Kashmir… This word has emotive connotations in two big South Asian nations, India and Pakistan. Whenever this word is uttered, a part of their conscience-sentiment gets stirred up. They start feeling as if they have been cheated by someone. Who? Answer does not have a definite article. It’s complex. People become staunch nationalists, get angry and confused at the same time for they don’t understand what’s Kashmir.

So, what’s Kashmir?

Kashmir is a part of Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, which also includes Laddakh and Aksai Chin captured by China during 1962 war. Geographically speaking Kashmir consists of high mountains in the Himalayan and trans-himalayan ranges hosting several highest peaks and a beautiful vale of Kashmir. It includes Pak occupied Kashmir as well. Aksai Chin forms part of Laddakh, a different geographical expression from Kashmir.

History

Kashmir finds mention in ancients texts of India and Tibet. Mythology goes that it was founded by a sage called Kashyap, who is said to have drained a lake to reclaim the valley or land. So, the name Kashmir. During Chandragupta Maurya’s time or during Alexander’s invasion Kashmir was a political entity and part of the expanding Magadh Empire. 

A few years later, Ashoka is credited with quelling a rebellion there. Like all ancient political unit, the history of princely Kashmir is fraught with wars and bloodshed. This continued till 1860 when the present geographical denomination of Kashmir came into existence. The British recognised this.

The Partition

The India Independence Act, 1947 paved way for creation of India and Pakistan. At that time India had over 550 big and small princely states. They were given option, under the Act, to go either side or remain independent. Most of the states signed treaties and merged with India or Pakistan. A couple of Kings showed resistance or reluctance. The King of Kashmir, Hari Singh was not willing to join either. And, he made it clear. So, technically speaking at the Independence, three countries came into existence: India, Pakistan and Kashmir, which comprised Jammu and Laddakh as well.

The Problem

Pakistan sponsored militia-invaded Kashmir in September 1947 under the guidance of Major General Akbar Khan of Pakistani Army. Hari Singh did not have enough means to protect his state or himself. He asked the Indian government to come to his rescue. The Indian leadership headed by Pt. Nehru and Sardar Patel did not accept the request immediately. They first asked the King to sign a treaty for merger with India saying that similar treaties had been signed by other princely states. This treaty with the King is known as the Instrument of Accession, which was signed in October 1947. 

Now, Indian forces landed on the territory of Kashmir. But by then Pakistan backed forces had occupied almost one-third of Kashmir. Indian government decided to protect the capital of Kashmir and the princely house there. It did not wish to push Pakistani forces beyond Kashmir, by now the territory of India. Perhaps, the Indian leadership could not understand the meaning of Kashmir’s merger with India. Here lies the core political problem of status of Kashmir.

(POK- Pak Occupied Kashmir; COK- China Occupied Kashmir)

Going to the UN

India took the matter to United Nations. India filed the case under Article 37 instead of Articles 36 and 51 of the Charter. Simplified, Article 36 refers to the invasion of a sovereign territory by an outside power. While Article 37 refers to the invasion of a territory disputed between the two countries, by one of them. Lodging the complaint under Article 37 was negation of the India Independence Act. Simply put, despite Kashmir having become an integral territory of India, the government of India admitted at the UN that a part of it was not surely under its sovereignty.

The Resolution

The UNSC Resolution 47 on Kashmir was passed. It asked for the appointment of two neutral observers by the UN and holding a plebiscite in Kashmir to determine the democratic will of the resident population.

The Two Conditions

The UN clamped two conditions.

1. That Pakistan should withdraw its troops from Kashmir

2. Having seen that India should do the same before actual plebiscite could be held.

The Follow Up

Pakistan never thought of going back from Kashmir. And, so India was not bound to either withdraw or hold plebiscite. Though, India has been holding parliamentary and state elections there and it is forwarded as a sort of plebiscite by the Indian think tank.

But, technically nothing could be done on the UN Resolution. And, this is where the Kashmir issue stands today. 

Violence in the Kashmir Valley is a by-product of internal and international politicking (not politics).

(Courtesy- sindhustan.blogspot.in- The blogger currently works for India Today)

Veteran Bollywood actor Aamir Khan received the prestigious ‘75th Master Deenanath Mangeshkar Award’ for his film Dangal, on Monday. He was invited on a special request by the nightingale of India, Lata Mangeshkar, the eldest daughter of Deenanath Mangeshkar. The ‘Vishesh Puraskaar’ was presented by Mohan Madhukar Bhagwat, the Chief of the Hindu nationalist organisation, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). Apart from Aamir Khan, the Haryana Hurricane and 1983 World Cup winning-team Indian Captain legendary Kapil Dev was also conferred this prestigious Vishesh Puraskaar for his contribution to the Indian Cricket. Referred as the first Bollywood female superstar, Vyajayanthimala Bali was also honoured with the award for her outstanding achievement and contribution to the Hindi Cinema.

Widely believed reason behind Aamir’s boycott of Awards

In the past, Aamir had constantly boycotted to be a part of any Bollywood-organised award ceremony. 16 years ago, he went on to visiting Oscars after the nomination of Ashutosh Gowariker directed film ‘Lagaan’ in 2001. Aamir played the role of Bhuvan in that film, which portrayed the British-India suppressed under harsh revenue system and the deficit of rain at that time. It was the then blockbuster of Bollywood. Few film critiques and experts are opined that the reason behind Aamir’s boycott of award-ceremony was the negligence of juries towards his film ‘Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak’ competing with Anil Kapoor and Madhuri Dixit starrer film, ‘Beta’. In 1993, Anil Kapoor won the best actor award and Madhuri won the best actress award for Beta. Later on, some of the major Aamir Khan films as ‘Hum hain Raahi Pyaar ke (1994)’ and Rangeela (1996) went unrecognised due to the emergence of then star Shahrukh Khan in Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge and Baazigar. Aamir Khan once said, “My personal experience about award ceremonies is that I don’t trust them so I would prefer to stay away.” Since mids 90s, Aamir made a rare appearance in any award ceremony apart from National Awards.

Aamir Movies Controversy and His ‘intolerance’ Statement Uproar

At the Ramnath Goenka Award in 2015, Aamir Khan quoted a statement of his wife, Kiran Rao, where she allegedly said to leave India due to rise in intolerance. It created nationwide uproar by the right-wing activists and some political parties. He was widely criticised by many hardcore Hindu nationalists. Time to time, Aamir Khan becomes a soft target for them to gain political mileage out of his alleged controversial statements. BJP Firebrand leader Sadhvi Prachi once appealed to Hindus to boycotting his movie PK, as the film allegedly attacked religious sentiments, and advocated to send Aamir to Pakistan. The worldwide collection of PK was 700 cr. 

 
About the ‘Deenanath Mangeshkar Awards’

The Master Deenananth Mangeshkar Awards are organised in the fond memory of Deenanath Mangeshkar, a renowned Natya Sangeet musician, a Marathi theatre actor, and a Hindustani classical vocalist. Some of his famous works are Maanapmaan, Randudhumbhi, Punyaprabhaav, Sanyasta Khadag, Rajsanyaas, Deshkantak and Ramrajyaviyog. He died at the age of 41. He was also the father of famous vocalist Usha Mangeshkar, singer Asha Bhosle, composer Hridaynath Mangeshkar and Meena Khadikar. A commemorative postal stamp on his name was also issued in 1993. 

NEW DELHI : The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed an FIR against its former Director Ranjit Sinha in Coal block allocation scam. On January 23rd, the Apex Court had ordered CBI to constitute Special Investigation Team to probe the role of Ranjit Sinha in the Coal block allocation scam.

“We are prima facie satisfied that Ranjit Sinha had abused his position as CBI director and it must be probed,” the Supreme Court had said in January 2017.

Senior advocate Prashant Bhushan had claimed Sinha had been meeting individuals connected to 2G and Coalgate scam. Bhushan had produced the visitors’ diary at Sinha’s residence as evidence that time.This is the second time in the CBI’s history that a former director, facing criminal allegations, will be probed by the agency.
In February this year, the CBI had filed an FIR against its former Director A P Singh on allegations of extending favour to meat exporter Moin Qureshi, who is an accused in a money laundering case.

The Bombay High Court today granted bail to Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur in 2008 Malegaon blast case but rejected a similar bail plea of Lt. Col. Prasad Purohit. 

The High Court granted bail to the Sadhvi on three terms, a personal bail bond of 5 lakh rupees, she should not influence the witnesses and tamper with the evidence, and that she should submit her passport to the National Investigation Agency (NIA). 

Sadhvi’s counsel argued that although NIA court had rejected her bail plea last year, it had dropped all charges against her in its charge sheet.

“Welcoming the court decision, Sadhvi’s counsel said the case was politically fabricated and justice has been done. Now Sadhvi Pragya will be released from jail. He also added that the restrictions imposed by the court would be adhered to. 

Earlier, the NIA had informed the HC that it had no objection if Sadhvi was granted bail as the provisions of Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) were not applicable in Sadhvi’s case. The 2008 Malegaon blast had killed seven people and injured 101 persons. 

NEW DELHI: In one of the deadliest attacks in recent years, well armed Maoist cadres ambushed Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) men, killing 25 of them and injuring six in Naxal-infested Sukma district of Chhattisgarh on Monday. The injured have been airlifted to the State capital Raipur for treatment. 

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Dr Raman Singh cut short his visit to New Delhi and rushed back to Raipur. He is presiding over an emergency high-level meeting to take stock of the situation. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh said, he has asked Minister of State for Home Hansraj Ahir to visit Chhattisgarh to review the situation. 

According to reports, Maoist cadres were armed with automatic weapons like AK 47, INSAS rifles and numbered nearly 200 when they executed the ambush which was preceded by some blasts carried out by planting improvised explosive devices. Reports said that around seven to eight CRPF jawans were still missing. 

President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi have condemned the attack on the CRPF personnel. Mr Modi described the attack as cowardly and deplorable. The Prime Minister said the Centre was monitoring the situation closely and the sacrifice of the martyrs will not go in vain. Last month Naxals had killed 12 CRPF men in an ambush when the jawans of para-military force were providing security cover for road construction on the Bheji-Gorkha-Injiram Axis area.

In a series of tweets, he expressed condolences to the CRPF families saying the country is proud of their valour. He also wished for early recovery for those injured in the attack.In a tweet, President Pranab Mukherjee conveyed  his condolences to the families of deceased and prayed for quick recovery of the injured.

NEW DELHI: Going a step forward in realising the goal of making India a complete digital economy, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has asked all public sector undertakings (PSUs) to make cashless transactions mandatory in all its townships across India.

Top PSUs like BHEL, NTPC, NHPC, Coal India Ltd, ONGC, SAIL, GAIL, besides other oil and metal sector PSUs have big and small townships spread across the country which houses families of lakhs of employees working there. It is learnt that Mr. Modi is very keen on making such townships completely cashless where payments for all types of goods and services should be done through digital mode.

The idea of converting such townships and colonies completely cashless has gained ground following success of similar experiment by Essar Steel where it converted its Nand Niketan township at Hazira in Gujarat’s Surat district cashless.

Nand Niketan is the first private township to go cashless with the help of The Mobile Wallet (TMW), a Mumbai-based financial technology company. The pilot project involved adoption of TMW’s twin offering — the smartphone-based TMW App and the Mastercard-enabled TMW and RBL Bank co-branded pre-paid card, which has almost universal acceptance at all outlets and billers that accept Mastercard in India.

While the TMW App has had more than 15,000 downloads, over 10,000 TMW-RBL Bank pre-paid cards have been issued to a wide range of users in Surat, including Essar employees and their families residing in the Hazira township, merchants and shopowners operating within its precincts, as well as contract labourers working at various Essar facilities. All of the 40-odd merchants at Nand Niketan accept payments made through the TMW App and pre-paid card where digital transactions worth around Rs.3 lakh are done everyday.

It is this model that the Prime Minister wants to be replicated across India beginning with smaller townships. Government sources said Mr. Modi wants that no cash transactions should be done while making payments in places like government offices or schools etc or in doing daily shopping in townships run by PSUs. If this experiment succeeds the model would be replicated in towns and cities across India. Apart from cutting costs and dealing with handling of cash, this initiative will also tackle the problem of blackmoney and circulation of unaccounted money.

(Courtesy: ictflash.com) 

NEW DELHI : PM Modi today called upon State Governments to work with the Union Government, as “Team India,” to build the India of the dreams of our freedom fighters by 2022, the 75th anniversary of independence. Delivering the closing remarks at the third meeting of the Governing Council of NITI Aayog, he urged States, local Governments and all Government and Non-Government organizations to decide goals for 2022, and work in mission mode towards achieving them. 
Recalling the Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi, on the occasion of the centenary of the Champaran Satyagraha, the Prime Minister said NITI Aayog has been taking steps to transform India, with fresh vigour. He said the Government, private sector and civil society, all need to work in sync. He noted that NITI was a collaborative federal body whose strength was is in its ideas, rather than in administrative or financial control. He pointed out that the Chief Ministers did not have to come to NITI for approval of budgets or plans. He said NITI Aayog had gone beyond relying on government inputs and taken on board a number of outside specialists, subject experts, and Young Professionals; and States can also contribute to policy formulation. He gave the example of e-NAM, where experiences of States played a key role in the final policy. 

This is a book about a woman taking the lead in getting divorced when she is 35- years-old and trying to rebuild life from scratch. A memoir, Arathi Menon’s first book “Leaving Home With Half A Fridge” is witty, matter of fact and poignant. 

Any divorce is bound to leave its scars. But the author found the courage to rediscover fun. She began to value all the little things that make life such an astonishing gift and got back to her love of writing. Having spent her childhood in Bangalore where she loved trees, food and beer, she currently lives in Bombay and is addicted to happiness and books. 

Arathi referred to her husband as the “Ex” with a capital “E” with whom her marriage lasted five years. She does not reveal his name and finds it difficult not to think of him after deciding to go their separate ways. 

As well read people and being professionals, she had nothing to fall back on in terms of a healthy bank balance. At the same time they did not want anything from each other. She explains without the least fuss the reasons for seeking a divorce. The initiative was entirely hers. That in essence is her story. 

She decided to seek an amicable separation as there was no spark in her married life. She met her Ex on and off but the thought of coming together again was shut out. May be anybody who has loved and lost might relate to it. Her marriage gets dissolved forever upsetting every single thing she was brought up to believe in. 

She maintains she found happiness after the biggest social institution she had committed to had broken down. “It is a fairly tale with a happy ending.” 

Simply put it is about kissing the wrong frog and facing the consequences. Her family supported her wholeheartedly. Their involvement was, however, minimal as Arathi was adamant about handling the situation independently. Her writing is simple, lucid, witty and at times telling. 

Divorcees are thankful for the sheer relief of getting a second chance at dancing passionately, joyfully, unstoppably to the tune of life. 

Her first chapter is aply titled “The End”. No matter what anybody says every divorce is a sad love story. After having tried and tried and tried, she was tired. There was no reason to continue the relationship with Ex. “You could either choose to live in this hell of meaninglessness or take every ounce of courage you have and snap the threads that swayed from your happiness.” 

Her divorce while tragic was never melodramatic. This was real. Her account is anchored in “today’s reality and spoken in a language that is ours”. Things with the Ex were going downhill and the word “divorce” kept popping up in her head. She had to find out what it entailed. Well she did what most people do when they have to research something they are ashamed of. 

After the research she would go to the history and delete her finds. It gave her such a sense of triumph to click on “Clear History” and watch three hours of browsing vanish without a trace. “I figured a mutual consent divorce would be the best for us.” 

The Ex and I had to be living apart for a year before filing for divorce and after that six more months the couple were given an opportunity to change their minds. (This law has changed now.) One needs to go through a process that lasts a year-and-a-half to get divorced, while to get married one has to wait only a month. 

Theoretically Arathi was clear that a mutual consent divorce was the most painless. The emotional trauma will be there but that was her cross to bear. 

She and her Ex were not the kind of persons to brandish the “D” word every time there was a fight. A lot of things could be found lacking in that marriage but one of the things it had was the brutal honesty. “I think it was because both of us did not know how to lie convincingly. What the Ex had done was that he had brought home this large problem. He had kept it in the living room and it had started getting bigger and bigger pushing our marriage out. We both knew it was killing our ’till death do us apart’ vow, but he did not know how to throw it out. I definitely did not want to stay in a place where everything I believed in was being choked into nothingness.”

In fact, on some days I couldn’t even see the Ex as the problem had grown so huge. Finally it came to a point where our marriage had disappeared. That’s when I dropped the ‘D’ word on the carpet. It fell with a deafening clatter and immediately much to satisfaction the problem had already begun to look smaller. The Ex seemed a little shocked like he had never heard the word before. He sat down and she carefully took him through the process. 

After the explanations, much to my surprise, he cheered up immediately. He was relieved the divorce would not happen tomorrow. There was a whole year-and-a-half to go through and being the optimist he was, he thought anything could happen by then. He suggested living apart like the courts had asked pointing at the problem muttered hopefully that maybe this separation would cause it to disappear. 

A lot of couples fake this and pretend they have already lived apart in order to get the divorce more quickly. The problem with having uttered the “D” word is that it is a monster. It clings to you and grows in power. Every single day, every single minute after you have discussed it, it hangs in your mind. The fact that the “D” word had been said helped. By growing louder and louder, it began pushing me out. 

“The house we shared got unbearable.” It hurt so bad to be with someone with whom every single connection, bond and love was broken. She knew it was time for her to leave and the word ‘divorce’ was going with her. Looking back she realised how lucky she was to have friends, such a corpus of them. In divorce one always walks alone. It is great to know that as you walk, there are people who will walk a while with you. Once the divorce by mutual consent came through it dawned on her that she had emerged as a strong, independent woman who is a bit of a chicken when night falls and she is alone at home. 

It is important to question where to find love again. Arathi decided to be open to everything. She had nothing to lose. She went on blind dates met people and learnt all sorts of things. Not all the men were nice. At the same time she believed she would get what she wanted. Happiness was her focus. If she was alone, she’d be happy in her solitary garden.  

In conclusion the author provides a dozen step tango for the divorcee. This includes among others: “Get A Job” if you can’t volunteer at charity step out of your home five days a week; “Let Go” as you can’t force anybody to love you or be with you; “Take Care of Yourself” where one looks good, feels good and believes that you are attractive; “Close Contact” by saying goodbye to the Ex for some time till you have healed; “Fake Happiness” like pretending till happiness turns real; “Its Okay” to hurt as living with pain isn’t that bad as it will go away one day without warning; “Things Will Get Better” as the worst is over and a new beginning has started; and “Close Contact” by saying goodbye to the Ex till you have healed.

Nearly two weeks after the death sentence awarded to the former Indian Naval Officer Kulbhushan Jadhav by the Pakistani Military Court (FGCM), Pakistan said that the ‘consular access’ will be given on the basis of merit. Kulbhushan Jadhav was convicted by the military court over the alleged charges of espionage and subversive activities in the Balochistan Separatists Movement. Indian government has repeatedly rejected Pakistan’s version and asked for consular access to Jadhav 14 times, but rejected. Now Kulbhushan Jadhav cannot appeal in the civilian court. He can request for a ‘review’ in the FGCM court or appeal in Military Appellate Tribunal. The India Saga has learned about the murky and dubious procedures followed in the Pakistan’s Military Court trials that arise doubt in transparency and sanctity of these Military Court.

About FGCM

Following the terror attack at Peshawar Army School by Taliban that claimed 148 lives of innocent children, Pakistani government proposed a bill in the Parliament to amend the ‘Army Act 1952’ which was done for a two-years period, to try civilians for terror related offenses and activities. As Nawaz Sharif government failed to prevent terror activities via Civilian courts of Pakistan, he went on for an ‘effective deterrent’ that raised serious questions about the prosecution of the civilians since 2015. After the death sentence awarded to the Indian national, it’s high time to talk about the dubious and secretly controlled trials by the Pakistan’s Military Court. 

No Transparency

Since February 2015, a total of 274 individuals have been tried and convicted in several military courts. There are 11 military courts in Pakistan; three in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, three in Punjab, two in Sindh and one in Balochistan. 

Conventionally, judges are opined to explain the reasoning behind the verdict. However, the Military court doesn’t ensure any such documents to the families of under trials. Even the essential findings are not disclosed. Everything depends upon the wit of Military court that curtails the human rights of the accused. 

No Right to Appeal in Civilian Courts

The Military courts’ convicts cannot appeal against the verdict in the Civilian courts. According to the Pakistan Army Act (1952), Military courts’ convict can only appeal in the ‘Military Appellate Tribunal’. However, convicts can request to ‘review’ the decision in the FGCM courts. Mercy plea is always an option. 

Military court functions in such offenses

– Kidnapping for ransom

– Attacking Military officers

– Instigating or waging war against the state

– Possessing, storing or transporting explosives, firearms, suicide jackets or other articles

– Using or designed vehicles for terrorist attack

In an exceptional move by amending the Constitution, Pakistan became the lone South-Asian country where civilians are tried by Military courts.

The International Commission for Jurists (ICJ) has been a continuous watchdog for Pakistan’s Justice system. It condemned Pakistan in 2016, “the government and military authorities have failed to make public information about the time and place of their trials; the specific charges and evidence against the convicts; as well as the judgments of military courts including the essential findings, legal reasoning, and evidence on which the convictions were based.”

No Law Degree required in Military courts

In Pakistan, Military court judges are military officers very much a part of the military chain of command. There is no requirement for them to have a law degree or a legal background, which are prerequisites of judicial competence and independence of UN Principles. With Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the only source of information for Military court actions, Pakistan continues to announce death sentence to many. 

Kulbhushan Jadhav death sentence looks highly dubious and suspicious when we look at the above proceedings and functions of Pakistan Military Court. In the name of prevention of terrorism, Pakistan has been neglecting the international human rights norms on spy and espionage of Vienna Convention.

The World Bank has approved a $375 million loan for capacity augmentation of National Waterway-1 under Jal Marg Vikas Project. 

The government is developing NW-1 (River Ganga) under JMVP from Haldia to Varanasi (1390 Km) with the technical and financial assistance of the World Bank. The project would enable commercial navigation of vessels with capacity of 1500-2,000 DWT. 

Union Minister of Shipping, Nitin Gadkari said “The NW-1 projects are expected to create 1,60,000 direct and indirect jobs“

The project will enable Inland Waterways Authority of India  (IWAI) setting up of River Information Service System on NW -1 for the first time in India. River Information System (RIS) are equipment, hardware and software information technology (IT) related services designed to optimize traffic and transport processes in inland navigation. 

NW-1 is a waterway of national significance passing through Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal, serving the major cities of Allahabad, Varanasi, Ghazipur, Bhagalpur, Patna, Howrah, Haldia and Kolkata, and their industrial hinterland including several industries located in the Ganga basin. The Rail and Road corridors in this region are heavily saturated. Hence, the development of NW-1 would provide an alternative, viable, economical, efficient and eco-friendly mode of transport. The waterway will act as a catalyst in the socio-economic development of the regions by creating new business and employment opportunities.