Kashmir Issue

Jammu and Kashmir, the only Muslim majority state in India. Is this reason big enough for India to leave its control over the state? Certainly not. Not in a country which has a large population of Muslims, 134 million according to 2001 census. India was partitioned on religious lines in 1947 into two dominions, India and Pakistan. There is always an allegation from our neighbor that India has been committing genocide against her Muslim population. But statistics falsify the allegation, India has been maintaining same percentage of Muslim population in total population since her independence in 1947. On the contrary, our dear neighbor had 15-17% of Hindu population in 1947 which has gradually reduced (roughly 2% in 1998 according to 1998 census). Nobody has a clue about this sharp fall in Hindu population. Getting back to topic, Kashmir legally belongs to India according to Instrument of Accession signed by Maharaja Hari Singh in October,1947 . Pakistan invaded Princely State of Kashmir and illegally occupied roughly 1/3rd of Kashmir. Ever since then 3 wars have been fought over Kashmir which has resulted in no territorial gain for either side. Only change being UN ceasefire line renamed to Line of Control in 1972. Its not that there were no peaceful measures to settle the dispute. There have been different plans suggested for settlement of dispute most famous and successful being Dixon Plan, which was on verge of ending the dispute but was called off at the last moment. After that Mrs. Indira Gandhi during 1972 simla agreement suggested making LOC (de facto border) as International Border to her Pakistan counterpart but her efforts were not fruitful.
After that there have been several selfish plans from across the border most popular being Chenab Plan i.e. dividing Kashmir along river Chenab which gives India only Jammu and few districts of Ladakh. Certainly infeasible plan in Indian point of view. All this makes us think that why does our neighbor need Kashmir so badly. Is this because of majority Muslim population? I guess not!!
Indus river to Pakistan is same as Nile to Egypt. All or most of the rivers in Pakistan have their source in India or enter Pakistan via India thus making water supply dependent on India. They fear that India may cut down water supply to Pakistan thus they want to control the river basins which lie in Himalayan territory of Kashmir.
The continuous tension across the border has led to arms race between the 2 countries causing them to spent a healthy portion of their GDPs on defense. Clearly this long standing dispute has been pushing back economies of the two countries. With no solution in offing, there have been several peace talks leading to soft border at several places causing exchange of people and goods from 2 sides of border.
I think its high time we solve this dispute and reduce burden on our country. Since nuclear armament of the 2 nations, making territorial gains over each other is virtually impossible. No peace talks can extract territory from either side. So the only possible solution is solution suggested by Mrs. Indira Gandhi at Simla agreement i.e. converting LOC to international border.
Lets see what future has in store for us......

Cricket vs Hockey

Sometimes it makes me wonder which one is our national sport...cricket or hockey....All the big bucks being spent on cricket and hockey being rendered almost nonexistent...if all attention has to be given to cricket only why do we have hockey as our national sport. I guess only possible reason for this could be proud moments brought by hockey through olympic laurels..8 olympic gold medals...last being in 1980..ever since that, the sport is deteriorating at such a rapid pace that we see the olympic champion not even qualifying to play in the same event..2008 Beijing Olympics..I think its not a complete fault of players...who would like to spend their energy in such a sport which gives no fame and money...fame part of previous argument can be verified by asking any layman on streets of any city to name players in the current playing 11 of Indian Hockey Team and Indian Cricket Team...The person will not be able to name more than 3 players in former case and whole playing eleven with extras (whole squad) in latter case...Even a new entrant in Indian Cricket Team would be more popular than a player playing for Indian Hockey Team for years...Now who is to be blamed...poor infrastructure, less recognition, politics, poor pays or hockey players...I think sport which is virtually non existent will not get quality players since there is nothing to attract competition..Nobody wants to display their talent in such a neglected sport..
Only possible solution is to bring back the lost charm attached with the sport by improving infrastructure, increasing pays and giving same recognition to hockey players as their cricket counterparts for every competition they win and most of all please let the best player be in team..no politics...We have to strike back strongly in next olympics....Good Luck to Indian Hockey Team...