A train is the sole link people in Rajasthan have with family members across the border. Their predicament came to light when one of them died in Pakistan.
Despite growing passenger volume, 11 out of 14 carriers reported losses in 2023-24. IndiGo recorded profit of Rs 8,167 crore, which reduced to Rs 7.253 crore in 2024-25.
Of the total package, $649 million will be utilised for additional hardware, software, and support services, and the remaining for Major Defence Equipment (MDE).
None of Pakistan’s PMs has lasted 5 years. That the current PM has given Asim Munir 5 years shows that of all military dictatorships history has seen, Pakistan’s is most creative.
Brilliant article Ashok ji…….your balanced, rational and well researched write ups are exactly what we need today. Removal of the restrictions of Article 370 present up multiple opportunities but a lot of the changes will perhaps come about in decades . But well begun is half done.
Nice to see you write again. I used to read your articles on NDTV .com and given their anti-BJP bias your articles, not pro BJP in anyways, seemed like a breath of fresh air on their website. Keep up with the great work!
Very informative. Written with an easy pace and a demeanour that is nether shrill nor laced with sophistry. Perhaps a few paragraphs elaborating upon the two subjects describe below could have been added:
1) The barrage of skullduggery – if not outright cross-border insurgency – from Pakistan
2) The reaction of the opposition parties both in parliament and without. And maybe a sentence or two on the sulking Gandhi family.
Brilliant article by Ashok. I wish he could have added the 8th part of the article on the future of J&K rather than making us wait for the PM to unveil his plans with in due course. Apart from Nehru, it was politics of Congress and Indira in the 80s in Punjab and J&K that gave room for separatism and terrorism which was fully supported by Pak. We could sort out effectively the Punjab issue over a period of a decade and half as the territory was fully under the control of Central Government and there was no boundary dispute with Pakistan. In case of J&K, we have porous LOC through which terrorists sneak in and Pak is financing Hurriyat and other anti India elements as a part of its low cost sub-conventional war with India. Central government needs full control of the administration in J&K to sort out the issues and bring normalcy to the state, given that weaning people away from separatism has failed and now the terrorism is assuming character of Jihad. The move to repeal Art 370 along with obliteration of the J&K as a state and its transformation into 2 UTs fitted in this background as also the political agenda of BJP.
Superb Article!!!!
Must read for everyone interested in the issue.
His comments about the pan India feelings against Jihad in Kashmir are spot on. The media all over the country is full of liberals, so hardly reflected in the media.
Sometimes large issues get encapsulated in small incidents. Sankarshan Thakur saw in Srinagar a child drop a bagful of cookies on the street. Now don’t ask me for biscuits for a month, you clumsy, his mother reproved him. The good people of Kashmir have lost a lot more than a child’s treat, for a lot longer than a month. Not Resolutions of the UNSC, not our tense stand-off with Pakistan, not Articles of the Constitution which clever lawyers can make to say the opposite of what they mean, the tragedy of Kashmir is about gentle people, who should be growing apples and weaving carpets, getting crushed between two tectonic plates that are grinding remorselessly into each other. Personally I would judge any policy or initiative only by the test of what it will do to make their lives happier. I want to believe that all these guns and jackboots and concertina wire are there to keep them safe.
Brilliant article Ashok ji…….your balanced, rational and well researched write ups are exactly what we need today. Removal of the restrictions of Article 370 present up multiple opportunities but a lot of the changes will perhaps come about in decades . But well begun is half done.
Nice to see you write again. I used to read your articles on NDTV .com and given their anti-BJP bias your articles, not pro BJP in anyways, seemed like a breath of fresh air on their website. Keep up with the great work!
Absolutely clear and brilliant article. Puts everything in context. Thank You.
Nice analysis from the author.
Very informative. Written with an easy pace and a demeanour that is nether shrill nor laced with sophistry. Perhaps a few paragraphs elaborating upon the two subjects describe below could have been added:
1) The barrage of skullduggery – if not outright cross-border insurgency – from Pakistan
2) The reaction of the opposition parties both in parliament and without. And maybe a sentence or two on the sulking Gandhi family.
Brilliant article by Ashok. I wish he could have added the 8th part of the article on the future of J&K rather than making us wait for the PM to unveil his plans with in due course. Apart from Nehru, it was politics of Congress and Indira in the 80s in Punjab and J&K that gave room for separatism and terrorism which was fully supported by Pak. We could sort out effectively the Punjab issue over a period of a decade and half as the territory was fully under the control of Central Government and there was no boundary dispute with Pakistan. In case of J&K, we have porous LOC through which terrorists sneak in and Pak is financing Hurriyat and other anti India elements as a part of its low cost sub-conventional war with India. Central government needs full control of the administration in J&K to sort out the issues and bring normalcy to the state, given that weaning people away from separatism has failed and now the terrorism is assuming character of Jihad. The move to repeal Art 370 along with obliteration of the J&K as a state and its transformation into 2 UTs fitted in this background as also the political agenda of BJP.
Excellent article. Very good points.
Superb Article!!!!
Must read for everyone interested in the issue.
His comments about the pan India feelings against Jihad in Kashmir are spot on. The media all over the country is full of liberals, so hardly reflected in the media.
Excellent article. Balanced with out unnecessary politics. I am surprised to see such article published in ThePrint.
Well written article. Will be referenced in future debates.
Sometimes large issues get encapsulated in small incidents. Sankarshan Thakur saw in Srinagar a child drop a bagful of cookies on the street. Now don’t ask me for biscuits for a month, you clumsy, his mother reproved him. The good people of Kashmir have lost a lot more than a child’s treat, for a lot longer than a month. Not Resolutions of the UNSC, not our tense stand-off with Pakistan, not Articles of the Constitution which clever lawyers can make to say the opposite of what they mean, the tragedy of Kashmir is about gentle people, who should be growing apples and weaving carpets, getting crushed between two tectonic plates that are grinding remorselessly into each other. Personally I would judge any policy or initiative only by the test of what it will do to make their lives happier. I want to believe that all these guns and jackboots and concertina wire are there to keep them safe.
Well said.