Whose line is it anyway?

Amidst the snow capped mountains, beautiful valleys and sparkling rivers lies an electrified 550km long fence along the 740km line which happens to be one of the most disputed regions man kind has ever known – The Line of Control. Over the years, millions of people have been displaced from the surrounding region making it a humanitarian crisis.

History of the Kashmir Issue:

The day was October 25th 1947 when Maharaja Jari Singh, the ruler of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir signed the Instrument of Agreement with the Govt. of India and chose to accede to India, and then Kashmir started claiming lives. Following the insurgency by the Pakistan militants and the tribesmen in the region, the National Conference worked with the Indian Army and this resulted in the first Kashmir war.

Violations of the UN resolutions:

In 1948 India moved the issue to the United Nations which brought a resolution stating that Pakistan would have no say in Jammu and Kashmir politics, India would retain a minimum military presence and the final disposition of the State of Jammu and Kashmir will be made in accordance with the will of the people expressed through the democratic method of a free and impartial plebiscite conducted under the auspices of the United Nations. India and Pakistan both agreed to the resolution but Pakistan didn’t withdraw its troops from the region.

Indo-Pakistan wars over Kashmir:

1947: The war ended resulting in the implementation resolution 47 by the United Nations and the Cease fire.

1965: Pakistan tried to infiltrate into Jammu and Kashmir and India responded strongly resulting in the largest tank battle since world war -2 and this ended with the UN ceasefire.

1999: Pakistan’s attempt to infiltrate into the Kargil region was foiled by the Indian army.


Terrorism and infiltration:

When Pakistan forces’ repeated attempts to invade the region were foiled by the Indian army, they turned towards militancy. Infiltration started right from when Kashmir chose to be a part of India and since then, the militancy has constantly increased resulting in unrest in the valley. Thousands have been murdered in the name of Kashmir; the Parliament attack and the recent terrorist attack on Mumbai shocked the world. The whole world is aware of Pakistan and ISI’s link with the terrorist organizations and yet we all have failed to dismantle the terror network.


Solutions:

1. The terror network in Pakistan has to be dismantled by the international community and we need to move a little ahead of the diplomatic ways.
2. Pakistan has to start focusing on peace and development. The issue cannot be resolved until they agree to the fact that terrorism is sponsored on their soil.
3. India has to realize that Pakistan is going to be our neighbor no matter what the crisis is. It should talk tough on terror and bring in International participation in dismantling Pakistan’s terror network. Development of Jammu and Kashmir should be the key focus of the Govt., not on paper but on the ground.


Hopefully at least after these critical tasks are completed, everybody starts considering the Kashmir’s voice and give back its lost identity. Over the years, millions of people have been displaced; thousands have lost their lives because the generations before us chose cultural and religious interests over growth, peace and harmony. We have lost our finest men on the front fighting wars but justice is still not done to them. Hope peace prevails.



** - I have tried to include a lot of facts rather than giving my views because I believe that it is only the Kashmir’s voice that should be heard and the rest of us should stop debating when it’s not helping the situation.

The architect of Indian Economy

The economic policies of our country can be placed under two major categories, the pre-Manmohan Singh era and the post-Manmohan Singh era. Amidst the haze of India’s economic growth and its strong influence over the world economy, we seem to have forgotten the silent, humble and the highly educated economist who laid the foundations for India’s economic growth.

The Pre-Manmohan Singh Era:
During the initial years of independent India, the economic policies were framed mainly based on the Soviet Union’s economic structure. The five year plans were framed on similar lines. The colonial exploitation of the resources and wealth from this country had a great influence in provoking the policy makers to follow the lines of Socialism and protectionism. Most of the key industrial sectors such as Automobiles, Mining, Telecom, Power, and Manufacturing were nationalized in an attempt to make Indian economy self-sustainable and minimise the influence from other world economies. Regulations and rules for obtaining licences for the industrial sectors were very stringent and they were controlled indirectly by the central government through the state governments. There have been cases where the manufacturers had to obtain permissions from about 70 agencies and yet the state govt. would decide the source of capital and control the process. The era has also witnessed a record taxation of 97.5% on the industries during 1970s.
There is no doubt that our grievances against the British Empire had a sound basis. As the painstaking statistical work of the Cambridge historian Angus Maddison has shown, India's share of world income collapsed from 22.6% in 1700, almost equal to Europe's share of 23.3% at that time, to as low as 3.8% in 1952. Indeed, at the beginning of the 20th Century, "the brightest jewel in the British Crown" was the poorest country in the world in terms of per capita income.
–Manmohan Singh


The Crisis:
The stringent reforms and the stubbornness to keep the industrial sectors under the control of the central govt. took a toll on the economy. The growth rate of India’s economy had reached a low of 3.5% by the year 1991 and India was almost bankrupt by then. The bailout by the International Monetary Fund came at a price – Rupee was devalued and economic reforms were forced upon India.
The Architect:
Manmohan Singh was born to Gurmukh Singh and Amrit Kaur on 26 September 1932, in Gah, Punjab, now in Pakistan. He got his bachelor's and master's degrees in 1952 and 1954, respectively, standing first throughout his academic career. He won the Wright's Prize for distinguished performance in 1955 and 1957. In 1997, the University of Alberta awarded him an Honorary Doctor of Law degree. The University of Oxford awarded him an honorary Doctor of Civil Law degree in July 2005, and in October 2006, the University of Cambridge followed with the same honor. In 2008, he was awarded honorary Doctor of Letters degree by Benaras Hindu University and later that awarded honorary doctorate degree by King Saud University.
The Post-Manmohan Singh era:
P.V. Narasimha Rao was the prime minister in the year 1991 when India was facing one of the worst economic crises. The entire policy structure had to be changed and the pressure from IMF to remove ‘Licence Raj’ was adding to it. This was the time when then the expertise and the experience of Dr. Manmohan Singh was sought and he was made the finance minister. His challenge was not only to get the country out of the crises, but also lay the foundation for liberal economic reforms in the country.
When he approached P.V. Narasimha Rao with the liberalization policies, he was patted at his back and given the freedom to implement his ideas. This was a significant point in history as the forty year old custom of protectionism was suddenly overturned and the gates of the Indian economy opened to the world. One of the key steps he took was to move most of the industrial sectors from public to private sector.
When the historic budget of 1994-95 was presented in the parliament by Manmohan Singh, the world turned its eyes towards India. The taxation was reduced, foreign investments were encouraged and the privatization of the industries was suggested in the budget. This phase of economic reforms is referred to as the ‘Economic liberalization’.
Since then it’s been a success story. Today we are the 10th largest economy in the world in terms of nominal GDP and 4th largest in terms of purchasing power parity. We have continued to grow and change the economic equations over the years.
Manmohan Singh may not boast about his work during the political campaigns or interviews, but the fact remains that he is the architect who laid the foundation for building this country. Until we have such fine men leading from the front for this country, we can be assured that our economy is in safe hands.