Jammu, July 25 -- Kavinder Gupta, 65, who took oath as the Lieutenant Governor of Ladakh last week, is the first political figure to hold the top job since the strategic region was carved out as a Union Territory from the erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir state in August 2019. In a telephonic interview with Hindustan Times, Gupta, a former deputy chief minister of J&K, listed bringing Ladakh on the world map for tourism, addressing unemployment and boosting infrastructure as his priorities, while exuding confidence to deal with the locals' long-standing demand for the statehood and Constitutional safeguards under the Sixth Schedule. Edited excerpts:

You have been appointed at a time when the people of Ladakh are demanding Statehood and inclusi...