In February 1994, I received a hotline call from then state home secretary Manish Gupta. He asked whether I, as Murshidabad DM, could quickly conceptualise a border area development scheme.
The appearance in US maps of Hodgson’s Line, joining NJ 9842 with the Karakoram Pass, sowed the seeds of Pakistan’s Siachen claim. Its correction by US agencies changed nothing.
Low salaries, little growth in corporate jobs and F&O losses, the assumptions that once built middle class security are no longer applicable to the emerging Indian economy.
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