In September 2025, when the Ministry of Home Affairs cancelled SECMOL's FCRA licence, most coverage focused on the man at the centre, Sonam Wangchuk. Less attention went to the organisations that have funded his network over the years. One of them is headquartered in Copenhagen. Its story is genuinely interesting — but it only makes sense with the dates left in.&nbsp;What Is DanChurchAid&nbsp;DanChurchAid Folkekirkens Nødhjælp in Danish, was founded in 1922 and is rooted in the Danish National Evangelical Lutheran Church. It is one of Scandinavia's largest humanitarian organisations: in 2023 its total income was roughly DKK 1 billion, about $146 million, and it operates in more than 20 countries across Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Eastern Europe.&nbsp;Its money comes overwhelmingly from public institutions: the Danish government through Danida, the European Union, United Nations agencies, and partner church organisations including Norwegian Church Aid, the Lutheran World Federation and the Church of Sweden. Its published donor list also includes two names from the American philanthropic world: George Soros's Open Society Foundations, and Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, the New York nonprofit that grew out of the Rockefeller family's giving office and channels grants on behalf of its wealthy clients. Both appear on DanChurchAid's own website as donors, though neither the amounts nor the purposes of those grants are public.&nbsp;Like the Danish Red Cross or Save the Children Denmark, DanChurchAid is an independent NGO that runs substantially on government framework funding. That does not make it a covert actor, it makes it a large, transparent organisation whose budget is anchored in Danish and European public money, and whose choices about where to work carry the priorities of its funders with them.&nbsp;Where It Operates&nbsp;DanChurchAid's footprint maps onto the world's conflict zones. In Palestine, it spent about DKK 35.2 million in 2023, running a Joint Country Programme together with Norwegian Church Aid that works through 17 local partner organisations on food assistance, protection and water access in Gaza and the West Bank. The programme is significant, though it should be kept in proportion: it is a few percent of the organisation's global spending.&nbsp;In Ukraine, DanChurchAid has run humanitarian response operations since Russia's 2022 invasion. In Myanmar, South Sudan, Somalia, Ethiopia and the Sahel, it works through local civil society partners, the standard operating model for large Scandinavian humanitarian agencies.&nbsp;The Ladakh Connection — What Happened, And When&nbsp;This is where precision matters most, because the DanChurchAid-Wangchuk connection is real, documented, and old.&nbsp;In 1994, SECMOL itself launched Operation New Hope, its flagship campaign to reform government schooling in Ladakh, run in collaboration with the Education Department, local government bodies and village communities. Operation New Hope was not an outside initiative that SECMOL joined; it was SECMOL's own programme.In 1995, Operation New Hope won the Operation Days Work grant, money raised by Danish school students, who give up a day of school each year to work and donate their wages to a chosen cause. That grant supported Ladakh's school reform from 1996 to 2001. DanChurchAid administered the grant and continued supporting the movement for some years after 2001.&nbsp;SECMOL's own website lists DanChurchAid among its past funders. SECMOL withdrew from school reform work in 2007. The documented relationship, in other words, is roughly a quarter-century old, education-focused, and publicly disclosed by SECMOL itself.&nbsp;What The FCRA Action Actually Said&nbsp;The MHA cancelled SECMOL's licence on September 25, 2025, a day after protest violence in Leh. The grounds reported were specific: Rs 3.5 lakh deposited into the FCRA account in violation of Section 17, money SECMOL says was sale proceeds of an old bus; Rs 54,600 of local funds mixed into the FCRA account, which the law prohibits; foreign funds used for research touching on sovereignty; and undeclared bank accounts.The foreign transfer flagged as against 'national interest' came from a Swedish organisation, Rs 4.93 lakh, roughly $6,000, for educational programmes touching on migration, climate change, food security and sovereignty. That is the transfer at the centre of the 'foreign hand' framing. Nothing in the reported grounds mentions DanChurchAid, or Denmark. Reports have not named the Swedish organisation, though SECMOL's published partner list includes one, Framtidsjorden, a Stockholm-based agro-ecology and education network whose programme areas closely match the flagged workshops.&nbsp;Separately, reports citing unnamed official sources claimed HIAL received foreign remittances exceeding Rs 1.5 crore without FCRA registration, a figure Wangchuk's wife Gitanjali J Angmo disputes, saying the inflows were payments for technologies, not donations, and that Rs 6.5 crore had moved from HIAL to Wangchuk's private firm, Sheshyon Innovations. Neither figure has, so far, appeared in a published order or chargesheet.Angmo also said the government had "idiotically misinterpreted" SECMOL's reply, and SECMOL characterised the violations as accounting and procedural errors. India's courts will settle the facts.&nbsp;So Why Does DanChurchAid Matter To This Story&nbsp;Because it shows how early, and how deeply, Wangchuk's movement was networked internationally. A schooling campaign in 1990s Ladakh was funded by Danish teenagers' wages, administered by one of Europe's largest church-backed aid agencies, decades before "foreign funding" became the charge against SECMOL. Whatever one concludes about the current case, Wangchuk's institutions did not become internationally connected in 2020. They were built that way from the beginning.&nbsp;And because DanChurchAid's own profile explains why its name keeps surfacing in this debate. A billion-krone organisation funded by European governments, present in Palestine, Ukraine and a dozen conflict zones, with George Soros's foundation on its donor list, will inevitably attract scrutiny when it appears, even historically, in the funding record of institutions in an Indian border territory.&nbsp;The Limits Of The Record'&nbsp;Honesty about the record cuts both ways. Ladakh is strategically sensitive terrain, it borders China and Pakistan, it was the site of the 2020 Galwan clash in which 20 Indian soldiers died, and Wangchuk's demand for Sixth Schedule protections would reshape land and governance control in that terrain. Foreign funding there is a legitimate subject of scrutiny, and the FCRA violations alleged against SECMOL and HIAL are serious matters for the courts.&nbsp;But the DanChurchAid connection specifically is historical, publicly listed, and education-focused and the 2025 enforcement action, as reported, does not concern it. The flagged transfer was Swedish, and it was about Rs 4.93 lakh against DanChurchAid's $146 million scale. Conflating the two would make a better story. It would not make a true one.&nbsp;What remains true, and worth knowing, is this: behind one of India's most celebrated activists stands a decades-old lattice of international funders and the largest Danish name among them spends its money today in some of the most contested places on earth.

DanChurchAid, a $146 million Danish humanitarian organisation funded by the Danish government, EU, and UN, has a documented connection to Sonam Wangchuk's network in Ladakh through Operation New Hope — and also operates in Palestine, Ukraine, and two dozen conflict zones worldwide.

In September 2025, when the Ministry of Home Affairs cancelled SECMOL's FCRA licence, most coverage focused on the man at the centre, Sonam Wangchuk. Less attention went to the organisations that have funded his network over the years. One of them is headquartered in Copenhagen. Its story is genuinely interesting — but it only makes sense with the dates left in. What Is DanChurchAid DanChurchAid Folkekirkens Nødhjælp in Danish, was founded in 1922 and is rooted in the Danish National Evangelical Lutheran Church. It is one of Scandinavia's largest humanitarian organisations: in 2023 its total income was roughly DKK 1 billion, about $146 million, and it operates in more than 20 countries across Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Eastern Europe. Its money comes overwhelmingly from public institutions: the Danish government through Danida, the European Union, United Nations agencies, and partner church organisations including Norwegian Church Aid, the Lutheran World Federation and the Church of Sweden. Its published donor list also includes two names from the American philanthropic world: George Soros's Open Society Foundations, and Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, the New York nonprofit that grew out of the Rockefeller family's giving office and channels grants on behalf of its wealthy clients. Both appear on DanChurchAid's own website as donors, though neither the amounts nor the purposes of those grants are public. Like the Danish Red Cross or Save the Children Denmark, DanChurchAid is an independent NGO that runs substantially on government framework funding. That does not make it a covert actor, it makes it a large, transparent organisation whose budget is anchored in Danish and European public money, and whose choices about where to work carry the priorities of its funders with them. Where It Operates DanChurchAid's footprint maps onto the world's conflict zones. In Palestine, it spent about DKK 35.2 million in 2023, running a Joint Country Programme together with Norwegian Church Aid that works through 17 local partner organisations on food assistance, protection and water access in Gaza and the West Bank. The programme is significant, though it should be kept in proportion: it is a few percent of the organisation's global spending. In Ukraine, DanChurchAid has run humanitarian response operations since Russia's 2022 invasion. In Myanmar, South Sudan, Somalia, Ethiopia and the Sahel, it works through local civil society partners, the standard operating model for large Scandinavian humanitarian agencies. The Ladakh Connection — What Happened, And When This is where precision matters most, because the DanChurchAid-Wangchuk connection is real, documented, and old. In 1994, SECMOL itself launched Operation New Hope, its flagship campaign to reform government schooling in Ladakh, run in collaboration with the Education Department, local government bodies and village communities. Operation New Hope was not an outside initiative that SECMOL joined; it was SECMOL's own programme. In 1995, Operation New Hope won the Operation Days Work grant, money raised by Danish school students, who give up a day of school each year to work and donate their wages to a chosen cause. That grant supported Ladakh's school reform from 1996 to 2001. DanChurchAid administered the grant and continued supporting the movement for some years after 2001. SECMOL's own website lists DanChurchAid among its past funders. SECMOL withdrew from school reform work in 2007. The documented relationship, in other words, is roughly a quarter-century old, education-focused, and publicly disclosed by SECMOL itself. What The FCRA Action Actually Said The MHA cancelled SECMOL's licence on September 25, 2025, a day after protest violence in Leh. The grounds reported were specific: Rs 3.5 lakh deposited into the FCRA account in violation of Section 17, money SECMOL says was sale proceeds of an old bus; Rs 54,600 of local funds mixed into the FCRA account, which the law prohibits; foreign funds used for research touching on sovereignty; and undeclared bank accounts. The foreign transfer flagged as against 'national interest' came from a Swedish organisation, Rs 4.93 lakh, roughly $6,000, for educational programmes touching on migration, climate change, food security and sovereignty. That is the transfer at the centre of the 'foreign hand' framing. Nothing in the reported grounds mentions DanChurchAid, or Denmark. Reports have not named the Swedish organisation, though SECMOL's published partner list includes one, Framtidsjorden, a Stockholm-based agro-ecology and education network whose programme areas closely match the flagged workshops. Separately, reports citing unnamed official sources claimed HIAL received foreign remittances exceeding Rs 1.5 crore without FCRA registration, a figure Wangchuk's wife Gitanjali J Angmo disputes, saying the inflows were payments for technologies, not donations, and that Rs 6.5 crore had moved from HIAL to Wangchuk's private firm, Sheshyon Innovations. Neither figure has, so far, appeared in a published order or chargesheet. Angmo also said the government had "idiotically misinterpreted" SECMOL's reply, and SECMOL characterised the violations as accounting and procedural errors. India's courts will settle the facts. So Why Does DanChurchAid Matter To This Story Because it shows how early, and how deeply, Wangchuk's movement was networked internationally. A schooling campaign in 1990s Ladakh was funded by Danish teenagers' wages, administered by one of Europe's largest church-backed aid agencies, decades before "foreign funding" became the charge against SECMOL. Whatever one concludes about the current case, Wangchuk's institutions did not become internationally connected in 2020. They were built that way from the beginning. And because DanChurchAid's own profile explains why its name keeps surfacing in this debate. A billion-krone organisation funded by European governments, present in Palestine, Ukraine and a dozen conflict zones, with George Soros's foundation on its donor list, will inevitably attract scrutiny when it appears, even historically, in the funding record of institutions in an Indian border territory. The Limits Of The Record' Honesty about the record cuts both ways. Ladakh is strategically sensitive terrain, it borders China and Pakistan, it was the site of the 2020 Galwan clash in which 20 Indian soldiers died, and Wangchuk's demand for Sixth Schedule protections would reshape land and governance control in that terrain. Foreign funding there is a legitimate subject of scrutiny, and the FCRA violations alleged against SECMOL and HIAL are serious matters for the courts. But the DanChurchAid connection specifically is historical, publicly listed, and education-focused and the 2025 enforcement action, as reported, does not concern it. The flagged transfer was Swedish, and it was about Rs 4.93 lakh against DanChurchAid's $146 million scale. Conflating the two would make a better story. It would not make a true one. What remains true, and worth knowing, is this: behind one of India's most celebrated activists stands a decades-old lattice of international funders and the largest Danish name among them spends its money today in some of the most contested places on earth.

When India cancelled SECMOL's FCRA licence, most coverage focused on Sonam Wangchuk. Fewer reports examined the organisations in his funding network. One of them is headquartered in Copenhagen — and operates in Palestine, Ukraine, and some of the world's most contested conflict zones.

'Works in Gaza': Who is Sonam Wangchuk's Danish funder that also operates in Palestine and other global conflict zones

Although no document in the public domain shows a direct grant from George Soros's Open Society Foundations to Sonam Wangchuk's SECMOL or HIAL, what the evidence does show is a funding ecosystem, a network of partner organisations, personnel overlaps, and intermediary funders, that connects Wangchuk's institutions to a broader Western philanthropic infrastructure that includes, at several degrees of separation, both the Ford Foundation and George Soros's Open Society Foundations. Understanding what that ecosystem is, how it works, and why India's government treats it as a concern requires more precision than the phrase ‘Soros funded Wangchuk’ allows.&nbsp;A clarification before we begin: no document in the public domain shows a direct grant from George Soros's Open Society Foundations to Sonam Wangchuk's SECMOL or HIAL. Anyone claiming a specific Soros-to-Wangchuk rupee figure is overstating what the evidence shows. This article will not do that. It maps the connections that actually exist, with dates, amounts, and their limits.

How Ecosystem Funding Works — And Why It Proves Less Than It Seems&nbsp;Open Society Foundations does not only write cheques directly to ground-level organisations. Like most large foundations, it funds ecosystems, umbrella networks, intermediary NGOs, and capacity-building institutions that in turn support field work. Tracing foundation money into a specific country often means following a chain of institutional steps rather than finding a single grant line.&nbsp;But honesty requires stating the flip side: at two or three degrees of separation, almost every Indian NGO with any foreign funding history "connects" to Open Society or the Ford Foundation, because those foundations sit upstream of much of the world's development infrastructure. An ecosystem connection is a starting point for scrutiny, not a conclusion. What separates a real story from insinuation is direct evidence and this article will be explicit about where that exists and where it does not.&nbsp;The Danish Thread — Documented, And Historical&nbsp;The clearest documented chain runs through DanChurchAid. In 1994, SECMOL launched Operation New Hope, its flagship campaign to reform government schooling in Ladakh. In 1995, the campaign won the Operation Days Work grant, raised by Danish school students who donate a day's wages to a chosen cause, which supported Ladakh's school reform from 1996 to 2001. DanChurchAid administered that grant and continued some support after 2001. SECMOL's own website lists DanChurchAid among its past funders, and SECMOL withdrew from school reform work in 2007.&nbsp;DanChurchAid's published donor list, on its own website, includes George Soros's Open Society Foundations , and Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, the New York nonprofit that channels grants on behalf of its wealthy clients. Neither the amounts nor purposes of those grants are public, and DanChurchAid's dominant funders are the Danish government, the EU, and the UN. So the chain reads: OSF is one donor among dozens to a Danish organisation that funded SECMOL's schooling campaign a quarter-century ago. That is a real, documented connection. It is also three steps removed and largely historical.&nbsp;The American Personnel Thread — Thinner Than Claimed&nbsp;Commentary on Wangchuk's funding frequently cites his first wife, Rebecca Norman, an American educator who became one of SECMOL's earliest and most central figures, wrote its textbooks, and married Wangchuk in 1996. An archival profile in The Week describes her as holding a Harvard M.Ed and coming to Ladakh as a volunteer for a different organisation while completing her development studies in the US, moving to SECMOL later. Claims circulating online that she arrived through institutions funded by Ford, Soros, and Gates have no independent sourcing, and SECMOL itself was founded in 1988, by Wangchuk, his brother, and fellow students, before Norman's arrival. What her story documents is that SECMOL had American educational expertise near its core from its early years. It documents nothing about foundation money.&nbsp;India Vs The Soros Network — The Confrontation That Is Real&nbsp;The Indian state's friction with Open Society Foundations is its own documented, multi-year story and it predates the Wangchuk controversy entirely.&nbsp;In 2016, the Ministry of Home Affairs placed OSF under the Prior Reference Category, requiring government approval before its funds could reach any Indian NGO. In February 2023, speaking ahead of the Munich Security Conference, Soros said the turmoil around the Adani group would weaken Prime Minister Modi's hold on the federal government and that he expected a "democratic revival" in India, remarks the government's supporters read as a declaration of intent, though he announced no India-specific funding. And in March 2025, the Enforcement Directorate searched premises in Bengaluru linked to entities that had allegedly received Open Society funds, in a case registered under foreign exchange law. These are three separate events across nine years — a pattern of mutual hostility, not a single campaign.&nbsp;What The Government Found In Wangchuk's Organisations&nbsp;On September 25, 2025, the MHA cancelled SECMOL's FCRA licence. The reported grounds: Rs 3.5 lakh deposited into the FCRA account in violation of Section 17; Rs 3.35 lakh claimed as foreign contribution but not reflected in the account; Rs 54,600 in local funds mixed into the FCRA account; undeclared bank accounts; and a transfer from a Swedish organisation, Rs 4.93 lakh, roughly $6,000, for educational programmes touching on migration, climate and sovereignty, deemed against national interest.&nbsp;Reports citing unnamed officials also claimed HIAL received over Rs 1.5 crore in foreign remittances without FCRA registration, a claim Wangchuk's wife Gitanjali J Angmo disputes, saying the inflows were payments for technologies, not donations and that Rs 6.5 crore moved from HIAL to Wangchuk's private firm, Sheshyon Innovations. Neither figure has appeared in a published order or chargesheet. Angmo said the government "idiotically misinterpreted" SECMOL's reply; the courts will decide.&nbsp;The Alignment Question&nbsp;What gives the "playbook" framing its force is not a money trail, it is alignment. OSF funds indigenous rights and autonomy movements globally. Wangchuk's signature demand, the Sixth Schedule, would give tribal councils legislative control over land and resources in a territory bordering China and Pakistan, site of the 2020 Galwan clash. The alignment between the foundation's stated global priorities and Wangchuk's specific demand is real. Whether it reflects coordination or two institutional worlds arriving at the same position independently is not established by any available evidence and the ecosystem method described above cannot, by itself, ever establish it.&nbsp;What This Adds Up To&nbsp;The fair summary: Wangchuk's organisations grew inside a Western funding world whose biggest names India's government formally distrusts. The documented links are real but indirect and partly decades old. The proven FCRA case is measured in lakhs. The dramatic figures rest on anonymous sourcing. The truth, as usual, sits somewhere between the hagiography and the conspiracy theory and India's courts and regulators are the right institutions to find it.

No direct Soros grant to SECMOL exists in public records. But the funding ecosystem around Wangchuk's organisations connects — through several institutional steps — to the Soros and Ford Foundation networks. Here is what is actually documented.

Although no document in the public domain shows a direct grant from George Soros's Open Society Foundations to Sonam Wangchuk's SECMOL or HIAL, what the evidence does show is a funding ecosystem, a network of partner organisations, personnel overlaps, and intermediary funders, that connects Wangchuk's institutions to a broader Western philanthropic infrastructure that includes, at several degrees of separation, both the Ford Foundation and George Soros's Open Society Foundations. Understanding what that ecosystem is, how it works, and why India's government treats it as a concern requires more precision than the phrase ‘Soros funded Wangchuk’ allows. A clarification before we begin: no document in the public domain shows a direct grant from George Soros's Open Society Foundations to Sonam Wangchuk's SECMOL or HIAL. Anyone claiming a specific Soros-to-Wangchuk rupee figure is overstating what the evidence shows. This article will not do that. It maps the connections that actually exist, with dates, amounts, and their limits.

No direct grant from George Soros's Open Society Foundations to Sonam Wangchuk's organisations has been publicly documented. But the funding ecosystem around SECMOL and HIAL, through partner organisations, personnel overlaps, and intermediary funders, follows a pattern that is strikingly consistent with how the Soros network operates globally. Here is what the connections actually are, where they are direct, where they are indirect, and why India's government found them worth cancelling a licence over.

'George Soros playbook': Understanding the foreign funding network around Sonam Wangchuk

Ladakh's chief secretary, Ashish Kundra, while addressing a press conference on Monday (July 13) announced that the Union Territory Administration will constitute an Autonomous Hill Development Council in each of the seven districts. Kundra described the move as a "major step towards democratic decentralisation and grassroots governance."&nbsp;“Ladakh Administration has decided to constitute Autonomous Hill Development Council in each of the seven districts. It is a major step towards democratic decentralisation and grassroots governance,” Kundra said.&nbsp;According to the press release, Section 3(1) of the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC) Act already provides for a Council for every district, to be constituted from a date the government notifies in the gazette. Only amendments to the Act were required, and a delimitation of constituencies remains.&nbsp;ALOS READ: <a href="https://www.wionews.com/india-news/tahir-hussain-convicted-ankit-sharma-murder-case-2020-delhi-riots-1783953791622">Delhi Riots 2020: Former AAP councillor Tahir Hussain convicted in IB officer Ankit Sharma killing</a>&nbsp;From two districts, Ladakh moved to seven in April 2026, when Sham, Nubra, Changthang, Zanskar and Drass were notified. Leh and Kargil, two existing Councils, had the elected representation until now.&nbsp;With this announcement, each of the seven Councils will carry the full powers set out in the LAHDC Act. The new districts get the same authority that Leh has held since 1995 and Kargil since 2003, not a reduced version of it, the release noted.&nbsp;<h2>Here are some of the powers these councils will have:</h2>&nbsp;<ul><li>The Hill Councils of Sham, Nubra, Changthang, Zanskar and Drass will have authority over land ownership and land allotment within the district</li><li>Councils regulate recruitment and promotion for district cadre posts</li><li>Councils will hold a dedicated Council Fund and will be able to levy taxes and fees. Each new district will have a revenue base of its own</li><li>These Councils will be able to formulate their own development plans, rather than receiving them from Leh or Kargil</li><li>They will be responsible for health, education and tourism at the district level, along with local infrastructure and social welfare schemes</li></ul>&nbsp;

From two districts, Ladakh moved to seven in April 2026, when Sham, Nubra, Changthang, Zanskar and Drass were notified.

Ladakh's chief secretary, Ashish Kundra, while addressing a press conference on Monday (July 13) announced that the Union Territory Administration will constitute an Autonomous Hill Development Council in each of the seven districts. Kundra described the move as a "major step towards democratic decentralisation and grassroots governance." “Ladakh Administration has decided to constitute Autonomous Hill Development Council in each of the seven districts. It is a major step towards democratic decentralisation and grassroots governance,” Kundra said. According to the press release, Section 3(1) of the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC) Act already provides for a Council for every district, to be constituted from a date the government notifies in the gazette. Only amendments to the Act were required, and a delimitation of constituencies remains. ALOS READ: Delhi Riots 2020: Former AAP councillor Tahir Hussain convicted in IB officer Ankit Sharma killing From two districts, Ladakh moved to seven in April 2026, when Sham, Nubra, Changthang, Zanskar and Drass were notified. Leh and Kargil, two existing Councils, had the elected representation until now. With this announcement, each of the seven Councils will carry the full powers set out in the LAHDC Act. The new districts get the same authority that Leh has held since 1995 and Kargil since 2003, not a reduced version of it, the release noted. Here are some of the powers these councils will have: The Hill Councils of Sham, Nubra, Changthang, Zanskar and Drass will have authority over land ownership and land allotment within the district Councils regulate recruitment and promotion for district cadre posts Councils will hold a dedicated Council Fund and will be able to levy taxes and fees. Each new district will have a revenue base of its own These Councils will be able to formulate their own development plans, rather than receiving them from Leh or Kargil They will be responsible for health, education and tourism at the district level, along with local infrastructure and social welfare schemes

From two districts, Ladakh moved to seven in April 2026, when Sham, Nubra, Changthang, Zanskar and Drass were notified.

Autonomous Hill Development Council announced for all seven districts in Ladakh. What does this mean?

Union Territory Ladakh will now have five new dsitricts after a formal approval was given by Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena on Monday (April 27). This has fulfilled the aspirations and long-pending demand of the people of the region. While approving the creation of the districts Saxena termed the decision a "historic day" for Ladakh.&nbsp;Taking to X after the announcement, the LG wrote, "I have approved the notification for the creation of five new districts in Ladakh, fulfilling the aspirations and long-pending demand of the people of Ladakh."&nbsp;Thanking Prime Minister Narendra Modi Saxena further said, "The development is aligned with Honourable Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of a developed and prosperous Ladakh."With the creation of the five new districts -- Nubra, Sham, Changthang, Zanskar and Drass -- the Union Territory Ladakh will now have seven districts in total number.&nbsp;ALSO READ: <a href="https://www.wionews.com/india-news/-disappointment-disenchantment-disgust-raghav-chadha-says-3ds-prompted-him-to-switch-from-aap-to-bjp-1777287894923">‘Disappointment, disenchantment, disgust’: Raghav Chadha says 3Ds prompted him to switch from AAP to BJP</a>&nbsp;Leh and Kargil were the only two districts in Ladakh until now. Also, Ladakh is the largest Union Territory in terms of area but the second least populous with only 2.74 lakh people, according to the 2011 census. It borders China and Pakistan and is spread over 86,904 square kilometres.&nbsp;While making the announcement, the LG said that the formation of the new districts "will create new avenues for growth, employment and entrepreneurship, apart from bringing governance closer to citizens".&nbsp;"I reaffirm my commitment to ensuring that every citizen of Ladakh benefits from this historic decision, as we move together towards a brighter, stronger and more prosperous future," he further said. &nbsp;

Leh and Kargil were the only two districts in Ladakh until now. But the approval of creating five new districts there will be seven now.

Union Territory Ladakh will now have five new dsitricts after a formal approval was given by Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena on Monday (April 27). This has fulfilled the aspirations and long-pending demand of the people of the region. While approving the creation of the districts Saxena termed the decision a "historic day" for Ladakh. Taking to X after the announcement, the LG wrote, "I have approved the notification for the creation of five new districts in Ladakh, fulfilling the aspirations and long-pending demand of the people of Ladakh." Thanking Prime Minister Narendra Modi Saxena further said, "The development is aligned with Honourable Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of a developed and prosperous Ladakh." With the creation of the five new districts -- Nubra, Sham, Changthang, Zanskar and Drass -- the Union Territory Ladakh will now have seven districts in total number. ALSO READ: ‘Disappointment, disenchantment, disgust’: Raghav Chadha says 3Ds prompted him to switch from AAP to BJP Leh and Kargil were the only two districts in Ladakh until now. Also, Ladakh is the largest Union Territory in terms of area but the second least populous with only 2.74 lakh people, according to the 2011 census. It borders China and Pakistan and is spread over 86,904 square kilometres. While making the announcement, the LG said that the formation of the new districts "will create new avenues for growth, employment and entrepreneurship, apart from bringing governance closer to citizens". "I reaffirm my commitment to ensuring that every citizen of Ladakh benefits from this historic decision, as we move together towards a brighter, stronger and more prosperous future," he further said.

Leh and Kargil were the only two districts in Ladakh until now. But the approval of creating five new districts there will be seven now.

Union Territory Ladakh gets 5 new districts after approval by LG

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'Works in Gaza': Who is Sonam Wangchuk's Danish funder that also operates in Palestine and other global conflict zones

Sonam Wangchuk's Foreign Funding Network And The Soros Playbook Connection

Autonomous Hill Development Council announced for all seven districts in Ladakh

Union Territory Ladakh gets 5 new districts, LG gives approval