Jammu and Kashmir

Jammu and Kashmir was a princely state under Maharaja Hari Singh that, on 26 October 1947, acceded to the Dominion of India through the Instrument of Accession following an invasion by Pakistan-backed tribal raiders. The accession was conditional and limited to three subjects — defence, external affairs and communications — and this conditional character became the constitutional foundation for the special status later codified in Article 370 of the Constitution of India, drafted largely by N. Gopalaswami Ayyangar and inserted as a "temporary, transitional and special provision". The state framed its own Constitution through a Constituent Assembly (which adopted it in 1956), and Article 35A, introduced by the Constitution (Application to Jammu and Kashmir) Order, 1954, empowered the state legislature to define "permanent residents" and confer special rights on them regarding property and employment.

Under Article 370, the Union Parliament's legislative competence over the state was restricted; the application of central laws required the concurrence of the state government, conveyed through Presidential Orders. The state had its own flag and a separate penal code (the Ranbir Penal Code). The arrangement originated in the 1949 Delhi Agreement between Sheikh Abdullah and Jawaharlal Nehru. The territorial dispute with Pakistan generated the 1947–48 war, UN Security Council Resolution 47 (1948) calling for a plebiscite, the 1949 Karachi Agreement establishing the Ceasefire Line, and the 1972 Simla Agreement converting it into the Line of Control. China holds Aksai Chin and the Shaksgam Valley (ceded by Pakistan in 1963).

On 5 August 2019, the President issued Constitutional Order C.O. 272, and Parliament passed a resolution effectively abrogating Article 370's operative provisions; the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019 bifurcated the state into two Union Territories — Jammu and Kashmir (with a legislative assembly) and Ladakh (without one) — effective 31 October 2019. In Re: Article 370 (In Re: Article 370 of the Constitution, 5 December 2023), a five-judge Constitution Bench led by CJI D.Y. Chandrachud upheld the abrogation, holding Article 370 was a temporary provision and that J&K retained no internal sovereignty after accession, while directing the Election Commission to hold assembly elections. Those elections were held in 2024, and the National Conference–Congress alliance formed a government under Chief Minister Omar Abdullah; the restoration of full statehood remains pending as of 2026.

For the exam, Jammu and Kashmir spans UPSC Modern History (accession, integration of princely states, the role of Sardar Patel and V.P. Menon) and Post-Independence India and Polity (Article 370, Article 35A, federalism, asymmetric autonomy). GS Paper II questions probe centre–state relations and the constitutionality of the 2019 reorganisation; the 2023 verdict is now a high-yield current-affairs–polity intersection. Candidates should distinguish the Instrument of Accession from the special status, master the chronology from 1947 to 2024, and be able to evaluate the federalism implications of converting a state into Union Territories — a question of cooperative versus coercive federalism frequently tested in both prelims and mains.