.5 million" for Jammu and Kashmir. This is the figure for the former state, which included Ladakh. The present UT is about 12.27 million. One Wikipedia page describes 12,267,013 as the combined pre-2019 total, but that conflicts with the Ladakh figure of 274,289 (12,267,013 plus 274,289 gives 12,541,302), so this guide treats 12,267,013 as the UT alone. Check against the Census tables before relying on it. The urban share of the UT's population is not confirmed here.

Languages (Census 2011, reported)

Mother tongue	Share
Kashmiri	52.9 per cent
Dogri	20.5 per cent
Gojri (Gujari)	9.53 per cent
Pahari	7.98 per cent
Hindi	2.28 per cent
Punjabi	1.76 per cent

These shares come from one source (Wikipedia, citing Census 2011) and are labelled "reported". Urdu was the language of state administration under the Dogras and is widely used as a link language, though few people report it as a mother tongue (standard account). The official languages of the UT are Kashmiri, Dogri, Hindi, Urdu and English (Wikipedia).

Religion (Census 2011)

Religion	Present UT (Wikipedia)
Islam	68.8 per cent
Hinduism	28.8 per cent
Sikhism	1.90 per cent
Christianity	0.28 per cent

For the whole former state, shares were 68.3 per cent Muslim and 28.4 per cent Hindu, with Buddhists at 0.9 per cent because of Ladakh (Wikipedia). The two divisions differ sharply. Kashmir division is about 96 per cent Muslim, and Jammu division is about two-thirds Hindu with a large Muslim minority, concentrated in the Chenab valley, Rajouri and Poonch. Most Kashmiri Hindus (Pandits) left the Valley in the early 1990s during the rise of militancy; only a few hundred families remained by 2022 (reported).

Scheduled Tribes and groups

The former state had 1,493,299 Scheduled Tribe people in Census 2011, or 11.9 per cent of its population. This includes some Ladakh tribes, so the UT-only share is not given here. The Gujjars and Bakarwals are the largest Scheduled Tribe (granted ST status in 1991) and make up roughly 69 to 72 per cent of ST people (Wikipedia). They speak Gojri, are mostly Muslim, and many are pastoral and move between winter pastures in the Jammu foothills and summer pastures in the high Pir Panjal and the Valley. Gujjars are concentrated in Rajouri, Poonch, Reasi and Kishtwar. Other STs include Gaddi and Sippi. In 2023 Parliament passed the Constitution (Jammu and Kashmir) Scheduled Tribes Order (Amendment) Act, adding four groups to the ST list: Gadda Brahmin, Koli, Paddari and Pahari Ethnic Group. The Pahari (about 8 per cent of the population as a language group) are mainly in Rajouri and Poonch. The step drew concerns from some Gujjar and Bakarwal groups about sharing reservation (reported). No community in J&K is, as far as confirmed here, listed as a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG); this was not verified in a source.

For exam preparation

• Census 2011 counted 12,267,013 in the present UT and 12,541,302 in the whole former state.
• Ladakh's Census 2011 population was 274,289.
• Kashmiri is the largest mother tongue (about 53 per cent), followed by Dogri (about 20.5 per cent), then Gojri and Pahari.
• Muslims are about 68.8 per cent of the UT's population, and Hindus about 28.8 per cent.
• The Gujjars and Bakarwals are the largest Scheduled Tribe, recognised in 1991.
• The Pahari Ethnic Group, Gadda Brahmin, Koli and Paddari were added to the ST list by the 2023 amendment.
• Neighbouring states with long borders with J&K are Himachal Pradesh and Punjab.

How the state is governed

Jammu and Kashmir is not a state. Since 31 October 2019 it has been a Union Territory (UT) with its own elected Legislative Assembly and Council of Ministers, created by the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019. Parliament passed the Act on 5 and 6 August 2019 (Rajya Sabha 125 to 61, Lok Sabha 370 to 70), the President assented on 9 August 2019 and it came into force on 31 October 2019 (Wikipedia). It split the old state into two UTs: Jammu and Kashmir, which has a legislature, and Ladakh, which has none. The structure is similar to Delhi's, governed under Article 239A of the Constitution, but with a larger Assembly, different reserved subjects and a Lieutenant Governor with wider discretion. This section describes structure, which stays the same from one government to the next. Names of sitting office-holders change, so this guide does not list them; for the current Lieutenant Governor, Chief Minister, ministers, Speaker, Chief Secretary, Director General of Police and Chief Justice, use our current affairs pages and the official portals.

The executive

Office	Role	How filled
Lieutenant Governor (LG)	Administrator and constitutional head of the UT; summons and prorogues the Assembly, gives assent to bills, can nominate members, controls police and public order	Appointed by the President on the Union government's advice. The post replaced the Governor on 31 October 2019. The first LG served until August 2020 and later became the Comptroller and Auditor General (Wikipedia). The incumbent is not named here
Chief Minister	Heads the elected government	Appointed by the LG; in practice the leader who commands a majority in the Assembly
Council of Ministers	Runs the departments the Assembly can legislate on	Appointed on the Chief Minister's advice; the Act caps it at 10 per cent of Assembly strength (reported; we could not confirm whether the 5 nominated members count towards the cap)
Chief Secretary	Head of the civil service and secretariat	Senior officer of the central all-India services, drawn from the AGMUT cadre. Under the 2024 rules the LG's office is involved in the posting of Administrative Secretaries and All India Service officers (see below)
Director General of Police	Heads J&K Police	IPS officer; because police is a reserved subject, the force answers to the LG, not the elected government

Who decides what

The Act applies Article 239A, so the Assembly may legislate on any State List or Concurrent List subject that applies to a UT, except public order and police, which are reserved to the LG's side. Parliament keeps full power over J&K. On reserved matters the LG acts at his or her discretion; on others the LG normally acts on ministerial advice. The Act extended 106 central laws to J&K and repealed 153 state laws (Wikipedia).

On 13 July 2024 the Union Home Ministry amended the UT's Transaction of Business Rules. As reported, the amendment requires proposals touching police, public order, All India Services and the Anti-Corruption Bureau to be placed before the LG through the Chief Secretary before the Finance Department concurs or rejects them. It also requires postings and transfers of Administrative Secretaries and All India Service cadre officers, the appointment of the Advocate General and law officers, and decisions on prosecution sanction and appeals to go to the LG first (Kashmir Times, Business Today, Tribune; the text of the rules was not opened).

Special features of the UT

• Nominated members. The Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Act, 2023 (introduced 26 July 2023; in force 26 December 2023 with a companion reservation Act, reported) lets the LG nominate two Kashmiri migrants (one a woman) and one displaced person from Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir. Kashmiri migrants are those who migrated from the Valley or elsewhere in the state after 1 November 1989 and are registered with the Relief Commissioner (PRS). With these, the House has 95 members and the majority mark becomes 48 (reported). The Act does not remove the earlier provision for the LG to nominate women if they are under-represented (PRS bill summary describes this; treat as reported).
• Legislative Council abolished. The Reorganisation Act ended the old Legislative Council; the House is now unicameral.
• Two capitals. Srinagar and Jammu serve as summer and winter capitals, with a seasonal Darbar Move of the secretariat.
• Ladakh. Ladakh is governed by its own LG with no legislature. It is not covered here.

For divisions, districts and local bodies see the Part A sections of this guide.

For exam preparation

• J&K became a UT on 31 October 2019 under the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, which Parliament passed on 5 and 6 August 2019.
• The UT is governed under Article 239A and has a legislature; Ladakh, the other UT, has none.
• Police and public order stay with the Lieutenant Governor's side, not the elected government.
• The Legislative Council was abolished in 2019, so the Assembly is unicameral.
• The 2023 amendment lets the LG nominate 5 members, making the House 95.
• Transaction of Business Rules were amended on 13 July 2024 to widen the LG's oversight role.

Legislature, Parliament and judiciary

J&K has a single-chamber Legislative Assembly of 90 elected and up to 5 nominated members. It sends 5 members to the Lok Sabha (Ladakh has its own seat, so the former state's six seats are now five plus one) and 4 members to the Rajya Sabha (Wikipedia). The High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh serves both UTs and sits at Srinagar and Jammu.

Legislative Assembly

The Assembly has a five-year term. Before 2019 the state Assembly had 111 seats on paper, of which 24 were kept vacant for Pakistan-occupied territory, leaving 87 elected seats: Kashmir 46, Jammu 37 and Ladakh 4. After Ladakh was separated and the Delimitation Commission finished its work in 2022, the UT has 90 elected seats: 47 in the Kashmir division and 43 in Jammu (Wikipedia, news reports of the final order). The 2019 Act originally provided 107 seats, to rise to 114 after delimitation, with 24 left vacant for Pakistan-occupied areas (Wikipedia's summary); 114 elected seats is not what was delimited, so this guide uses the 90 elected position that applies today.

Reserved seats (2022 delimitation). Seven seats are reserved for Scheduled Castes and nine for Scheduled Tribes, the first ST reservation in the Assembly's history. Six of the ST seats are in Jammu and three in Kashmir (The Week, Deccan Herald reports of the 5 May 2022 final order). We have not listed constituency names; check the Election Commission's delimitation order for the list.

Result of the latest election (September–October 2024). Strength changes through by-elections, resignations and defections, so we give the result rather than a live position.

Party	Seats	Vote share
Jammu & Kashmir National Conference (NC)	42	23.43%
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)	29	25.64%
Indian National Congress (INC)	6	11.97%
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)	3	8.87%
Independents	7	26.35%
CPI(M)	1	0.59%
Aam Aadmi Party	1	0.52%
J&K People's Conference	1	not given
Total elected	90

NC, INC and CPI(M) together won 49 seats, above the majority mark of 46 for 90 elected members. After the five nominations the mark is 48 (reported). In by-elections of 11 November 2025 (counting 14 November), the Budgam seat went to the PDP and the Nagrota seat to the BJP (ETV Bharat, Greater Kashmir reports); because of these, current party strength differs from the table.

Speakers

The Speaker is elected by members. Our list is incomplete because we found no full roster: Mohiuddin Malik (1977 to 1981), Wali Mohammad Itoo (1983 to 1984), Tara Chand (2002 to 2009), and Mubarak Gul (2013 to 2015). We could not confirm the full roster or exact dates for the others; the incumbent is not named.

Rajya Sabha

The UT has 4 Rajya Sabha seats, filled by the MLAs for six-year terms. Elections held on 24 October 2025 filled four seats that had been vacant since February 2021: NC won three and BJP one (ETV Bharat). We have not listed members.

Lok Sabha

J&K has five constituencies: Baramulla, Srinagar, Anantnag-Rajouri, Udhampur and Jammu. The 2022 delimitation order reshaped Anantnag by adding the Rajouri and Poonch area, which is why the seat is now called Anantnag-Rajouri (Wikipedia result tables use that name; the order itself was not opened). We have not confirmed any reservation for SC or ST in these five seats and do not state one; check the ECI schedule. Ladakh is a single separate seat.

High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh

The High Court was established on 26 March 1928 by Maharaja Hari Singh, who appointed Lala Kanwar Sain as first Chief Justice with two puisne judges (Wikipedia). It moves seasonally between Srinagar (summer) and Jammu (winter), and since the 2019 reorganisation serves both J&K and Ladakh. Its sanctioned strength is listed as 25 judges, 19 permanent and 6 additional; treat as indicative as it can be revised. Wikipedia also reports that in August 2026 the Union Cabinet approved a High Court bench in Ladakh; this is a single-source report and we have not opened the Cabinet decision. The J&K State Judicial Academy was set up in 2001 with centres in both cities.

Lokayukta and other bodies

The old J&K State Accountability Commission, set up under the 2002 Act, was repealed with the 2019 reorganisation (reported). In October 2025 a member introduced a private Lokayukta (Anti-Corruption) Bill in the Assembly; the government reportedly said it was not feasible under UT status (Greater Kashmir, Kashmir Despatch). We found no statement that a Lokayukta is currently functioning, so we make no claim. The J&K State Election Commission conducts panchayat, District Development Council and municipal elections; its 2026 electoral roll for panchayats crossed 72.24 lakh voters (ETV Bharat, reported).

For exam preparation

• The UT Assembly has 90 elected seats plus 5 nominated; the elected seats are 47 in Kashmir and 43 in Jammu.
• Before 2019 the Assembly had 87 elected seats (Kashmir 46, Jammu 37, Ladakh 4) and 24 seats left vacant for Pakistan-occupied territory.
• 7 seats are reserved for SC and 9 for ST; the ST reservation is the first in the Assembly's history.
• J&K sends 5 members to the Lok Sabha and 4 to the Rajya Sabha; Ladakh has 1 Lok Sabha seat.
• The High Court was established on 26 March 1928 and moves between Srinagar and Jammu.
• Anantnag-Rajouri is the Lok Sabha seat created after the 2022 delimitation.

Elections

J&K held Assembly elections in 1951, 1957, 1962, 1967, 1972, 1977, 1983, 1987, 1996, 2002, 2008, 2014 and 2024. Early Assemblies had 74 to 76 seats; from 1996 it was 87. The National Conference (NC) dominated until 1967, when Congress won; NC returned in 1977 and 1983; the 1987 poll is alleged to have been rigged; and the 1996 election, after six years of central rule, brought NC back with 57 seats. From 2002 coalitions became the rule. The 2024 election, the first in a decade and the first as a UT, gave an NC-led alliance a majority.

Assembly elections, 1951 to 2024

Seat counts are from a Wikipedia results table; turnout is shown where it was given. Parties not listed are in "Others".

Year	Seats	NC	INC	PDP	BJP	Others	Turnout
1951	75	75	none	none	none	0	not given
1957	75	69	none	none	none	6	not given
1962	74	68	none	none	none	6	not given
1967	75	none	60	none	none	15	58.79%
1972	75	none	58	none	none	17	62.17%
1977	76	47	11	none	none	18	67.19%
1983	76	46	26	none	none	4	73.24%
1987	76	40	26	none	2	8	74.88%
1996	87	57	7	none	8	15	53.92%
2002	87	28	20	16	1	22	43.70%
2008	87	28	17	21	11	10	61.16%
2014	87	15	12	28	25	7	65.91%
2024	90	42	6	3	29	10	about 64%

Cautions: Wikipedia's tables show 65.52% for 2014 in one place and 65.91% on the election page, and 63.88% or 64.28% for 2024 in different tables. We use 65.91% and "about 64%" and flag the gap. The 1987 NC and INC contested as an alliance. Wikipedia lists the 1996 INC total as 7 and the Janata Dal and BSP among others.

Elections 1996 to 2014 in detail

Year	Dates / phases	Vote share (main parties)	Outcome
1996	September–October 1996	NC 34.78%	NC government after six years of President's and Governor's rule; BSP won 4 seats in its first contest (Wikipedia)
2002	16 September to 8 October 2002, four phases	NC 28.24%, INC 24.24%, PDP 9.28% (ECI, via search summary)	PDP-INC coalition; the Chief Minister's post rotated after three years; first use of EVMs in a J&K Assembly poll
2008	17 November to 24 December 2008, seven phases	NC 23.07%, INC 17.71%, PDP 15.39%, BJP 12.45%	NC-INC coalition
2014	25 November to 20 December 2014, five phases	BJP 22.98%, PDP 22.67%, NC 20.77%, INC 18.01%	Hung House; PDP-BJP coalition from 1 March 2015

1996. The NC had boycotted the general election of that year and agreed to contest the Assembly poll after the then Prime Minister promised "maximum autonomy" (Wikipedia). Valid votes were about 2.48 million of nearly 4.76 million registered voters. Two women were elected out of 14 candidates.

2002. Turnout was 43.70 per cent, with very low participation in the Valley (Wikipedia gives figures as low as 3.5 per cent for some phases; we do not treat that as a division-wide average).

2008. The election followed the collapse of the PDP-INC government over the Amarnath land transfer dispute. Turnout rose by 17.46 percentage points over 2002 despite separatist boycott calls. The BJP rose from one seat to 11.

2014. Turnout of 65.91 per cent was the highest in about 25 years, on 7,316,946 registered voters. The Assembly was hung (44 seats were needed). After the PDP chief's death in January 2016 the state was under Governor's rule until April 2016, when the PDP and BJP formed a government under a new Chief Minister.

The 2024 election (first in a decade)

Held in three phases on 18 September, 25 September and 1 October 2024, with counting on 8 October. Phase 1 covered 24 seats (turnout 61.38 per cent), phase 2 covered 26 (57.31 per cent) and phase 3 covered 40 (69.69 per cent), per Wikipedia. The majority mark for the 90 elected seats is 46. The NC won 42 and the BJP 29, which made it the second-largest party; the BJP won none in the Kashmir division and all 29 of its seats in the Jammu division (Business Today, The Wire; reported). The INC won 6, the PDP 3 and seven independents were elected. The NC-INC-CPI(M) combination won 49 seats. A Chief Minister from the NC was sworn in on 16 October 2024 (Wikipedia), the first in the UT. The NC won more seats than the BJP despite a lower vote share (23.43 against 25.64 per cent); independents together took 26.35 per cent.

Before the vote, the LG's power to nominate five members drew criticism and a possible legal challenge from one of the parties (The Week, reported). The vote followed the Supreme Court's 11 December 2023 judgment that asked for elections by 30 September 2024 (reported by several outlets; judgment not opened).

Delimitation 2022

The Delimitation Commission was a three-member panel headed by a retired Supreme Court judge. It signed its final order on 5 May 2022. It raised the Assembly from 83 to 90 elected seats (the 83 being the Jammu and Kashmir seats before the Ladakh separation: 37 Jammu and 46 Kashmir), giving Jammu 43 and Kashmir 47. Nine seats were reserved for STs for the first time and seven for SCs. The Commission also recommended additional nominated seats for Kashmiri migrants and displaced persons from Pakistan-occupied territory, which Parliament enacted in 2023 (Organiser, The Week). We could not open the order and rely on news reports.

Lok Sabha elections 1999 to 2024

Year	Seats	NC	INC	PDP	BJP	Other
1999	6	4	none	none	2	none
2004	6	2	2	1	none	1
2009	6	3	2	none	none	1
2014	6	none	none	3	3	none
2019	6	3	none	none	3	none
2024	5	2	none	none	2	1

In 2024 the five constituencies voted on five dates between 19 April and 25 May: Udhampur on 19 April (68.27 per cent turnout), Jammu on 26 April (72.22), Srinagar on 13 May (38.49), Baramulla on 20 May (59.10) and Anantnag-Rajouri on 25 May (55.40). Overall turnout was 58.46 per cent, an increase of about 18 percentage points over 2019, and the vote shares were BJP 24.36, NC 22.30, INC 19.38 and PDP 8.48 per cent. The BJP and NC won two seats each and an independent won Baramulla (Wikipedia). Up to 2019 the six seats included Ladakh.

By-elections

By-elections are held within six months of a vacancy. The most recent we verified are the two held on 11 November 2025 for Budgam (turnout 50.01 per cent) and Nagrota (74.82 per cent), with counting on 14 November: the PDP won Budgam and the BJP won Nagrota (ETV Bharat, Greater Kashmir). We did not compile older by-election results.

Panchayat, municipal and District Development Council elections

Election	Key facts
Panchayat 2011	Turnout reported at over 80 per cent despite an earlier agitation; followed by years of calm (ORF, via search)
Municipal (urban local bodies) 2018	Four phases in October 2018; 79 bodies, 1,145 wards, 3,372 nominations. The NC and PDP stayed out, citing the Centre's stand on Article 35A. Overall turnout 35.1 per cent; the Kashmir region recorded only 8.2 per cent in the first phase. BJP won the Jammu Municipal Corporation; in the Srinagar Municipal Corporation independents won 53 of 74 wards, INC 16 and BJP 4
Panchayat 2018	Held November–December 2018; separatists called a boycott, the NC and PDP stayed out and the polls were held without party symbols. Turnout in phase 1 was 74.1 per cent and phase 2 about 71 per cent (reported; later phases and final turnout not confirmed)
District Development Council (DDC) 2020	280 seats, 14 per district across 20 districts, eight phases from 28 November 2020, overall turnout about 51 per cent. The People's Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) won about 110 seats; the BJP won 74 or 75 (sources differ). BJP was the largest single party; PAGD the largest alliance (reported)

The DDC is the new top tier of the three-tier Panchayati Raj system in the UT (reported). As on August 2026, reports say the UT has been without elected local bodies since the terms of the panchayats and municipalities ended in 2023–24, partly because the OBC reservation report had not been acted on (ETV Bharat, Kashmir Life). We did not verify any announced poll dates.

Reservation, electors and firsts

• 7 SC and 9 ST seats in the Assembly (2022 order).
• 5 nominated seats for migrants, displaced persons and, where relevant, women (2023 Act).
• • The 2024 Assembly poll was the first in 10 years and the first since Article 370 was read down.
• 1951 was the first J&K poll, with NC winning all 75 seats.
• The 2002 poll saw the first use of EVMs in a J&K Assembly election.
• 2014 turnout (65.91 per cent) was the highest of the 1996–2014 elections.
• Total electors for 2024: not confirmed.

For exam preparation

• The first Assembly poll was in 1951 (75 seats, NC won all).
• From 1996 to 2014 the Assembly had 87 seats; 44 was the majority mark.
• The 2008 poll was won by NC-INC after the Amarnath land transfer row; BJP rose to 11 seats.
• The 2014 poll produced a hung House (PDP 28, BJP 25, NC 15, INC 12) and a PDP-BJP coalition.
• The 2024 poll was held in three phases (18 Sep, 25 Sep, 1 Oct) with counting on 8 October; NC 42, BJP 29, INC 6, PDP 3.
• DDC elections were held in 2020 across 20 districts with 280 seats; the PAGD won the most seats, BJP was the largest single party.

Past Chief Ministers, Governors and office-holders

This section lists only completed tenures. Where one person is also the incumbent, the name is withheld and the row is marked. Dates are from Wikipedia list pages. Until 1965 the head of government was called Prime Minister and the head of state was the Sadr-i-Riyasat; the Sixth Amendment to the state constitution replaced them with the Chief Minister and Governor in 1965.

Prime Ministers and Chief Ministers

Head of government	Tenure	Party
Mehr Chand Mahajan (Prime Minister)	27 Oct 1947 to 5 Mar 1948	Independent
Sheikh Abdullah (PM)	5 Mar 1948 to 9 Aug 1953	National Conference
Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad (PM)	9 Aug 1953 to 12 Oct 1963	National Conference
Khwaja Shamsuddin (PM)	12 Oct 1963 to 29 Feb 1964	National Conference
Ghulam Mohammed Sadiq (PM, then first CM from 30 Mar 1965)	29 Feb 1964 to 12 Dec 1971	Congress
Syed Mir Qasim	12 Dec 1971 to 25 Feb 1975	Congress
Sheikh Abdullah (CM)	25 Feb 1975 to 26 Mar 1977	National Conference
Governor's rule	26 Mar 1977 to 9 Jul 1977	not applicable
Sheikh Abdullah (CM)	9 Jul 1977 to 8 Sep 1982	National Conference
Farooq Abdullah	8 Sep 1982 to 2 Jul 1984	National Conference
Ghulam Mohammad Shah	2 Jul 1984 to 6 Mar 1986	Awami National Conference
Governor's rule, then President's rule from 6 Sep 1986	6 Mar 1986 to 7 Nov 1986	not applicable
Farooq Abdullah	7 Nov 1986 to 19 Jan 1990	National Conference
Governor's rule, then President's rule from 19 Jul 1990	19 Jan 1990 to 9 Oct 1996	not applicable
Farooq Abdullah	9 Oct 1996 to 18 Oct 2002	National Conference
Governor's rule	18 Oct 2002 to 2 Nov 2002	not applicable
Mufti Mohammad Sayeed	2 Nov 2002 to 2 Nov 2005	PDP
Ghulam Nabi Azad	2 Nov 2005 to 11 Jul 2008	Congress
Governor's rule	11 Jul 2008 to 5 Jan 2009	not applicable
Incumbent (earlier term)	5 Jan 2009 to 8 Jan 2015	National Conference
Governor's rule	8 Jan 2015 to 1 Mar 2015	not applicable
Mufti Mohammad Sayeed	1 Mar 2015 to 7 Jan 2016	PDP
Governor's rule	7 Jan 2016 to 4 Apr 2016	not applicable
Mehbooba Mufti	4 Apr 2016 to 19 Jun 2018	PDP
Governor's rule, then President's rule from 20 Dec 2018	20 Jun 2018 to 30 Oct 2019	not applicable
President's rule (continues in the UT)	31 Oct 2019 to 14 Oct 2024	not applicable
Incumbent (first CM of the UT)	from 16 Oct 2024	See current affairs

Wikipedia's table splits some terms at Assembly elections (for example Sheikh Abdullah 1948 to 1953 or Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad's three consecutive terms); we merged those. Sources differ on the date Sheikh Abdullah was removed, 8 or 9 August 1953; we use 9 August. In the 1977–2002 gaps, the table shows several Governor's rule spells; the 1990–96 spell, which lasted six years and three months, is the longest period without an elected government.

Sadr-i-Riyasat

Karan Singh was the only Sadr-i-Riyasat, from 17 November 1952 to 30 March 1965 (Wikipedia). He then served as the first Governor.

Governors, 1965 to 2019

#	Governor	Tenure
1	Karan Singh	30 Mar 1965 to 15 May 1967
2	Bhagwan Sahay	15 May 1967 to 3 Jul 1973
3	Lakshmi Kant Jha	3 Jul 1973 to 22 Feb 1981
4	Braj Kumar Nehru	22 Feb 1981 to 26 Apr 1984
5	Jagmohan	26 Apr 1984 to 11 Jul 1989
6	K. V. Krishna Rao	11 Jul 1989 to 19 Jan 1990
7	Jagmohan (second term)	19 Jan 1990 to 26 May 1990
8	Girish Chandra Saxena	26 May 1990 to 12 Mar 1993
9	K. V. Krishna Rao (second term)	12 Mar 1993 to 2 May 1998
10	Girish Chandra Saxena (second term)	2 May 1998 to 4 Jun 2003
11	Srinivas Kumar Sinha	4 Jun 2003 to 25 Jun 2008
12	Narinder Nath Vohra	25 Jun 2008 to 23 Aug 2018 (longest, about 10 years)
13	Satya Pal Malik	23 Aug 2018 to 31 Oct 2019 (last Governor)

Lieutenant Governors

Office-holder	Tenure
G. C. Murmu (first LG)	31 Oct 2019 to 6 Aug 2020
Incumbent	See current affairs

Speakers and Chief Justices

Speakers with completed tenures that we could confirm are in the previous section; the roster is incomplete. For the High Court, only the first two Chief Justices were confirmed: Lala Kanwar Sain (first, appointed 26 March 1928) and Barjor Jamshedjee Dalal (16 February 1931 to 23 November 1936). We could not open a complete list and do not give one. The incumbent Chief Justice is not named.

For exam preparation

• Mehr Chand Mahajan was the first Prime Minister of J&K (from 27 October 1947); Sheikh Abdullah followed in March 1948.
• Ghulam Mohammed Sadiq was the last Prime Minister and the first Chief Minister, after the Sixth Amendment of 1965.
• Karan Singh was the only Sadr-i-Riyasat (1952 to 1965) and then the first Governor.
• The longest Governor was Narinder Nath Vohra (June 2008 to August 2018); the last Governor was Satya Pal Malik.
• The first Lieutenant Governor of the UT served from 31 October 2019 to 6 August 2020.
• Governor's rule or President's rule ran 1990 to 1996, 2018 to 2019, and 2019 to 2024.

Political history and movements

J&K's politics has been shaped by the terms of accession, the long debate over how much autonomy the state kept, the militancy that began after 1989, and the 2019 reorganisation. This section keeps to events and sources; where a point is contested we say "reported".

Accession and the early state

Maharaja Hari Singh signed the Instrument of Accession to India on 26 October 1947 (accepted the next day) amid the tribal invasion and the first India-Pakistan war. Mehr Chand Mahajan became Prime Minister on 27 October 1947 and Sheikh Abdullah's National Conference took over the head of government on 5 March 1948, per the list above. Article 370, in the Constitution since 1949 as a temporary provision, restricted Parliament's powers over the state to defence, foreign affairs and communications unless the state agreed to more (Wikipedia). A Constituent Assembly was elected in 1951, and the state's own constitution came into force in 1957 (the Wikipedia Assembly page dates the legislature's modern form to 1957).

Delhi Agreement 1952 and the 1953 dismissal

On 24 July 1952 the Prime Ministers of India and J&K signed the Delhi Agreement on the constitutional relationship between the state and the Union (Wikipedia, Kashmir Life). The hereditary monarchy ended and the Sadr-i-Riyasat, elected by the Assembly, became head of state from 17 November 1952. On 8 or 9 August 1953 the Sadr-i-Riyasat dismissed Sheikh Abdullah as Prime Minister, he was denied a chance to prove his majority in the House, and Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad took over. We do not give further details of the dismissal, as accounts are contested.

Erosion of Article 370 and the 1975 accord

The Presidential Order of 1954 extended Fundamental Rights and the Supreme Court's jurisdiction to the state. About 47 more Presidential Orders between 1956 and 1994 extended central provisions, a process scholars call the "erosion" of Article 370 (Wikipedia). In February 1975, Sheikh Abdullah returned as Chief Minister after an accord with the Centre (the date of the accord itself we could not confirm).

1987 election and the rise of militancy

The 23 March 1987 election had 74.9 per cent turnout, close to 80 per cent in the Valley (Wikipedia). The NC-Congress alliance won 66 seats; the Muslim United Front, a coalition of religious and other groups, won 4 seats despite polling about 31 per cent. Reports allege rigging and arrests of opposition workers; estimates of seats lost to fraud differ, from 4 (one scholar) to 13 (intelligence estimates). The result is widely cited as having fuelled discontent and the militancy that followed (Wikipedia). We say "alleged" because the extent is disputed. Governor's rule was imposed on 19 January 1990 and President's rule on 19 July 1990, lasting until October 1996.

1996 to 2018: coalitions and boycotts

After 1996, the NC, then a PDP-INC coalition (2002), an INC-NC coalition (2008) and a PDP-BJP coalition (2014) governed. Separatist groups called boycotts, and turnout varied sharply (43.70 per cent in 2002, 65.91 per cent in 2014). The PDP-BJP government ended in June 2018 when the BJP withdrew; Governor's rule began on 20 June 2018 and President's rule on 20 December 2018. The Assembly was dissolved in November 2018 (reported; not verified here).

2019 reorganisation and Article 370

On 5 August 2019 Presidential Order 272 made the entire Constitution applicable to J&K, and on 6 August Order 273 made all of Article 370 inoperative except clause 1 (Wikipedia). Parliament passed the Reorganisation Act on the same days. The Supreme Court's Constitution Bench ruled on 11 December 2023 that the abrogation was valid. As reported, the bench left open whether a state can be converted into a Union Territory, relying on a statement made on the Centre's behalf that statehood would be restored (Deccan Herald summary of the verdict; the judgment was not opened). It also asked for elections by 30 September 2024.

Statehood restoration: status as on October 2026

As on 4 October 2026, J&K is still a Union Territory. The most recent judicial step we verified is from 10 October 2025, when the Supreme Court gave the Union government four weeks to respond to petitions seeking time-bound restoration of statehood; the Solicitor General said consultations were under way and that factors such as the Pahalgam attack must be considered (Kashmir Reader, Deccan Herald, IANS). We could not find any later hearing or any Bill in Parliament to restore statehood. Treat the matter as pending and check current affairs before an exam.

For exam preparation

• The Instrument of Accession was signed on 26 October 1947 by Maharaja Hari Singh.
• The Delhi Agreement was signed on 24 July 1952.
• Sheikh Abdullah was dismissed in August 1953, and Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad succeeded him.
• The 1987 election is widely alleged to have been rigged; militancy rose after it.
• Presidential Orders 272 and 273 (5 and 6 August 2019) ended the special status.
• The Supreme Court upheld the abrogation on 11 December 2023.

Budget and governance

The UT government presented its 2026-27 budget in the Assembly on 6 February 2026. These are the latest figures we verified, as on 4 October 2026; check the finance department's documents before quoting them in an exam answer. This guide does not name the minister who presented it.

Item (2026-27 budget estimates)	Figure
Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP), estimated	Rs 3,15,822 crore, up 9.5 per cent on 2025-26 revised estimates
Revenue receipts	Rs 90,018 crore, up 1 per cent; 35 per cent own resources, 65 per cent central grants
Net expenditure, excluding debt repayment	Rs 1,05,958 crore
Capital outlay	Rs 25,236 crore, up 4 per cent
Committed expenditure	Rs 52,743 crore: salaries 27 per cent, pensions 18 per cent and interest 14 per cent of revenue receipts
Fiscal deficit	4.6 per cent of GSDP, about Rs 14,685 crore
Revenue surplus	3 per cent of GSDP, about Rs 9,378 crore
Outstanding liabilities	48 per cent of GSDP, down from 51 per cent the previous year
State GST	About Rs 13,000 crore, 63 per cent of own-tax revenue

Source for the table: PRS Legislative Research's analysis of the budget. Other press summaries carry different headline totals: one reports a total outlay of Rs 1,27,767 crore gross and Rs 1,13,767 crore net of overdrafts, and another a fiscal deficit of 3.69 per cent of GSDP and capital expenditure of about Rs 33,127 crore. These do not match PRS and may use different definitions, so we rely on PRS and flag the rest as unverified. Announcements reported include crop insurance for apple and saffron (sum insured Rs 6,595 crore), fee waivers for disadvantaged students and Rs 4,000 monthly transfers to orphans (6,000 beneficiaries) (PRS).

Fiscal and administrative notes

• J&K depends heavily on central grants, about 65 per cent of revenue receipts in 2026-27.
• Police, public order and All India Service matters are subject to the LG, so a large part of the administration works under shared control (see the first section).
• We did not verify e-governance initiatives or administrative reforms for this guide and make no claims about them.

For exam preparation

• The 2026-27 budget was presented on 6 February 2026; GSDP is estimated at about Rs 3.16 lakh crore (PRS).
• Revenue receipts are about Rs 90,018 crore, and about 65 per cent come from central grants.
• PRS reports a fiscal deficit of 4.6 per cent of GSDP and a revenue surplus.
• Outstanding liabilities are about 48 per cent of GSDP.
• Committed expenditure (salaries, pensions, interest) is about Rs 52,743 crore.

Economy

Jammu and Kashmir is a Union Territory with a service-led economy and an unusually large public sector. Services (tourism, trade, transport, government) produce about three-fifths of its output, agriculture and allied activity about a fifth, and industry a little less than that. Horticulture, handicrafts and hydropower are its signature strengths. The weak points are a thin industrial base, a heavy dependence on central transfers, and a tourism sector that swings sharply with security events. Since 31 October 2019 the UT has been smaller than the old state, because Ladakh became a separate Union Territory; many older figures on the web still include Ladakh, so check the year before quoting any number. As on October 2026, the figures below come mainly from the PRS analysis of the 2026-27 budget and press reports of the Economic Survey 2025-26, which are the most recent we opened. Budget numbers are projections, not audited accounts.

Size, growth and income

Indicator	Value	Source / note
GSDP, 2026-27 (budget estimate, current prices)	₹3,15,822 crore, up 9.5% on the revised 2025-26 figure	PRS analysis of the 2026-27 budget
GSDP, 2025-26 (nominal, Economic Survey)	about ₹2.86 lakh crore	Economic Survey 2025-26, as reported by press; our own back-calculation from PRS gives about ₹2.88 lakh crore
Real GSDP growth, 2025-26	5.8% (India: 7.4%)	PRS; the Survey is reported as 5.82%
Per capita GSDP, 2025-26	₹2,06,189, up 8% (India: ₹2,51,393)	PRS
Per capita income, 2025-26	₹1,68,243	Economic Survey 2025-26, as reported by press; a different measure from per capita GSDP, so do not mix the two rows
Population (Census 2011)	1,25,41,302	Census 2011; includes areas now in Ladakh

GSDP (Gross State Domestic Product) is the value of everything produced inside the territory in a year. "Current prices" means that year's rupees, so part of any rise is inflation, while "real" growth removes inflation. Per capita GSDP is output per person; per capita income is closer to what residents actually earn, which is why the two differ. The Survey is also reported to say J&K's per capita income grew faster than Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, Punjab, Chandigarh and Haryana from 2019-20 to 2024-25; that is growth from a lower base, not higher income.

Sectors of the economy

PRS gives the 2025-26 split as agriculture and allied activity 20%, manufacturing (industry) 19% and services 61%. The press report of the Economic Survey gives the same picture to two decimals: primary 20.45%, secondary 18.52% and tertiary 61.02% of Gross State Value Added. Services dominate, but farming and horticulture still employ far more people than their output share suggests.

What drives the economy

• Horticulture and farming. Apples, walnuts, saffron, rice and vegetables. A reference page (Wikipedia, cross-check only) says apple growing supports about 3.5 million people. See the next section for production.
• Handicrafts. The Economic Survey 2025-26 reports about 4.45 lakh artisans in handicrafts and handloom. Exports were ₹733.59 crore in 2024-25 (carpets ₹260.70 crore, woollen shawls ₹305.50 crore, papier-mâché ₹27.61 crore, other items ₹139.75 crore) and ₹410.97 crore in the first part of 2025-26, up to October (press reports). The 2024-25 figure was the lowest in three years.
• Tourism and pilgrimage. Tourism is described as contributing about 7% of the economy (Wikipedia, cross-check only). Arrivals fell in 2025: 1.77 crore domestic visits against 2.30 crore in 2024, and 36,410 foreign visits against 65,452, as reported from the Economic Survey and a reply in Parliament. The reports attribute the fall to the Pahalgam attack of April 2025, the tension that followed and later floods. See the tourism section.
• Hydropower. The rivers Chenab, Jhelum and their tributaries carry large potential; see the energy section. In the 2026-27 budget, non-tax revenue from the power sector is ₹7,100 crore, 64% of own non-tax revenue, while power purchase costs ₹9,300 crore (PRS).
• Central support. A central industrial development scheme of 2021 offers capital and other incentives to new units (see the industry section), and central grants and devolved taxes cover a large share of the budget.

Public finances

Item	Value	Note
Revenue surplus, 2026-27 (budget estimate)	₹9,378 crore, 3% of GSDP	PRS; the 2025-26 revised estimate was 2.8%
Fiscal deficit, 2026-27	4.6% of GSDP (₹14,685 crore)	PRS
Expenditure, 2026-27 (excluding debt repayment)	₹1,05,958 crore	PRS; debt repayment of ₹7,809 crore is extra
Receipts, 2026-27 (excluding borrowing)	₹91,273 crore	PRS
Revenue expenditure	₹80,640 crore	PRS
Capital outlay	₹25,236 crore, up 4%	PRS
Own tax revenue	₹20,700 crore, up 1%	PRS; State GST ₹13,000 crore, sales tax/VAT ₹2,100 crore, stamps and registration ₹1,100 crore
Committed expenditure (salaries, pensions, interest)	₹52,743 crore, 59% of revenue receipts	PRS; salaries 27%, pensions 18%, interest 14%
Outstanding liabilities	48% of GSDP in 2024-25	PRS
Off-budget borrowing	₹23,133 crore, 8.8% of GSDP	PRS

A revenue surplus means day-to-day receipts exceed day-to-day spending, which is rare among Indian states. The fiscal deficit is total spending minus receipts that are not borrowing. "Off-budget borrowing" is debt raised by government-owned bodies and not shown as state debt. The 2026-27 budget also sets aside ₹6,528 crore for infrastructure and roads and ₹1,878 crore for agriculture and allied sectors (PRS). We did not confirm the FRBM (fiscal responsibility) limit, so we do not state it.

Poverty and employment

We could not confirm the latest NITI Aayog multidimensional poverty figure for J&K, or a current unemployment rate from an official source, so both are left out. Literacy and sex ratio, from Census 2011, are covered in the education section.

For exam preparation

• J&K's GSDP for 2026-27 is projected at ₹3,15,822 crore, 9.5% above the previous year (PRS).
• In 2025-26 services contribute about 61% of the economy, agriculture 20% and manufacturing 19% (PRS).
• The 2026-27 budget shows a revenue surplus of 3% of GSDP and a fiscal deficit of 4.6%.
• Committed expenditure takes about 59% of revenue receipts in 2026-27 (PRS).
• Handicraft exports were ₹733.59 crore in 2024-25 (Economic Survey, as reported).
• Ladakh became a separate UT on 31 October 2019, so pre-2019 statistics need care.

Agriculture, forests, minerals, industry and energy

Farming in J&K means rice and maize in the valleys and Jammu plains, and above all fruit on the Kashmir Valley's karewas (flat-topped plateaus). It is India's largest apple-growing region and the only place in India that grows saffron commercially in quantity. Forests cover a large share of the territory, minerals are modest but varied, factory industry is small, and hydropower is the main energy resource. Since the Industrial Development Scheme of 2021 the government has tried to widen the industrial base.

Horticulture

Horticulture is the most valuable part of agriculture. Press reports of official data say total fruit production rose from 20.06 lakh tonnes in 2018-19 to 26.92 lakh tonnes in 2024-25, and that the area under horticulture is about 3.47 lakh hectares in 2025-26. Apple production is reported as 21.10 lakh tonnes in 2024-25 and an estimate of 22.15 lakh tonnes for the 2025 season; earlier, 20.40 lakh tonnes in 2022-23. Walnut output is reported at about 3 lakh tonnes (a single-source figure, treat as indicative). Other fruit include pear, cherry, apricot and almond. The government's push is towards high-density plantations, farmer producer organisations and better marketing; the apple trade is sensitive to highway closures and prices.

Saffron

Kashmir saffron is a spice from the dried stigmas of the crocus flower, grown on karewa land at around 1,600 m. Pampore in Pulwama district is its centre, with Budgam, Srinagar and Kishtwar also cultivating it (reported). Kashmir Saffron received a Geographical Indication (GI) registration in 2020, covering saffron grown on the karewas of the territory. Data reported from the government:

Item	Value
Area under saffron	3,715 hectares, unchanged since 2010-11; it was 5,707 hectares before decline
Production, 2020-21	17.33 tonnes
Production, 2021-22	14.87 tonnes
Production, 2022-23	14.94 tonnes
Production, 2023-24	23.53 tonnes
Production, 2024-25	19.58 tonnes (productivity 5.27 kg per hectare)

The decline of the 1990s and 2000s, when yield per hectare fell to 1.27 kg in 2000-01, was halted after the National Mission on Saffron started its revival project in 2010-11. Production in the last five years has been reported as about 90 tonnes in total. The press has questioned how strong the recovery is; the government has rejected a "collapse" claim.

Rice, Basmati and other crops

Paddy is the main cereal. The RS Pura belt near the Jammu border is known for Basmati rice; Basmati carries a national GI (2016, covering several northern states, including J&K). Mushkbudji, an aromatic rice of Anantnag, received a GI in 2023, and Bhaderwah Rajmash and Ramban Sulai honey are also GI-registered (reported 2021).

Forests

According to the India State of Forest Report 2023, forest cover is 21,346.39 sq km, up from 21,262.84 sq km in the 2021 report and 20,948.27 sq km in 2013 (as reported). The same reports say J&K has the highest number of forest types in India (43), the highest average growing stock (296.22 cubic metres per hectare) and the highest carbon stock per hectare (174.10 tonnes). Deodar, kail (blue pine), fir and spruce are the main commercial conifers. We did not confirm the percentage of area, because sources use different area bases. Protected areas are in the tourism section.

Minerals

Mineral	Where (Indian Bureau of Mines and press reports)
Limestone	Anantnag, Baramulla, Kathua, Poonch, Pulwama, Rajouri, Srinagar, Udhampur; reserves reported near one billion tonnes
Gypsum	Baramulla and Doda
Coal and lignite	Kupwara
Bauxite and china clay	Udhampur
Sapphire	Paddar (Kishtwar, formerly part of Doda)
Lithium (inferred resource)	Salal-Haimana, Reasi: 5.9 million tonnes, "inferred" (G3), Geological Survey of India

The "inferred" label means the estimate has low confidence and the deposit is far from being a mine. Borax and native sulphur in older sources belong to Ladakh. The mining department reports about 8,500 million tonnes of mineral resources in all; this is a resource, not output.

Industry

Large factories are few. Crafts, food processing and small manufacturing dominate. The New Central Sector Scheme for Industrial Development of J&K (2021) has an outlay of ₹28,400 crore up to 2037; it offers a capital investment incentive of 30% in Zone A and 50% in Zone B for units investing up to ₹50 crore, and registration ran from 1 April 2021 to 30 September 2024. Press reports say 971 units had registered and the package was close to exhausted (reported). Industrial estate details are not confirmed here.

Handicrafts

Handicrafts are the industry for which Kashmir is best known:

Craft	What it is
Pashmina	Fine wool of the Changthangi goat, spun by hand and woven or embroidered; GI, reported 2008
Kani shawl	Woven with small wooden bobbins (kani) instead of a shuttle, in complex patterns; GI
Sozni embroidery	Needlework with fine floral designs; GI
Hand-knotted carpet	Knotted pile carpet, a major export; GI
Papier-mâché	Painted paper pulp objects; GI; about 8,100 new artisans trained (reported)
Khatamband	Geometric wooden ceilings; GI
Walnut wood carving	Furniture and decor from the local walnut; GI

Reports say 15 crafts from the Kashmir division carried GI registrations by March 2025. Rajouri Chikri woodcraft also has a GI (2023, reported).

Energy

J&K has hydro potential estimated at about 20,000 MW, and an October 2021 report said about 16% (2,813 MW) had been harnessed (may include Ladakh; indicative).

Project	River and place	Capacity	Status
Salal	Chenab, Reasi	690 MW (two stages)	Stage I 1987, Stage II 1993-95; run by NHPC; the first hydro project built by India in J&K after the Indus Waters Treaty
Baglihar	Chenab, Ramban	900 MW (2 × 450 MW)	Stage I 2008-09, Stage II 2015-16; built by the state power corporation; a Neutral Expert gave a verdict in 2007
Kishanganga	Kishanganga diverted to the Jhelum basin, Bandipora	330 MW	Commissioned 19 May 2018; NHPC
Ratle	Chenab, Kishtwar	850 MW	Under construction (reported)
Pakal Dul	Marusudar, Kishtwar	1,000 MW	Under construction; expected to be the largest in J&K when finished (reported)
Kiru	Chenab, Kishtwar	624 MW	Under construction (reported)

Run-of-the-river means the plant uses the river's flow with little storage.

Indus Waters Treaty. The 1960 treaty gives India the rights to the eastern rivers and limited use of the western rivers (Indus, Jhelum, Chenab) for run-of-river hydro, within design rules. In April 2025, after the Pahalgam attack, India announced that it was holding the treaty "in abeyance". As on October 2026, the Court of Arbitration at The Hague issued, on 31 August 2026, a unanimous award saying the treaty remains in force and that India's decision does not suspend it, together with interim measures limiting some concreting work at Ratle. India has rejected the award, saying the court is illegally constituted, and holds that its suspension continues until cross-border terrorism ends. A separate Neutral Expert process continues, with a decision expected around July 2027 (reported). The Kishanganga project was earlier the subject of a Court of Arbitration award in 2013, which allowed diversion for power but required a minimum downstream flow of 9 cumecs (cubic metres per second) and barred drawdown flushing of dead storage. Treat the treaty's status as time-sensitive and check /current-affairs.

For exam preparation

• Saffron: area 3,715 hectares, production 19.58 tonnes in 2024-25; Pampore is the main centre; GI registration in 2020.
• Pashmina, Kani shawl, Sozni, carpets, papier-mâché, Khatamband and walnut wood carving are among Kashmir's GI crafts.
• Salal is 690 MW on the Chenab at Reasi; Baglihar is 900 MW at Ramban; Kishanganga is 330 MW, commissioned 2018.
• Ratle (850 MW), Pakal Dul (1,000 MW) and Kiru (624 MW) are under construction.
• Forest cover is 21,346.39 sq km (ISFR 2023); J&K has 43 forest types.
• The Industrial Development Scheme of 2021 has an outlay of ₹28,400 crore up to 2037.

Transport and infrastructure

Mountains decide everything here. Until the 2010s, one road over the Banihal pass tied the Valley to the rest of India, and it closed in snow. Over the last decade tunnels, a four-lane highway and a railway that goes right through the Pir Panjal have changed that. The UT is served by the Northern Railway and is covered by NH 44.

Rail

The Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link (USBRL) is 272 km long, with 36 tunnels and 943 bridges and an estimated cost of about ₹44,000 crore (press reports). It includes the Chenab Rail Bridge, a steel arch 359 m above the riverbed and 1,315 m long, reported as the highest railway bridge in the world, built in Reasi district, and the Anji Khad Bridge, India's first cable-stayed rail bridge. The Prime Minister inaugurated the Chenab Bridge and flagged off two Vande Bharat trains between Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra and Srinagar on 6 June 2025; the journey takes about three hours. The Banihal-Qazigund rail tunnel of about 8.5 km is reported to be India's longest railway tunnel. Plans for a direct train from Delhi to Srinagar have been reported for years; we could not confirm its current status, so check the latest timetable.

Roads and tunnels

Structure	Detail
NH 44	Main Jammu-Srinagar highway; 11 national highways and a total of 41,141 km of roads as of August 2022 (reported)
Jawahar (Banihal) tunnel	Old road tunnel at Banihal at about 2,194 m, under 3 km; sources differ on exact length
Chenani-Nashri tunnel	Road tunnel of about 9 km between Udhampur and Ramban, opened in 2017; cuts about 30 km and about 2 hours from Jammu-Srinagar
Banihal-Qazigund road tunnel	About 8.5 km road tunnel at about 1,790 m
Z-Morh (Sonamarg) tunnel	6.5 km, Ganderbal district; opened 13 January 2025; all-weather access to Sonamarg
Zojila tunnel	Excavation reported complete on 9 June 2026; opening targeted around February 2028

The Atal Tunnel is in Himachal Pradesh, not J&K; do not confuse it with these.

Air and other links

Sheikh ul-Alam International Airport, Srinagar, is the only international airport in the UT and handled about 4.4 million passengers in 2023-24 (reported). Jammu Airport is a civil enclave on a defence airfield. Udhampur's airport has been reported as being finalised for operations, and an upgrade of the Kishtwar airstrip from about 900 m to 1,500 m under the UDAN scheme was launched (reported 2025). The UT has no sea port. We did not confirm any metro project in Srinagar or Jammu.

For exam preparation

• The USBRL is 272 km; the Chenab Bridge is 359 m above the riverbed and 1,315 m long; opened 6 June 2025.
• Vande Bharat connects Katra and Srinagar in about three hours.
• Chenani-Nashri is about 9 km; Z-Morh opened on 13 January 2025 and is 6.5 km.
• Srinagar is the only international airport in the UT.
• NH 44 is the Jammu-Srinagar highway.

Culture, tribes and heritage

Kashmir has been a centre of Sanskrit learning, Buddhism, Kashmir Shaivism, and later of Persian and Sufi culture, and Jammu is a Dogra region of hill temples and Pahari painting. The territory therefore carries two cultural worlds under one name, plus a pastoral Gujjar-Bakarwal world that crosses both. A reference page describes Kashmiri culture as shaped by Hinduism, Buddhism and later Islam, with strong Persian and Central Asian influence.

Languages and literature

Five languages are official: Kashmiri, Dogri, Hindi, Urdu and English. Mother-tongue shares quoted on a reference page (Wikipedia, from the Census) are Kashmiri 52.9%, Dogri 20.5% and Gojri about 9.5%; because the page reflects the older, undivided state, treat these as approximate. Kashmiri belongs to the Dardic group of Indo-Aryan languages, and has been written in Sharada, Perso-Arabic and Devanagari scripts. Kashmiri is in the Eighth Schedule from its beginning; Dogri was added in 2003 (not re-verified).

• Lal Ded (Lalleshwari, 14th century) wrote mystic verses called vakhs, the oldest well-known Kashmiri poetry, shared by Hindu and Muslim traditions.
• Nund Rishi (Sheikh Nooruddin, c. 1377-1440) founded the Rishi tradition; his shrine is at Charar-e-Sharief, Budgam.
• Habba Khatoon (16th century) is remembered as a poet of love songs.
• Kalhana wrote the Rajatarangini in Sanskrit in the 12th century, the chronicle of Kashmir's kings.
• In the 20th century, Mahjoor and Dina Nath Nadim shaped modern Kashmiri poetry; Rehman Rahi won the Jnanpith Award in 2004 (not re-verified).
• Padma Sachdev was a leading modern Dogri poet (died 2021; awards not re-verified).

Kashmir also gave India foundational texts. A reference page notes the Natya Shastra's link to Kashmir, and Abhinavagupta (c. 940-1015), who wrote the Tantraloka, is the best-known thinker of Kashmir Shaivism, the Trika philosophy that arose after about 850 CE.

Sufism, the Rishi order and shrines

Islam in Kashmir took a Sufi form, and the local Rishi order, which blends devotion with local ascetic practice, grew out of that meeting. Major shrines include Hazratbal on Dal Lake, known for a relic venerated by Kashmiri Muslims, Khanqah-e-Moula in Srinagar (c. 1395, reported), the Jamia Masjid at Nowhatta, and the shrine at Charar-e-Sharief. Sufiana Kalam is the classical music tradition associated with this heritage and is played on the santoor, setar and other instruments.

Kashmiri Pandit heritage

Kashmiri Pandits are the Valley's Hindu community. They kept the Sharada script for rituals and are known for Sanskrit scholarship. Their festivals include Herath (Shivaratri), Navreh and the Kheer Bhawani mela at the Tulmulla spring on Jyeshtha Ashtami. Estimates of the 1989-90 exodus vary: a reference page says 90,000-100,000 of an estimated 120,000-140,000 Pandits left between January and March 1990, and the causes and numbers are contested in public debate. Return and rehabilitation are the subject of government schemes (see the schemes section).

Tribes and social groups

The largest Scheduled Tribes are Gujjars and Bakarwals. A reference page says that together they form about 69-72% of the ST population. In 2024 the Pahari-speaking community was reported as getting ST status through Parliament (details not re-verified). Gaddi and Sippi are also listed Scheduled Tribes in older notifications.

Group	Where found	Notes
Gujjar	Rajouri, Poonch, Kashmir uplands, Jammu hills	Cattle and buffalo herders; language Gojri
Bakarwal	Pir Panjal and Kashmir high pastures	Sheep and goat nomads who move to high meadows in summer and the plains of Jammu in winter
Gaddi	Hills of Kishtwar and Doda area (also Himachal)	Semi-pastoral
Sippi	Pir Panjal region	Listed ST (details not confirmed)
Pahari	Pir Panjal, Rajouri, Poonch, Kupwara and Baramulla hills	Speakers of Pahari dialects; ST status reported in 2024

We did not confirm Census 2011 counts for each group and do not give the ST population total.

Dance, music and folk theatre

• Rouf is a women's dance, performed in two facing rows during Eid and Ramzan (reported).
• Dumhal is performed by men of the Wattal community in long colourful robes and tall conical caps decorated with beads and shells, dancing round a banner planted in the ground.
• Chakri is group singing, associated with weddings and festivals, accompanied by instruments such as the harmonium, sarangi, rabab, tumbaknari and nout (reported).
• Bhand Pather is the traditional Kashmiri folk theatre, mixing acting, dance and satire; it is known for farce and for mocking social and political themes.
• Kud is a Jammu-region folk dance performed in honour of local deities (reported).
• Dogri folk songs and ballads, Gojri songs and the Sufiana Kalam complete the picture.

Festivals and fairs

Festival or fair	What it is
Eid-ul-Fitr and Eid-ul-Adha, Eid-e-Milad	Main Muslim festivals; Shab-e-Barat and Shab-e-Meraj also marked
Herath	Kashmiri Pandit Shivaratri
Navreh (Nowruz)	New Year, spring festival
Kheer Bhawani mela	At Tulmulla on Jyeshtha Ashtami; a large annual gathering of Pandits
Amarnath Yatra	Annual pilgrimage to the ice lingam cave; 2026 ran from 3 July to Raksha Bandhan on 28 August (57 days), with over 4.8 lakh pilgrims (reported)
Lohri, Baisakhi	Harvest festivals in Jammu region
Navratri at Vaishno Devi	Pilgrim surge at Katra

Cuisine

Rice is the staple, with meat central to ceremonial food. Wazwan, a feast of up to 36 courses, is cooked by hereditary cooks (wazas) and served on a large copper plate (traem) shared by four. The seven classic dishes are tabakh maaz (twice-cooked lamb ribs), rista (meatballs in a red gravy), rogan josh, daniwal korma, aab gosh, marchwangan korma (chicken) and gushtaba (meatballs in yogurt gravy), which signals the end of the main course. Everyday tastes include kahwa (saffron tea) and noon chai (salt tea), and breads such as girda, tsot, sheermal and bakarkhani. Vegetable dishes include haakh (collard greens), dum aloo and lotus stem. In Jammu, Dogra food leans towards rajma, kaladi and maa da madra.

Architecture and painting

Kashmir's historic buildings blend stone temples of the Karkota and Utpala eras with wooden mosques and shrines, in which deodar timber and carved balconies are typical. The Martand Sun Temple at Mattan (Anantnag), built by Lalitaditya Muktapida and completed in the 8th century, and the Shankaracharya temple above Srinagar are the best-known pre-Islamic sites. In Jammu, Basohli painting, a style of the Pahari school, and the forts and palaces of the Dogra era are the main visual heritage. The Mughals added terraced gardens (see the tourism section). Srinagar was admitted to the UNESCO Creative Cities Network for crafts and folk art in 2021 (not re-verified in this pass).

For exam preparation

• Kashmiri, Dogri, Hindi, Urdu and English are the official languages.
• Lal Ded (14th century) and Nund Rishi are founders of Kashmiri mystic literature; Kalhana wrote the Rajatarangini.
• Rouf is a women's dance; Dumhal is a men's dance of the Wattal community; Bhand Pather is Kashmiri folk theatre.
• Gujjars and Bakarwals are the largest Scheduled Tribes.
• Kheer Bhawani mela is held at Tulmulla on Jyeshtha Ashtami.
• Wazwan has up to 36 courses; Gushtaba is the closing main dish.

Tourism and places of interest

Tourism here rests on the Valley's lakes, meadows and gardens, on skiing at Gulmarg, and on large pilgrimages, above all Vaishno Devi and Amarnath. It is also the most volatile part of the economy. The UT has no UNESCO World Heritage Site, but has five Ramsar wetlands.

Key sites

Place	District / region	What it is
Dal Lake	Srinagar	About 18 sq km (down from about 22), divided into four basins (Gagribal, Lokut Dal, Bod Dal, Nigeen); shikaras, houseboats and floating gardens; heavily polluted and the subject of restoration
Shalimar Bagh	Srinagar	Mughal garden of 1619 by Jahangir (Farah Baksh), enlarged in 1630 (Faiz Baksh); three terraces on a central channel, 12.4 hectares
Nishat Bagh, Chashme Shahi, Pari Mahal	Srinagar	Other Mughal-era gardens and a terraced garden-palace above the lake; Verinag, Achabal and Kokernag are other gardens
Hazratbal	Srinagar	Dargah on the lake's western bank, holiest Muslim shrine of the Valley
Gulmarg	Baramulla	Meadow-turned-ski resort at about 2,650 m; ski club from 1927, Army High Altitude Warfare School since 1948; gondola takes skiers to about 3,980 m on Kongdoori
Pahalgam	Anantnag	Lidder valley; base for the Amarnath Yatra
Sonamarg	Ganderbal	Meadow at the foot of Zojila; now reached through Z-Morh tunnel
Patnitop	Udhampur	Hill resort on the Jammu-Srinagar highway
Mansar and Surinsar	Samba and Udhampur	Lakes in the Jammu foothills; Ramsar site (together)
Shri Mata Vaishno Devi, Katra	Reasi	Cave shrine on Trikuta hill; pilgrim base is Katra
Amarnath cave	Anantnag and Ganderbal	Ice lingam shrine reached from Pahalgam or Baltal
Raghunath Temple and Bahu Fort	Jammu	Dogra-era temple complex and a fort above the Tawi
Martand, Awantipora, Shankaracharya	Anantnag, Pulwama, Srinagar	Ancient temple sites
Dachigam National Park	Srinagar	141 sq km, 22 km from Srinagar; home of the hangul (Kashmir stag)
Kishtwar National Park	Kishtwar	2,190.5 sq km, established 1981; snow leopard, Himalayan tahr
Wular Lake	Bandipora	Ramsar site since 1990, reported as India's largest freshwater lake

Wetlands

The five Ramsar sites are Wular Lake (1990, 18,900 ha), Surinsar-Mansar (2005, 350 ha), Hokera (2005, 1,375 ha), Hygam Wetland Conservation Reserve (2022, 802 ha) and Shallbugh Wetland Conservation Reserve (2022, 1,675 ha).

Pilgrimage numbers

Vaishno Devi saw about 94.8 lakh pilgrims in 2024 and over 69 lakh in 2025, a drop of over 27%, after a landslide near Katra on 26 August 2025 that killed 35 pilgrims and halted the yatra for about three weeks (reported). Till 23 June 2026 more than 51 lakh pilgrims had visited, against about 39.84 lakh in the same period of 2025 (reported). The Amarnath Yatra of 2026 drew over 4.8 lakh pilgrims in 57 days (reported).

Tourism trend

After a record 2024, arrivals fell in 2025, to 1.77 crore domestic and 36,410 foreign visitors (Economic Survey, reported). After the Pahalgam attack of April 2025 the government closed 48 of 87 listed tourist destinations in Kashmir for a security review (reported), and Gulmarg occupancy dropped sharply. Winter and spring figures are expected to be better in 2026, but we did not confirm current arrival data for 2026.

For exam preparation

• Dal Lake has four basins: Gagribal, Lokut Dal, Bod Dal and Nigeen.
• Shalimar Bagh was built in 1619 under Jahangir.
• The Gulmarg gondola is a two-stage cable car to about 3,980 m.
• J&K has five Ramsar sites, including Wular Lake (1990).
• Dachigam is the home of the hangul.
• Vaishno Devi and Amarnath are the two major pilgrimages.

Education, health, sports and personalities

Literacy is below the national average and especially low among women, but J&K has a notable cluster of national institutions, and the UT has built a dense network of government colleges. Health care combines big tertiary hospitals in Srinagar and Jammu with weak rural access.

Literacy

Census 2011: literacy 67.16% (male 76.75%, female 56.43%) and sex ratio 889 females per 1,000 males, for the then-state, which included Ladakh (one source gives 68.74% for literacy; the difference is probably due to the area base). These are not updated figures; Census 2027 has not been published.

Universities and institutions

Institution	Place	Note
University of Kashmir	Srinagar (Hazratbal)	Main state university of the Valley
University of Jammu	Jammu	Main state university of Jammu
SKUAST-Kashmir and SKUAST-Jammu	Shalimar (Srinagar) and Chatha (Jammu)	Agricultural universities
NIT Srinagar	Srinagar	National Institute of Technology
IIT Jammu	Jagti, Jammu	Opened in the 2010s (year not re-verified)
IIM Jammu	Jammu	Management institute
AIIMS Jammu	Vijaypur, Samba	Inaugurated 20 February 2024 on a 227-acre campus; 100 MBBS seats and a 750-bed hospital (reported)
AIIMS Awantipora	Pulwama	Still under construction as reported by the Centre; MBBS was expected from July 2026 and OPD/IPD by year-end (older report), so check the current status
SKIMS, Soura	Srinagar	Major tertiary care and teaching hospital
Central University of Kashmir and Jammu, SMVDU	Ganderbal, Samba, Katra	Other major universities (not re-verified)

Health

J&K SEHAT, launched in December 2020, extends Ayushman Bharat-style cover of ₹5 lakh per family per year to all residents (see schemes). We did not confirm current NFHS-5 health indicators for the UT, so none are given.

Sports

Winter sport is the UT's identity. Gulmarg's ski club dates from 1927, and the Army's High Altitude Warfare School has run there since 1948. The Khelo India Winter Games were held at Gulmarg in March 2020 (first edition), February 2021 and 10-14 February 2023 (J&K topping the tally with 76 medals, reported); the 2025 games were split between Ladakh and Gulmarg. Srinagar and Jammu have cricket stadiums, and Parvez Rasool was the first J&K player to play for India (reported from memory; not re-verified).

Notable people (historical and cultural)

Person	Known for
Lalitaditya Muktapida	8th-century Karkota king; Martand Sun Temple
Zain-ul-Abidin (Budshah)	15th-century Sultan of Kashmir, patron of crafts and learning (dates not re-verified)
Kalhana	Author of the Rajatarangini
Abhinavagupta	Philosopher of Kashmir Shaivism
Lal Ded and Nund Rishi	Mystic poet and founder of the Rishi order
Habba Khatoon	Poet of the 16th century
Gulab Singh and Hari Singh	Founder and last ruler of the Dogra dynasty (Treaty of Amritsar 1846; Instrument of Accession 1947)
Mahjoor, Nadim, Rehman Rahi	Modern Kashmiri poets
Padma Sachdev	Dogri poet
Shivkumar Sharma	Santoor maestro from Jammu (died 2022; awards not re-verified)

For exam preparation

• Census 2011 literacy for J&K was 67.16%, sex ratio 889.
• AIIMS Jammu at Vijaypur (Samba) was inaugurated on 20 February 2024.
• IIT Jammu, IIM Jammu, NIT Srinagar, SKUAST (two), University of Kashmir and University of Jammu are the major institutions.
• The first Khelo India Winter Games were held at Gulmarg in March 2020.
• Gulmarg's ski club dates from 1927.

Government schemes

J&K runs its own schemes beside Union schemes, and uses the Ayushman Bharat framework for health. As on October 2026, the descriptions below follow press and PRS reports; amounts change by budget year, so check the department notice before you rely on them.

Scheme	What it offers	Eligibility pointer
J&K SEHAT (Dec 2020)	Cashless treatment up to ₹5 lakh per family per year at empanelled hospitals; extends Ayushman Bharat to all residents	Residents of the UT
Holistic Agriculture Development Programme (HADP)	₹5,013 crore over five years across 29 projects (Economic Survey, reported); the 2026-27 budget aims at 2.87 lakh jobs	Farmers, horticulture and allied sectors
Restructured Weather Based Crop Insurance	Total sum insured ₹6,595 crore (PRS, 2026-27 budget)	Eligible growers
Mission Youth	Entrepreneurship and self-employment; ₹200 crore earmarked in a recent budget (reported)	Unemployed youth
HIMAYAT 2.0	Skill training linked to jobs	Youth in listed trades
Tejaswini	₹10,000 revolving fund to rural women's self-help groups under JKRLM (reported)	Rural women SHGs
Umeed (J&K NRLM)	Rural livelihoods mission, extended to J&K in 2013	Rural poor households
Ladli Beti	Support for girl children born on or after 1 April 2015 (reported)	Resident families
Orphan support	₹4,000 a month to 6,000 beneficiaries (PRS, 2026-27)	Orphans
Anganwadi upgrades and fee waiver	1,000 anganwadi centres at ₹72,000 each; full fee waiver in government schools and colleges for Antyodaya families; free public transport for persons with disability (PRS, 2026-27)	As notified
Karkhandar and Industrial Development Scheme	Craft artisans support; capital incentive of 30% or 50% on investment up to ₹50 crore	Artisans and new units

Central schemes such as PMGSY (rural roads, named in the 2026-27 budget) and Ayushman Bharat also apply. We did not confirm the current rehabilitation package for Kashmiri Pandits or the status of other schemes, so none is described.

For exam preparation

• J&K SEHAT, launched in December 2020, gives ₹5 lakh family cover to all residents.
• HADP is a five-year, ₹5,013 crore agriculture plan (Economic Survey, reported).
• Tejaswini gives a ₹10,000 revolving fund to rural women's SHGs.
• Umeed is the J&K rural livelihoods mission (NRLM) from 2013.
• The Industrial Development Scheme of 2021 runs to 2037 with ₹28,400 crore.

Government exams in Jammu and Kashmir

Jammu and Kashmir is a Union Territory (UT) with a legislature, so its government jobs run through bodies of the UT and not through a state cadre in the usual sense. The J&K Public Service Commission (JKPSC) picks gazetted officers: the J&K Administrative Service (KAS or JKAS), the J&K Police (Gazetted) Service, the J&K Accounts (Gazetted) Service and department-specific officers. The J&K Services Selection Board (JKSSB) in Srinagar picks non-gazetted staff, from Junior Assistant and Naib Tehsildar to Constable and Sub-Inspector in the J&K Police. Teachers will in future need a J&K Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) run by the J&K Board of School Education (JKBOSE). The High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh recruits its own staff. Dates, vacancies, fees and age limits change with every advertisement, so treat each figure below as a pointer and read the latest notice before applying. Where a figure comes from a news or exam-prep site and not from an official document we could open, we write "reported". We have no separate J&K exam guides yet; for live openings see Jammu and Kashmir government jobs, and for practice see online test series. Neighbouring guides with similar exam structures are Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Delhi.

We could not open the official JKPSC or JKSSB websites with our tools (certificate errors), so exam details below come from news sites and prep sites unless we say otherwise.

J&K Public Service Commission (JKPSC)

Wikipedia (used as a cross-check) gives 2 September 1957 as the year the commission was set up, with offices at Solina in Srinagar and a seasonal shift between Srinagar and Jammu. We name no chairperson or members because they change; see current affairs for the latest.

J&K Combined Competitive Examination (CCE) for KAS, Police and Accounts

The CCE has three stages: a preliminary examination, a Main examination (descriptive) and an interview (personality test).

Item	What we found
Latest cycle (reported)	CCE 2025: notification dated 22 August 2025 (Careers360 summary via search; applications from 25 August 2025). 80 posts: KAS Junior Scale 35, J&K Police (Gazetted) 30, J&K Accounts (Gazetted) 15
Prelims (reported)	Two objective papers, 200 marks and two hours each, 400 total. Paper II is qualifying: 33% to pass. Negative marking of 0.33 per wrong answer
Mains (reported)	Seven papers, 1,750 marks: English (qualifying), Essay (250), four General Studies papers (250 each: heritage, history and geography; governance and polity; economy, environment and technology; ethics and aptitude) and two optional-subject papers (250 each)
Interview (reported)	250 marks
Total for ranking (reported)	2,000 marks (1,750 written plus 250 interview)
Optional subjects (reported)	25 or more, including literature options such as Urdu, Kashmiri, Dogri, Hindi, English, Persian, Arabic, Punjabi and Sanskrit
Qualification (reported)	Bachelor's degree in any subject; J&K domicile required
Age (reported)	21 to 32 years on 1 January 2025; 34 for reserved categories and in-service candidates; 35 for persons with disabilities
Pay level (reported)	Level 8 (Rs 47,600 to 1,51,100 per month)
Fee (reported)	Rs 1,200 general; Rs 700 for reserved categories; waived for persons with disabilities

One site gives 300 marks for the qualifying English paper, which looks out of line with the other papers; we do not state a figure for it. Kashmir Life reported that the commission, in a notice dated 13 April 2026, moved the Main examination to begin on 23 June 2026, after an earlier notice of 1 April 2026. Another prep site gave a different earlier date (25 April 2026), which shows how often dates move. We did not confirm results or the next cycle. Check the commission's notice for the current schedule.

Other JKPSC work

Prep sites and Wikipedia list recruitment of medical officers, Assistant Conservator of Forests, lecturers and other department-specific gazetted posts through separate advertisements, often with a written test and interview. We have not checked the rules of each.

J&K Services Selection Board (JKSSB)

JKSSB, headquartered at Ram Bagh, Srinagar (Wikipedia), has existed since 1992 and recruits for non-gazetted posts of the UT. Its written tests are now run as computer-based tests described in notices as "online mode (OMR-based computer-based test)". Notices list posts by "Advertisement number" and year, so quote the number when you search.

Recruitment	Reported facts
Naib Tehsildar (Revenue)	Notification No. 05 of 2025, 75 posts, applications 16 June to 15 July 2025 (Kashmir Life, Scroll). Fee Rs 600 general; Rs 500 for SC, ST-1, ST-2, EWS and persons with disabilities (Scroll). Reported selection: written test plus a descriptive test of knowledge of Urdu (prep sites; not confirmed from the notice). Reported: graduation, upper age 40
Junior Assistant	343 vacancies under Advertisement 08/2025 (reported by prep sites); written test then a skill test
Constable (Executive), J&K Police	Advertisement 12 of 2025: 1,815 posts, applications 19 January to 17 February 2026 (reported). Matriculation; general age 18 to 28; objective test in English with 0.25 negative marking; physical standard test is qualifying; physical endurance test includes a long race and push-ups for men or a shot put for women; minimum height 5 ft 6 in for men and 5 ft 2 in for women (Physics Wallah summary)
Sub-Inspector, J&K Police	Advertisement 02 of 2024 (Item 07): 669 posts, applications 3 December 2024 to 2 January 2025. Graduate; age 18 to 28 on 1 January 2024 (30 for in-service personnel) (Careers360, Amar Ujala via search). Written test in English covering GK and general awareness (including J&K), reasoning, quantitative aptitude and English; then physical tests and document verification
Advertisement 08 of 2026	518 posts including Junior Pharmacist (211), Junior Staff Nurse (48), Junior Laboratory Assistant (48), Female Multi-Purpose Health Worker (46), Horticulture Technician Grade-IV (43); applications 10 September to 9 October 2026; fee Rs 600 general, Rs 500 reserved; age 40 for open merit, 43 for SC, ST-1, ST-2, RBA, ALC/IB, EWS and OBC, 42 for persons with disabilities, on 1 January 2026 (Careerindia and prep sites)

Exam schedule: Kashmir Life reported dates for Home Department posts, all as computer-based tests. Sub-Inspector (Notification 02 of 2024) on 29 November 2026; Constable (Executive, Notification 12 of 2025) on 13 December 2026; Constable (Armed/IRP/SDRF, Notification 14 of 2025) on 20 December 2026; Sub-Inspector (Telecommunication, Notification 11 of 2025) on 23 December 2026; Constable (Telecommunication) on 27 December 2026; Constable (Photographer) on 30 December 2026. Admit cards were to be issued seven days before each test. Dates can move, so confirm on the board's site. We did not open an official notice for forester, junior engineer or other technical posts, so we give no pattern for them.

J&K Police recruitment

Two routes appear in the sources: constables and sub-inspectors through JKSSB, as in the table above. We did not find a separate police recruitment board for the UT in the material we read. Gazetted J&K Police Service officers come through the JKPSC CCE (30 posts in the 2025 cycle, reported). Physical standards and test details differ by post, so read the notice.

Teachers and the J&K TET

J&K has not had a regular TET for teacher recruitment. Kashmir Life (24 February 2026) reported that Government Order No. 87-JK (Edu) of 2026 designated the JKBOSE and the State School Standards Authority as the nodal agencies to hold the TET, following a Supreme Court judgment on the RTE Act. Reported key points: in-service teachers with more than five years of service left must qualify within two years or face compulsory retirement; teachers with under five years left may continue but cannot be promoted without passing; the process is to be complete within two years; centres at district headquarters, Srinagar and Jammu; applications online. The curriculum is to align with NCTE guidelines and follow the CTET framework with local changes. We found no exam date or pattern, so we give none.

High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh

The High Court, established on 26 March 1928 (Wikipedia), sits at Srinagar in summer and Jammu in winter and serves both UTs. It recruits its own gazetted and non-gazetted staff. Search results from its website show 2025 recruitment: an advertisement notice No. 01 of 2025 dated 19 March 2025, with shorthand and typing tests for Senior Scale Stenographer (Level 7) and Junior Scale Stenographer (Level 6B), and a revised Junior Assistant (Level 4) qualification of graduation with a six-month computer certificate or diploma. We could not open those PDFs (links returned errors), so these come from search snippets and are "reported". Wikipedia reports that the Union Cabinet approved a High Court bench for Ladakh in August 2026 (not confirmed from an official source). Judicial Services (Civil Judge) exams are run by the JKPSC; we did not research that pattern.

For exam preparation

• JKPSC does gazetted posts (KAS, Police, Accounts); JKSSB does non-gazetted posts.
• The CCE prelims is two 200-mark papers; Paper II qualifies at 33%; wrong answers cost 0.33 (reported).
• The CCE has 1,750 Mains marks plus 250 for interview (reported).
• JKSSB constable test: 0.25 negative marking; sub-inspector test includes GK with J&K content (reported).
• The J&K TET is being set up under Government Order 87-JK (Edu) of 2026 (reported).
• The High Court was established in 1928 and serves J&K and Ladakh.

Domicile, reservation and recruitment rules

Since 2020 a person must be a domicile of the Union Territory to be appointed to any UT government post. Reservation comes from the J&K Reservation Act, 2004 and its rules, amended by Parliament in 2023 and by rule changes in 2024. The balance of reserved and open-merit seats is currently a political and legal issue, so this section is the most likely to be out of date. Always read the advertisement of the post.

Domicile

The Union Home Ministry's J&K Reorganisation (Adaptation of State Laws) Order, 2020 (gazette dated 31 March 2020, reported on 1 April) inserted Section 3A into the J&K Civil Services (Decentralisation and Recruitment) Act, 2010, replacing the old "permanent resident of the state" idea. Article 35A, which gave the old state's legislature power to define permanent residents, had gone with the abrogation of Article 370 on 5 August 2019.

• A person is a domicile if they have resided in the UT for 15 years, or have studied for 7 years and appeared in the Class 10 or Class 12 examination in an institution in the UT, or are registered as a migrant with the Relief and Rehabilitation Commissioner (Migrants) (The Tribune, Kashmir Walla, other reports).
• Children of such persons who live outside J&K for employment or business are included. Children of Central Government officials, All India Services officers, public-sector undertaking and public sector bank staff and similar employees who served in J&K for a total of ten years are included (reported).
• Tehsildars issue the certificate, with an appeal to the Deputy Commissioner within 60 days (Kashmir Walla, reported).
• Scope: the first version limited domicile protection to posts up to Pay Level 4. The Centre amended it on 3 to 4 April 2020 to cover every post in the UT, gazetted and non-gazetted (The Week, LiveLaw and Drishti via search). The JKPSC and JKSSB notices we read ask for domicile.
• Some JKSSB notices fix a cut-off date for when the domicile certificate must have been issued (the 2026 Advertisement 08 asks for one issued on or before 9 October 2026, reported).
• Language: J&K has five official languages (Urdu, Hindi, English, Kashmiri and Dogri), set by the 2020 Official Languages Act. Naib Tehsildar selection is reported to include a descriptive test of knowledge of Urdu. We found no general language rule for other posts.

Reservation: the 2023 laws and 2024 rules

Two laws of Parliament in December 2023 changed the basis of reservation. The J&K Reservation (Amendment) Act, 2023 replaced "weak and under-privileged classes" with "other backward classes" (OBC) as declared by the UT, and came into force on 26 December 2023 (Kashmir Reader, Kashmir Life). The Constitution (J&K) Scheduled Tribes Order (Amendment) Act, 2023 added four communities to the ST list: Gadda Brahmin, Koli, Paddari Tribe and Pahari Ethnic Group (PRS and other reports). The UT administration then amended the reservation rules in 2024, giving the newly listed groups 10% within ST.

Category (vertical)	Reported share, 2024 rules
Scheduled Tribes	20%: 10% for Gujjar, Bakarwal and others (ST-I) and 10% for Pahari-speaking and the other newly listed groups (ST-II)
Scheduled Castes	8% (up from 2% in the old rules)
OBC	8% (including 15 more groups)
EWS	10%
Resident of Backward Area (RBA)	10% (down from 20%)
Actual Line of Control / International Border residents (ALC/IB)	4% (up from 3%)
Open merit	About 40% on this arithmetic (reported as "less than 40%" by ETV Bharat, "30%" by an earlier ETV Bharat report and "40%" by The Tribune; sources differ on whether horizontal quotas are counted)

Horizontal quotas reported: children of defence personnel 3%, children of police personnel 1%, sports performers 2%, plus the usual persons-with-disabilities share (ETV Bharat, reported combined at 9% with others). The open-merit share fell from 57% before the 2024 rules (reported). The total of vertical reservation is about 60%, above the 50% ceiling set in the Supreme Court's Indra Sawhney judgment of 1992, which is one ground of the challenges.

Status as on 4 October 2026

• Cabinet sub-committee: formed on 10 December 2024 (three ministers) to examine grievances of open-merit aspirants. The Chief Minister announced that the Cabinet accepted its report, and the Kashmir Reader reported on 12 February 2026 that it went to the Lieutenant Governor and then the Union Home Ministry. The report has not been made public.
• Cabinet proposal of 4 December 2025 (Outlook India): cut EWS from 10% to 3% and RBA from 10% to 7%, which would raise the open-merit share; sent to the Lieutenant Governor for approval.
• On 29 September 2026 a Social Welfare Department reply in the Assembly said the matter is "under consideration of the Competent Authority" after the Cabinet answered the Centre's observations (Kashmir Vision). So the 2024 percentages above still apply unless a notice says otherwise.
• Court cases: petitions challenging the 2024 rules (including the 10% Pahari quota and Section 3 of the 2004 Act) are pending before the High Court, according to The Tribune and ETV Bharat reports. We found no final judgment and could not confirm the latest hearing.

Age limits (reported)

Recruitment	Age
CCE (JKPSC)	21 to 32; 34 for reserved and in-service; 35 for persons with disabilities
JKSSB general posts, Advertisement 08 of 2026	40 open merit; 43 for SC, ST-1, ST-2, RBA, ALC/IB, EWS, OBC; 42 for persons with disabilities
Constable (Executive)	18 to 28 general
Sub-Inspector	18 to 28 (30 for in-service)

The cut-off date for age is set in each advertisement (1 January of a stated year in the notices above).

Selection stages and cycles

Gazetted posts: prelims, mains, interview. Non-gazetted: written test, then skill test or physical tests and document verification, depending on the post. Cycles are irregular, so we do not give "typical" vacancy counts beyond the advertisements named above.

For exam preparation

• Domicile (15 years of residence or 7 years of study with Class 10 or 12 in J&K, or migrant registration) is required for UT posts since 2020.
• Section 3A was inserted in the 2010 Civil Services (Decentralisation and Recruitment) Act.
• The 2023 laws added Gadda Brahmin, Koli, Paddari and Pahari to the ST list; the 2024 rules gave 10% to the new group.
• About 60% is reserved vertically; the review and the court cases were still open as on 4 October 2026.

How to use this guide for exam preparation

J&K recruitment exams mix general studies with local content: the JKSSB Sub-Inspector test lists J&K history, geography and culture under general awareness (reported), and the JKPSC Mains has a General Studies paper on heritage, history and geography. Use this guide as a J&K fact sheet beside a standard syllabus, then move to online test series. For other recruiters in the region, see Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Delhi.

High-yield sections

• History: 1947 accession, the 1950s to 1970s constitutional history, the 2019 abrogation and Reorganisation Act. Dates and articles are asked directly.
• Geography: Jhelum, Chenab, Indus, Tawi and Ravi; Pir Panjal, Zanskar and Karakoram; passes and lakes (Dal, Wular); national parks.
• Polity: the UT legislature (90 elected seats), the Lieutenant Governor, reservation law and the domicile order covered above.
• Culture: languages (five official), crafts and GI products, festivals and shrines.
• Economy: horticulture (apples, saffron), tourism, hydropower, handicrafts.

A four-week revision plan

Week	Focus	Output
1	History and polity: 2019 timeline, Reorganisation Act, domicile and reservation	One page of dates and one of articles
2	Geography and environment: rivers, passes, lakes, parks	Map sheet
3	Culture, economy, schemes	50 flash cards
4	Rapid-fire table below twice, then timed tests	Two mocks and an error log

Common traps

• Confusing JKPSC (gazetted) with JKSSB (non-gazetted).
• Believing "J&K has 107 to 114 seats": that is the range in the 2019 Act; after the 2022 delimitation the elected strength is 90.
• Memorising a reservation percentage from a coaching table without checking whether it is pre- or post-2024, or whether the review has changed it.
• Assuming Ladakh is still part of J&K: it is a separate UT without a legislature, sharing the High Court.
• Treating a prep-site date as official. Exam dates here shifted several times.
• Memorising "current" office-holders from a book. Check current affairs close to the exam.

For exam preparation

• J&K-specific questions sit inside general awareness and the GS papers; give them a fixed weekly slot.
• Keep a separate sheet for each recruiter (JKPSC, JKSSB, High Court, TET).
• Learn the 2019 to 2024 chain: Reorganisation Act, domicile order, 2023 Acts, 2024 rules.

Rapid-fire facts

Exam and rule facts are tagged "reported" when they come from news or prep sites; structural facts were cross-checked with Wikipedia. Time-sensitive items are as on 4 October 2026.

Fact	Answer
Status of J&K	Union Territory with legislature
Act that created the UTs	J&K Reorganisation Act, 2019
Reorganisation Act passed by Rajya Sabha	5 August 2019
Passed by Lok Sabha	6 August 2019
Presidential assent	9 August 2019
Effective date	31 October 2019
UTs created	Jammu and Kashmir; Ladakh
Legislature in Ladakh	None (Lieutenant Governor administers)
Date of abrogation of Article 370	5 August 2019
Article that empowered the old state to define permanent residents	Article 35A
Lok Sabha seats of J&K UT (Reorganisation Act)	5
Lok Sabha seat of Ladakh	1
Elected seats in J&K Assembly	90
Jammu division seats	43
Kashmir division seats	47
SC reserved seats	7
ST reserved seats	9
Nominated members	5 (Wikipedia)
Delimitation final report	5 May 2022
Last Assembly election	18 September to 1 October 2024
Common High Court for both UTs	High Court of J&K and Ladakh
High Court established	26 March 1928
High Court seats	Srinagar (summer), Jammu (winter)
Sanctioned judges (Wikipedia)	25 (19 permanent, 6 additional)
JKPSC set up	2 September 1957 (Wikipedia)
JKPSC offices	Srinagar and Jammu
JKSSB set up	1992 (Wikipedia)
JKSSB headquarters	Ram Bagh, Srinagar
Body that recruits KAS	JKPSC
Body that recruits Naib Tehsildar	JKSSB
Body that recruits police constable and SI	JKSSB
CCE 2025 notification date	22 August 2025 (reported)
CCE 2025 posts	80: KAS 35, Police 30, Accounts 15 (reported)
CCE prelims papers	Two, 200 marks each (reported)
CCE prelims Paper II	Qualifying, 33% (reported)
CCE prelims negative mark	0.33 per wrong answer (reported)
CCE Mains total	1,750 marks (reported)
CCE interview	250 marks (reported)
CCE age (general)	21 to 32 (reported)
CCE pay level	Level 8 (reported)
CCE 2025 Mains moved to	23 June 2026 (Kashmir Life)
Naib Tehsildar notification	No. 05 of 2025 (75 posts)
Naib Tehsildar application window	16 June to 15 July 2025
Naib Tehsildar fee	Rs 600 general, Rs 500 reserved (Scroll)
Naib Tehsildar special test	Urdu knowledge (reported)
Junior Assistant vacancies, Ad. 08/2025	343 (reported)
Constable (Executive) Ad. 12 of 2025	1,815 posts (reported)
Constable written-test negative mark	0.25 (reported)
Constable minimum height	5 ft 6 in men, 5 ft 2 in women (reported)
SI Ad. 02 of 2024	669 posts
SI application window	3 December 2024 to 2 January 2025
SI test date	29 November 2026 (Kashmir Life)
Constable (Executive) test date	13 December 2026
Constable (Armed/IRP/SDRF) test date	20 December 2026
JKSSB Ad. 08 of 2026 posts	518
Largest post in that advertisement	Junior Pharmacist, 211
JKSSB upper age, open merit	40 (Ad. 08 of 2026)
JKSSB upper age, reserved	43
Domicile order	J&K Reorganisation (Adaptation of State Laws) Order, 2020
Domicile order date	31 March 2020 (reported 1 April)
Section inserted for domicile	Section 3A of the 2010 Civil Services Act
Domicile by residence	15 years
Domicile by study	7 years plus Class 10 or 12 exam in J&K
Domicile certificate issued by	Tehsildar
Posts needing domicile	All UT posts, after the 3 to 4 April 2020 amendment
Official languages	Urdu, Hindi, English, Kashmiri, Dogri
Reservation law	J&K Reservation Act, 2004
Amendment Act in force from	26 December 2023
Term replaced by "OBC"	Weak and under-privileged classes
Groups added to ST list	Gadda Brahmin, Koli, Paddari, Pahari Ethnic Group
ST share after 2024 rules	20% (10% + 10%) (reported)
SC share	8% (reported)
OBC share	8% (reported)
EWS share	10% (reported)
RBA share	10% (reported)
ALC/IB share	4% (reported)
Vertical reserved total	About 60% (reported)
Cabinet sub-committee formed	10 December 2024
Dec 2025 Cabinet proposal	EWS to 3%, RBA to 7% (reported; not in force as on 4 October 2026)
Government order setting up J&K TET	No. 87-JK (Edu) of 2026
TET nodal agencies	JKBOSE and State School Standards Authority

Frequently asked questions

Who conducts the J&K Administrative Service exam?

The J&K Public Service Commission through the J&K Combined Competitive Examination, which also fills the J&K Police (Gazetted) and Accounts (Gazetted) services. It has prelims, Mains and an interview.

What is the difference between JKPSC and JKSSB?

JKPSC recruits gazetted officers. The J&K Services Selection Board recruits non-gazetted staff such as Junior Assistant, Naib Tehsildar, constable and sub-inspector.

What is the JKPSC CCE exam pattern?

Reported: two prelims papers of 200 marks (Paper II qualifying at 33%), a 1,750-mark Mains of seven papers and a 250-mark interview. Check the commission's notice.

What is the JKPSC age limit?

For the 2025 CCE the reported limit was 21 to 32 on 1 January 2025, with 34 for reserved and in-service candidates and 35 for persons with disabilities.

Is domicile required for J&K government jobs?

Yes. Since the 2020 order, domicile of the UT is required for appointment to UT government posts.

Who is a J&K domicile?

A person who has lived in the UT for 15 years, or studied for 7 years and appeared in Class 10 or 12 there, or is a registered migrant. Certain children and children of long-serving central employees are included.

Who issues the domicile certificate?

The Tehsildar. Appeals go to the Deputy Commissioner (reported).

Can outsiders apply for J&K government jobs?

Not for UT posts, which need domicile. Central government and all-India recruitment is separate.

What is the reservation in J&K jobs?

Reported 2024 rules: ST 20%, SC 8%, OBC 8%, EWS 10%, RBA 10%, ALC/IB 4%, so about 60% vertical reservation and the rest open merit, plus horizontal quotas.

Did Pahari get ST reservation?

Yes. The Pahari Ethnic Group was added to the ST list by Parliament in 2023, and the 2024 rules gave 10% to the new group (ST-II).

Has the reservation policy changed since 2024?

Not in force as on 4 October 2026 as far as we could confirm. A Cabinet sub-committee report is with the competent authority, and court petitions are pending.

What are RBA and ALC/IB?

RBA means Resident of Backward Area. ALC/IB means residents of areas adjoining the Actual Line of Control and the International Border.

When is the JKSSB constable exam?

Kashmir Life reported 13 December 2026 for Constable (Executive) and 20 December 2026 for Armed/IRP/SDRF. Confirm on the board's site.

Is there a J&K TET?

It is being set up under a 2026 government order with the JKBOSE and the State School Standards Authority as nodal agencies. We found no date.

Is Urdu compulsory for Naib Tehsildar?

Selection is reported to include a descriptive test of knowledge of Urdu. Read the notification annexure.

Where does the High Court of J&K and Ladakh sit?

At Srinagar in summer and Jammu in winter. It serves both UTs.

Does Ladakh have its own recruitment?

Ladakh is a separate UT. We did not research its recruitment rules.

How many seats does the J&K Assembly have?

90 elected seats (43 in Jammu division, 47 in Kashmir division) plus 5 nominated, per Wikipedia.

Sources and verification

Time-sensitive facts (budget, exam rules, domicile and reservation changes, the statehood position, local-body polls) were checked on 4 October 2026. Where sources disagreed or a figure came from a single secondary source, the text says so. Election figures are Wikipedia reproductions of Election Commission data, with the 2026-27 budget from PRS Legislative Research; cross-check Election Commission results before quoting a number in an answer. Census 2011 is the latest published census; the guide explains how the pre-2019 state figure is adjusted for Ladakh.

Facts verified on 4 October 2026. We list only pages we opened. News and reference: Outlook India (Cabinet proposal on EWS and RBA, 4 December 2025); ETV Bharat (2024 rules challenge; 2025 year-ender); The Tribune (High Court affidavit; domicile rules; quota explainer); Kashmir Reader (12 February 2026 report status; 2023 Acts); Kashmir Vision (29 September 2026 status); Kashmir Life (JKSSB schedule; JKPSC Mains date; TET order; Naib Tehsildar notification); Scroll.in (Naib Tehsildar fee); Kashmir Walla (domicile rules); SCC Online blog; Careerindia and Careers360 (JKSSB 2026 and SI 2024); Physics Wallah (constable); onlineresult.in and centralstatejobs.in (CCE pattern, reported); Wikipedia (JKPSC, JKSSB, High Court, Reorganisation Act, Legislative Assembly). Search result summaries only, not opened pages: PRS bill summaries (the PDF would not render), The Week, LiveLaw and Drishti (domicile amendment), Amar Ujala, High Court website results. We could not open the official JKPSC or JKSSB sites or the High Court notices (certificate errors and broken links), the Reservation Rules text, or any notification PDF. Always read the latest official notification.