Jammu & Kashmir After Article 370
Two questions run through Jammu & Kashmir: what its constitutional status now is, and how secure it is. On 5 August 2026 the first turned seven - the anniversary of the day Articles 370 and 35(A) were set aside and the state became two Union Territories - and the Prime Minister used it to claim broad change, while the Ministry of External Affairs rejected Pakistan's rival observance and told it to stop the bloodshed in Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir. The second question runs from the Pahalgam massacre of 22 April 2025, when gunmen filtered victims by faith and shot 26 dead, through Operation Sindoor and the DGMO halt of 10 May 2025 to today's tighter grid, Mission Sudarshan Chakra and a fortified Amarnath Yatra. Across the Line of Control, a crackdown on protesters in PoJK has drawn a UN call for an impartial inquiry, and on 11 August 2026 India asked the world to hold Pakistan to account for a reported toll above 90 dead.
- Operation Sindoor
- Pahalgam attack
- Jammu and Kashmir
- Amarnath Yatra 2026
- Mission Sudarshan Chakra
- anti-infiltration grid
- Line of Control
- DGMO
Read the full living note — free
The complete note in both exam lenses (UPSC analytical / fact capsule), its full version history, and “what changed since you last read” — plus tonight's quiz.
Open in CA·WikiAI-assisted, human-reviewed · sourced from PIB, RBI & ministries · editorial policy
More living notes in Defence & Security
- ASW Shallow Water Craft (Mahe class)Mangrol, the third of eight Mahe-class submarine-hunters from Cochin Shipyard, was delivered to the Navy on 21 August 2026 — added its Gujarat namesake, its minesweeper predecessor retired in 2004, its waterjet propulsion and weapons fit, and where it sits in the 16-craft programme.
- PRAHAAR — National Counter-Terrorism PolicyAdded the 9th National Security Strategies Conference (24–25 Aug 2026) — the Home Minister's call to take PRAHAAR from document to daily practice down to DySP level, about 274 fugitives brought back since 2019, the four-pronged border-security approach with state nodal officers — and the 22 Aug Siliguri corridor security review as a new border-security section.
- Defence Budget & Aatmanirbharta DriveAdded the late-August 2026 self-reliance moves: the Raksha Mantri cleared transfer of DRDO technology for all conventional missile systems to Indian industry (25 Aug), three indigenous vessels reached the Navy and Coast Guard (ASW craft Mangrol, diving support vessel Nipun, patrol vessel ICGS Ajit), a Rs 472 crore T-72/T-90 overhaul plant broke ground at Jabalpur, GRSE and Yantra India began Rs 3,500 crore of expansion in Bengal, and CSIR-NAL unveiled three small gas-turbine engines for drones.
- Military Exercises - 2026 TrackerAdded the Air Force's back-to-back Pitch Black 2026 (Australia, 20-plus nations, Rafales) and Udara Shakti 2026 (Malaysia, against Su-30MKM and F/A-18) runs, both concluded by 22 August; INS Sudarshini's Lisbon call on Lokayan 2026 (22-25 August, her 15th port in seven months); and the India-Vietnam Coast Guard exercise SAHYOG-HOPTAC set for 27 August after the seventh high-level meeting in Chennai. Tracker count rises to 12.
- Red Fort Bombing and the AQIS AttributionNames the group a UN Security Council expert panel now blames for the Red Fort suicide car bombing of November 2025, in which 11 people died: Al-Qaida in the Indian Subcontinent. The same panel had reported a Jaish-e-Mohammed link in February 2026, so the attribution has moved. Note what kind of statement this is - a panel's finding reported to the Council, not an official Indian attribution.
- India's Left-Wing Extremism EndgameRevised the affected-district count to zero — the earlier figure of two no longer stands — and added the government's full ledger: 663 fortified police stations, 15,189 km of roads, 9,497 mobile towers, 3,927 surrenders and 37 districts still under Legacy and Thrust watch.