New Delhi: In the past three years, no Indian companies, including multinational companies, have invested in the Union Territory of Ladakh, the Union government has said in parliament.Janata Dal (United) MP Ram Nath Thakur had asked the following questions to the Union home ministry, on:(a) the number of outsiders who bought land in Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh during last three years, the details thereof, year-wise; and(b) the number of Indian companies and multi-national companies which have invested during this period and in how many industries, the details thereof, year-wise?In response to this unstarred question, the Minister of State for home, Nityanand Rai, said that a total of 185 persons from outside the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir bought land in the UT during the years 2020, 2021 and 2022.In 2020, one person bought land in J&K, in 2021 the number was 57 and in 2022, it was the highest among the three years, at 127.The home ministry claimed that a total of 1559 Indian companies, including multinational companies, have made investments in the UT of J&K. In the financial year 2020-21, 310 companies invested there. The numbers were 175 and 1,074 respectively in the financial years of 2021-22 and 2022-23.In the Union Territory of Ladakh, no land was bought by persons from outside the UT during the last three years, the government said.Further, no Indian companies, multinational companies among them, invested in the UT of Ladakh in the last three years.In late 2020, just after the Bharatiya Janata Party won the hotly contested Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC) polls in Leh, it announced that anyone from across India could own land in J&K. The move had sparked questions on whether a similar rule would be lifted in Ladakh too.The wheels of changing land ownership rights in the region had been set in motion with the 2019 move by the Union government, reading down J&K’s special status.The government had claimed that the move was, among other reasons, necessary to open up the economy of the region.However, reports have quoted growing discontent among Ladakh residents who say that living in a UT has meant more bureaucracy but fewer avenues of finding employment.