The Lakes and Waterways Development Authority (LAWDA) in Jammu and Kashmir was renamed Jammu and Kashmir Lake Conservation and Management Authority on November 3. (LCMA). “In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (1) of section 3 of the Jammu and Kashmir Development Act, 1970 (Act XIX of 1970), the Government hereby rename Lakes and Waterways Development Authority constituted vide notification SRO 109 of 1997 dated 27.03.1997 as Jammu and Kashmir Lake Conservation and Management Authority (LCMA) for all purposes of the said Act,” read the order issued by the Lieutenant Governor of the Union Territory.
For years, the abbreviation LAWDA has been mocked on the Internet because it sounds like obscene slang for genitalia.
Abhishek Manu Singhvi, a Congress leader, was not a fan of LAWDA.
When the previous name of the government entity, Lakes and Waterways Development Authority, i.e. LAWDA, made the news, it was met with waves of mocking, even when the news was for good causes. The governing body is in charge of maintaining Jammu and Kashmir’s water bodies, notably Dal Lake.
After yet another wave of mocking on social media platforms in October 2021, Congress lawmaker Abhishek Manu Singhvi demanded that the government authority’s name be changed. “Although not a huge supporter of name changes, I’ll do a Bhajpa here and suggest the J&K authorities to modify / somewhat amend the name of the Lakes and Waterways Development Authority,” he stated in a tweet.
Surprisingly, the organization’s website does not utilize the term LAWDA; instead, it refers to itself as JK LDA. The organization’s Facebook page, however, is called LAWDA, despite the fact that its login is JKLDA.
