RAMAYANA NOT A WORK OF FICTION

RAMAYANA NOT A WORK OF FICTION




New research carried out by anthropological scientists from the Estonian Biocentre and the University of Delhi claims that events of the mythological epic Ramayana occurred in reality thousands of years ago.

Hyderabad: New research carried out by anthropological scientists from the Estonian Biocentre and the University of Delhi claims that events of the mythological epic Ramayana occurred in reality thousands of years ago. Scientists say that results of their genetic studies, with existing data, show genetic signatures of tribal groups featured in the Ramayana such as the Gonds, Kols and Bhils. Gonds are a prominent group in Adilabad district of Telangana.

Researchers claimed that populations in the Indian subcontinent can trace their ancestors to more than 60,000 years back. Scientists say that this is proof of the authenticity and actual occurrence of the events described in Ramayana, which would have occurred more than 12,000 years ago. The Gonds, Kols and Bhils are believed to be the ancient tribal groups of the region and have found mention in the Ramayana. Authenticity of the mythological text has been questioned several times. While there have been voices proclaiming the authenticity of the Ramayana, research to prove it has increased in recent times.

Dr Vadlamudi Raghavendra Rao, professor of anthropology, University of Delhi, and one of the authors of the study, said, “Definitely, the events described in Ramayana occurred in real. Our research has showed close genetic affinity of these tribes to other ethnic groups. We have shown that there is continuity in the populations groups living here. Other researchers are working to prove other angles of this.”


The study was carried out by Estonian Biocentre researcher Gyaneshwar Chaubey, Institute of Scientific Research on Vedas, Dr Saroj Bala and Dr Raghavendra Rao. The Bhil, Kol and Gond are three major Indian tribes that have been widely acknowledged in the epic Ramayana, particularly in the chapters Ayodhyakanda, Aranyakanda and Kishkindhakanda. Gonds are prominently found in Adilabad district and other states and number about 40 lakh.

The research study says since these tribes are inhabitants of the country since the Stone Age, their genetic affinity to existing populations show the authenticity of the Ramayana.

Researchers said these tribal groups form a closed cluster with Dravidian groups, known as inhabitants of South India.


http://www.deccanchronicle.com/150618/nation-current-affairs/article/ramayana-real-say-experts



RAMAYANA NOT A WORK OF FICTION

10/26/2015 PLOS ONE: Genetic Affinity of the Bhil, Kol and Gond Mentioned in Epic Ramayana
http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0127655 1/8
Correction
24 Jul 201 5: The PLOS ONE Staff (201 5) Correction: Genetic Affinity of the Bhil, Kol and Gond Mentioned in Epic Ramayana.
PLoS ONE 1 0(7): e01 34200. doi: 1 0.1 371 /journal.pone.01 34200 | View correction
Abstract

Kol, Bhil and Gond are some of the ancient tribal populations known from the Ramayana, one of the Great epics of India. Though there have been studies about their affinity based on classical and haploid genetic markers, the molecular insights of their
relationship with other tribal and caste populations of extant India is expected to give more clarity about the the question of continuity vs. discontinuity. 

In this study, we scanned >97,000 of single nucleotide polymorphisms among three major ancient tribes mentioned in Ramayana, namely Bhil, Kol and Gond. 

The results obtained were then compared at inter and intra population levels with neighboring and other world populations. 

Using various statistical methods, our analysis suggested that the genetic architecture of these tribes (Kol and Gond) was largely similar to their surrounding tribal and caste populations, while Bhil showed closer affinity with Dravidian and Austroasiatic (Munda) speaking tribes. 

The haplotype based analysis revealed a massive amount of genome sharing among Bhil, Kol, Gond and with other ethnic groups of South Asian descent. 

On the basis of genetic component sharing among different populations, we anticipate their primary founding over the indigenous Ancestral South Indian (ASI) component has prevailed in the genepool over the last several thousand years.

Citation: Chaubey G, Kadian A, Bala S, Rao VR (201 5) Genetic Affinity of the Bhil, Kol and Gond Mentioned in Epic
Ramayana. PLoS ONE 1 0(6): e01 27655. doi:1 0.1 371 /journal.pone.01 27655
Academic Editor: Kumarasamy Thangaraj, Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, INDIA
Received: September 7, 201 4; Accepted: April 1 7, 201 5; Published: June 1 0, 201 5
Copyright: © 201 5 Chaubey et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons
Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author
and source are credited
Data Availability: Data have been deposited to Figshare: http://dx.doi.org/1 0.6084/m9.figshare.1 391 920. The data are also
available at the data repository of the Estonian Biocentre: www.ebc.ee/free_data.
Funding: The authors received no specific funding for this work. GC is supported by Center of Excellence of Estonian
Biocentre and Institutional Grant IUT24­1 .
Competing interests: Co­author Dr. Gyaneshwer Chaubey is a PLOS ONE Editorial Board member. This does not alter the
authors' adherence to all the PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Introduction
Knowledge about the past comes through different disciplines where researchers look at history through different lenses. And in many cases, these interdisciplinary studies land on the same conclusions [1 ,2]. 

However, in case of India, investigations from
different disciplines have historically been highly contrasting [3,4]. 

India, also known as a ‘land of spiritual heritage’, has a deep history of civilisation, which is embedded in to multiple oral, traditional and written records. Much of this knowledge is rooted in oldest scriptures, the Vedas, which are four in number, namely Rigveda, Yajurveda, Samaveda and Atharvaveda. 

Then, there are Puranas, Upanishads, Brahmanas and Aranyakas, of which Vedas are said to be the precursors [5]. 

There is no consensus among historians regarding the date of compilation of the Vedas as well as the historical dates for the various Puranas, Upanishads and epics [6–1 0]. 

A comperative analysis of such mythological sources may provide a concencus about the structuring of the ancient societies and rituals. 

More recently, some scholars have provided strong evidence about the chronology of these events hinting at a deep ­rooted civilization, developing indigenously for over several thousand years [8,11 –1 5].

Our survey on mythological sources has revealed detailed information about the ancient Indian society structure as well as relations of different tribal and caste groups and their rituals [1 0,11 ,1 6–1 8]. 

In many of these literary sources, names of various castes and tribal groups have been mentioned, including those of several surviving tribal groups (e.g. Bhil or Bheel, Kol, Gond, Savara, Oraon,
Kirata, Ahirs, Nagas etc) [1 7–23]. It is already evident that during the Ramayana era, Indian society was well ­stratified [1 6,1 7,21 ,23–26]. 

The Bhil, Kol and Gond are three major Indian tribes that have been widely acknowledged in the epic Ramayana, particularly in the portions known as the Ayodhyakanda, Aranyakanda and Kishkindhakanda [1 9,20,22–27]. 

It should be emphasised here that, Gond and Bhil are the top two tribal populations of modern India in terms of population size [28].

The Bhils are primarily from Central India and speak the Bhil language [28]. They have significant presence in states of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan as well as in the northeastern state of Tripura. 

Bhils are further divided into a number of endogamous territorial divisions, which in turn have a number of clans and lineages [22]. 

The Kol tribe in Uttar Pradesh is found mainly in the districts of Mirzapur, Varanasi, Banda and Allahabad [28]. It is the largest tribe found in the state

Published: June 1 0, 201 5 DOI: 1 0.1 371 /journal.pone.01 27655
Genetic Affinity of the Bhil, Kol and Gond Mentioned in Epic
Ramayana
Gyaneshwer Chaubey , Anurag Kadian, Saroj Bala, Vadlamudi Raghavendra Rao
10/26/2015 PLOS ONE: Genetic Affinity of the Bhil, Kol and Gond Mentioned in Epic Ramayana
http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0127655 2/8
Uttar Pradesh. 

They are said to have migrated from Central India some five centuries ago [28]. The Kol are further divided into a number of exogamous clans, such as the Rojaboria, Rautia, Thakuria, Monasi, Chero and Barawire. 

The Gond people are spread over the states of Madhya Pradesh, eastern Maharashtra (Vidarbha), Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh and Telangana [28]. With over four million people, they are the largest tribe in Central India. They speak the Gondi language, which is related to present Dravidian
language family [28,29].

More than 25 years of genetic research on Indian tribal and caste populations involving classical markers to mtDNA/Y chromosome
and more recently autosomes, have indicated complex demographic history of the subcontinent [3,30–39]. 

Alongwith debate over initial peopling of the subcontinent, the major hot topic now shifted towards the population expansion and admixture during and after Neolithic times [37–40]. 

However, large number of individuals as well as genetic markers are required to reach any firm
conclusions. Thus, the strict endogamy and social structure make South Asia much more complex, unlike to Europe, where genetic
analysis of a population can predict the genetic structure of immediate neighbor with some confidence. 

In recent years, there has been an increase in the number of in­depth genetic studies focussing on the genetic structure of the populations of India
[35,37,40–48], but none of them have related specific tribal populations mentioned in the traditional literatures.

Therefore, in the present study, we make an attempt to evaluate two schools of thought emerging from the current scenario. 

The first school suggests that the tribal people are the aboriginal inhabitants, while the later migrants, i.e., the Dravidians followed by the Aryans have pushed them back in to small pockets in South India [49–52]. 

According to this school, the caste system was
established by the aforementioned later migrants [11 ,50,52,53]. 

The alternative hypothesis advocates that all the caste and tribal populations of India have Paleolithic roots and share a common origin [3,1 5,33,54–60]. 

The differentiation observed in modern
South Asian populations is mainly derived by strict endogamy, long term isolation and several evolutionary forces. 

More specifically, relying on each other, first, we seek to investigate the continuity vs. discontinuity of the genetic thread connecting the different
populations of India. 

Second, keeping in mind the pivotal information extracted from Ramayana, we look specifically into the question: whether and to what extent the three major tribes (Bhil, Kol and Gond) share their genetic ancestry among them as well as with other contemporary caste and tribal populations?

Material and Methods
This study was performed using control samples collected, genotyped and published for various population studies conducted in the last few years (S1 Table) [37–39,46,61 –63]. 

All the ethical guideline have been followed. The tribal and caste populations grouped according to their language group. 

We grouped populations in to “Transitional” who have known information of language change in recent time [64,65]. A check for closely related individuals was carried out within each population study by calculating average identity by state (IBS) scores for all pairs of individuals [66]. 

We used PLINK 1 .07 [66] in order to filter our dataset to include only SNPs on the 22 autosomal chromosomes with minor allele frequency >1 % and genotyping success >99%.

As background linkage disequilibrium (LD) can affect both PCA [67] and ADMIXTURE [68], we thinned the dataset by removing one SNP of any pair, in strong LD r2>0.4, in a window of 200 SNPs (sliding the window by 25 SNPs at a time).

We performed PC analysis using smartpca programme (with default settings) of the EIGENSOFT package [67] in order to capture genetic variability described by the first 5 components. The fraction of the total variation described by a PC is the ratio of its
eigenvalue to the sum of all eigenvalues. 

In the final settings, we ran Admixture with a random seed number generator on the LDpruned dataset twenty­five times at K = 2 to K = 1 2. Since the top values of the resulting log­likelihood scores were stable (virtually identical) within the runs of each K from K = 2 to K = 1 0, we can claim that convergence at global maximum was achieved. Thus,
we omitted runs at K = 11 to K = 1 2 from further analysis.

Mean pairwise differences between different population groups were computed using Fst distance measure by following the methods as described by Cockerham and Weir [69], Phylip [70] and MEGA [71 ] were used to construct the tree. The Plink software
[66] was used to calculate the genetic diversity and to find the 25 nearest­neighbours for the Bhil, Kol and Gond individuals. 

To investigate the derived allele sharing of Bhil, Kol and Gond with the Eurasian populations, we computed f3 statistics [37], taking African as an outgroup. 

For haplotype­based analysis (fineSTRUCTURE) [72], we made two different runs—first by taking all the
Eurasian populations and second exclusively on the Central Asian, Pakistani and Indian populations. 

For the fine STRUCTURE analysis, first samples were phased with Beagle 3.3.2 [73]. A coancestry matrix was constructed using ChromoPainter [72],
fineSTRUCTURE was used to perform an MCMC iteration using 1 0000000 burning runtime and 1 0000 MCMC samples. 

A tree was built using fineSTRUCTURE with the default settings. All these information are plotted for the Bhil, Kol and Gond as a recipient of
number of chunks from one another as well as from other ethnic group.

Results and Discussion
We combined hundreds of thousands of autosomal markers generated from different studies (S1 Table) [37–39,46,61 –63] and specifically looked into the population structure of Indian groups mentioned in classical literature. 

To find out the population clustering, we first ran the Fst (population differentiation) algorithm [69] and drew a tree [70,71 ], rooting out the African populations (S1 Fig). 

All the Indian populations, except the present Tibeto­Burman speaking populations, are well separated from other continental populations and form a major cluster comprising present populations speaking Indo­European, Dravidian and Austroasiatic (Munda) languages (S1 Fig). 

The Pakistani populations are scattered in different clusters, where few of them (Sindhi, Pathan and Burusho) cluster loosely with Indians; Hazaras show an affinity toward Central Asians, and Balochi, Brahui and Makrani confirm an intermediate position because of shared recent African ancestry and gene flow [38,74,75]. 

The Bhil, Kol and Gond showed a closer affinity among them as well as with the extent Indo­European, Transitional and Munda speaking populations (Fig 1 a and S1 Fig).

10/26/2015 PLOS ONE: Genetic Affinity of the Bhil, Kol and Gond Mentioned in Epic Ramayana
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Fig 1.
a) Regionwise population differentiation (Fst) analysis of Bhil, Kol Gond with the Indian and other regional populations 

b) PCA (Principle Component Analysis) of Eurasian populations showing the placement of Bhil, Kol and Gond populations over the South Asian cline; the mean value of populationwise clustering of Bhil, Kol and Gond is zoomed­in inset figure. IE­ IndoEuropean, DRA­ Dravidian 

c) Individualwise ancestry proportion analysis inferred from ADMIXTURE representing ten
ancestral populations of the world (K = 1 0).
doi:1 0.1 371 /journal.pone.01 27655.g001

To get more deeper insight, we have used PCA (principle component analysis)[67] and ADMIXTURE [68], analysis using the same parameters as in our previous studies [38,39,45]. 

These analyses strengthened the inferences drawn from the Fst analysis. The PCA on Eurasians placed Indian populations between East and West Eurasia (Fig 2a). 

The cline of Indian subcontinent ranges
from Pakistani populations (closer to West Eurasians) to Indian Munda groups (closer to East Eurasians). Departing from its geographical position, Bhil was clustering together with Scheduled castes and Scheduled tribe populations of Uttar Pradesh
(Harijan), Andhra Pradesh (Kamsali) and Karnataka (North Kannadi) states. Kol is joined with the neighbouring populations alongwith the Indian­cline, while Gond was deflating away from the Indian cline by uniting with the Munda speakers (Fig 1 b).

Further, we assessed the proportion of individual­wise ancestry drawn from a given number of inferred populations (K) using a maximum ­likelihood based approach implemented in ADMIXTURE.

Fig 2.
a) The number of chunks donated at inter and intra populations level for the Bhil, Kol and Gond with respect to the Indian, Central Asian and the Pakistani populations. b) Plot of 25 nearest neighbors of Bhil, Kol and Gond individuals. The match
population individuals are colored in grey.
doi:1 0.1 371 /journal.pone.01 27655.g002
Consistent with previous observations [37,38], the South Asian populations’ genome are mainly made­up of two major components, which are distributed across the length and breadth of the subcontinent (Fig 1 c). 

Alongn with these two major components, there are
four minor componets over the periphery of the subcontinent—the European and the Middle eastern components can be seen in Pakistani and northwest Indian populations, whilest the East/Southeast Asian components are present in nearby Munda and TibetoBurman speakers.

(Fig 1 c). The geographical distribution of the dark green component (ASI or Ancestral South Indian­ unique to the subcontinent) was largely limited to the Indian subcontinent, and can be seen among all the populations of the subcontinent albeit in variable amount, whereas the second major component (light green: ANI or Ancestral North Indian (now ANE­ Ancestral North Eurasian [76])) was shared with Central Asia, the Caucasus, Middle East and Europe (Fig 1 c). 

The geographical origin of light green component (ANI or ANE) is so far unclear and more research is needed from unsampled area as well as from ancient DNA; however, the time of spread of this component from its origin place (either of any; the Caucasus, Near East, Indus Valley, or Central Asia) has happened more than 1 2.5 thousand years before [38], which is significantly earlier than the purported expansion of Dravidians and Aryans languages from outside the subcontinent. 

Notably, the Andaman Islanders are not the only population carrying the ASI component exclusively, as was suggested before [37]. 

Austroasiatic speakers (more precisely, the South Munda) of the subcontinent also seem to possess the ASI component in near unadulterated form (Fig 1 c). 

More research with complete genome analysis would be required to clear the geographic center of the ANE component; however, it is evident from the present
analysis that the dark green component (ASI) can be considered as a connecting thread for all the Indian populations (Fig 1 c).

Taken together, these results support the second hypothesis suggesting that all Indians, irrespective of their caste or tribal affiliations, share a common genetic ancestry, which is undoubtedly founded over the indigenous ASI component.

Our second question revolved around the three tribal populations mentioned in the ancient epic, their genome composition and affiliation with the surrounding caste and tribal populations. Based on information from Ramayana, we have considered these tribal populations to be ancient inhabitants of India, surviving from the times of the Stone Age [1 9,23]. 

If we assume that their genome carry the signature of peopling of ancient time, the assessment of their genomes and comparison with modern populations would test the scenario of continuity vs. discontinuity of prehistoric heritage. 

In case of continuity, we should see largely similar genome composition among contemporary caste and tribal populations of modern India. On the other hand, in case of discontinuity, these tribal populations should show a unique genome composition or they should emerge as an outliers in our cluster based analysis.

Our extended analysis on Fst, PCA and ADMIXTURE showed similar genome composition of these tribal populations, carrying both the ANE and ASI components (Fig 1 a–1 c, Table 1 and S1 Fig). We also calculated the genetic diversity of these populations with their neighbours (Table 2). 

The diversity of Kol, Bhil and Gond didn’t show any significant deviation from their neighbouring extent
Indo­European, Dravidian and Munda speaking groups.

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Table 1. The ANE and ASI admixture proportions of Bhil, Kol and Gond with respect to other South Asian groups.
doi:1 0.1 371 /journal.pone.01 27655.t001
Table 2. The genetic diversity calculations of Bhil, Kol and Gond with respect to other South Asian groups.
doi:1 0.1 371 /journal.pone.01 27655.t002

The shared drift statistics analysis (f3) suggested that most of the derived alleles of Bhil, Kol and Gond are overwhelmingly shared with Indian caste and tribal populations (S2 Fig). 

Gond, Dravidian tribes and Austroasiatic (Munda) groups shared the highest derived allele with Bhils. 

Indo­European castes, Gond and Dravidian tribes were closest with Kol. 

Whereas, Munda, transitional and Dravidian tribal groups shared the peak derived alleles with Gonds.

The haplotype based fineSTRUCTURE [72] analysis showed that the studied populations (Bhil, Kol and Gond) received nearly all of their chunks from the Indian closeby populations (Fig 2a and S3 Fig). 

Leaving out the number of chunks coming from the same population, chunk donors for Bhil and Kol were coming from all the major Indian ethnic groups, while for the Gond, Indian Transitional and Munda groups were the major chunk donors. 

More specifically the haplotype based sharing analysis is in congruent with the f3 statistics. The fineSTRUCTURE clustering analysis revealed 37 clusters when we have included Iranian,
Central Asian, Pakistani, Indian and Cambodian populations (S4 Fig). 

Most of the Indian populations unite in Indian specific clusters except Kashmiri Pandits and few Gujarati individuals who fell together with the Sindhi and Pathan individuals in Pakistani specific clade. 

Our targeted populations are dispersed in various clades. All the Bhil individuals form a tight cluster with the individuals mainly from Dravidian caste, few Indo­European and Transitional individuals. 

Most of the Kol and Gond individuals show a higher
level of variation by falling in to distinct clusters. To make an individual­wise comparison, we plotted top twenty five closest neighbours of studied populations (Fig 2b). 

It was expected that any population members would be closest to themselves and thereafter to members of other populations, which was also pertinent in the present study. Consistent with the above observations drawn from Fst, PCA, ADMIXTURE, f3 statistics and fineSTRUCTURE, there is no signature of large scale population replacement in the Indian subcontinent.

In conclusion, our high resolution analysis portraying the three ancient tribal populations, strongly rejects any incoming genetic signal of large scale recent (during the post­Neolithic) migration either of the present Dravidian or the Indo­European speaking populations to the subcontinent. 

We also concluded that the Indian populations preserve strong genetic signatures in support of a
common ancestry. The studied tribal populations do share large number of genome among theselves as well as from o caste and tribal populations. 

Notebly, the placement of various populations along the Indian cline is not solely governed by the geography, but also by the caste­tribe interaction and various other selectional forces. 

These patterns point to a complex demographic history of the subcontinent which has been shaped in­situ by admixture events at different time scale, as well as by intricate geographical heterogeneity and long term effect of several evolutionary forces.

Supporting Information
S1 Fig. Neighbour Joining (NJ) tree world populations inferred from Fst distances of genomewide data.
In the inset, the heatmap showing the inter and intra regional genetic affinity of the three tribal populations under investigation.

doi:1 0.1 371 /journal.pone.01 27655.s001
(TIF)
S2 Fig. The plot of shared drift obtained by the f3 = (Yoruba; Bhil/Kol/Gond, X).
The f3 values are plotted on Y axis against the X­ targeted populations on X axis. C_Asia­ Central Asia, IN_IE_Caste­ Indian IndoEuropean Caste, IN_IE_Tribe—Indian Indo­European Tribe, IN_DRA_Caste­ Indian Dravidian Caste, IN_DRA_Tribe—Indian
Dravidian Tribe, IN_AA­ Indian Austroasiatic (Munda).
doi:1 0.1 371 /journal.pone.01 27655.s002
(TIF)
S3 Fig. Co­ancestry matrix plotted from fineSTRUTCURE analysis, showing the chunks donated by other Eurasian populations to the Bhil, Kol and
Gond populations.
doi:1 0.1 371 /journal.pone.01 27655.s003
(TIF)
S4 Fig. Placement of Kol, Bhil and Gond individuals over the 37 clades obtained from the fineSTRUCTURE analysis.
doi:1 0.1 371 /journal.pone.01 27655.s004
(TIF)
S1 Table. The details of the populations (number of individuals and number of SNPs, used in the present study.
doi:1 0.1 371 /journal.pone.01 27655.s005
(XLSX)
10/26/2015 PLOS ONE: Genetic Affinity of the Bhil, Kol and Gond Mentioned in Epic Ramayana
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Author Contributions
Conceived and designed the experiments: GC. Performed the experiments: GC AK SB VRR. Analyzed the data: GC. Contributed
reagents/materials/analysis tools: AK SB VRR. Wrote the paper: GC AK SB VRR.
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Correction
24 Jul 201 5: The PLOS ONE Staff (201 5) Correction: Genetic Affinity of the Bhil, Kol and Gond Mentioned in Epic Ramayana.
PLoS ONE 1 0(7): e01 34200. doi: 1 0.1 371 /journal.pone.01 34200 | View correction

Abstract
Kol, Bhil and Gond are some of the ancient tribal populations known from the Ramayana, one of the Great epics of India. 

Though there have been studies about their affinity based on classical and haploid genetic markers, the molecular insights of their relationship with other tribal and caste populations of extant India is expected to give more clarity about the the question of continuity vs. discontinuity. 

In this study, we scanned >97,000 of single nucleotide polymorphisms among three major ancient tribes mentioned in Ramayana, namely Bhil, Kol and Gond. 

The results obtained were then compared at inter and intra population levels with neighboring and other world populations. 

Using various statistical methods, our analysis suggested that the genetic architecture of these tribes (Kol and Gond) was largely similar to their surrounding tribal and caste populations, while Bhil showed closer affinity with Dravidian and Austroasiatic (Munda) speaking tribes. 

The haplotype based analysis revealed a massive amount of genome sharing among Bhil, Kol, Gond and with other ethnic groups of South Asian descent. 

On the basis of genetic component sharing among different populations, we anticipate their primary founding over the indigenous Ancestral South Indian (ASI) component has prevailed in the genepool over the last several thousand years.

Letter by Maharaja Hari Singh to Lord Mountbatten

Letter by Maharaja Hari Singh to Governor General of India, Lord MountbattenBy Danvir Singh
Issue: Book Excerpt: Kashmir\'s Death Trap | Date : 22 Oct , 2015

Appendix – A

Dated: 26 October 1947

My dear Lord Mountbatten,

I have to inform your Excellency that a grave emergency has arisen in my State and request immediate assistance of your Government.

As your Excellency is aware the State of Jammu and Kashmir has not acceded to the Dominion of India or to Pakistan. Geographically my State is contiguous to both the Dominions. It has vital economical and cultural links with both of them. Besides my State has a common boundary with the Soviet Republic and China. In their external relations the Dominions of India and Pakistan cannot ignore this fact.

I wanted to take time to decide to which Dominion I should accede, or whether it is not in the best interests of both the Dominions and my State to stand independent, of course with friendly and cordial relations with both.

I accordingly approached the Dominions of India and Pakistan to enter into Standstill Agreement with my State. The Pakistan Government accepted this Agreement. The Dominion of India desired further discussions with representatives of my Government. I could not arrange this in view of the developments indicated below. In fact the Pakistan Government are operating Post and Telegraph system inside the State.

Though we have got a Standstill Agreement with the Pakistan Government that Government permitted steady and increasing strangulation of supplies like food, salt and petrol to my State.

Afridis, soldiers in plain clothes, and desperadoes with modern weapons have been allowed to in filter into the State at first in Poonch and then in Sialkot and finally in mass area adjoining Hazara District on the Ramkot side. The result has been that the limited number of troops at the disposal of the State had to be dispersed and thus had to face the enemy at the several points simultaneously, that it has become difficult to stop the wanton destruction of life and property and looting. The Mahura powerhouse which supplies the electric current to the whole of Srinagar has been burnt. The number of women who have been kidnapped and raped makes my heart bleed. The wild forces thus let loose on the State are marching on with the aim of capturing Srinagar, the summer Capital of my Government, as first step to over-running the whole State.

The mass infiltration of tribesmen drawn from distant areas of the North-West Frontier coming regularly in motor trucks using Mansehra-Muzaffarabad Road and fully armed with up-to-date weapons cannot possibly be done without the knowledge of the Provisional Government of the North-West Frontier Province and the Government of Pakistan. In spite of repeated requests made by my Government no attempt has been made to check these raiders or stop them from coming into my State. The Pakistan Radio even put out a story that a Provisional Government had been set up in Kashmir. The people of my State both the Muslims and non-Muslims generally have taken no part at all.
With the conditions obtaining at present in my State and the great emergency of the situation as it exists, I have no option but to ask for help from the Indian Dominion. Naturally they cannot send the help asked for by me without my State acceding to the Dominion of India. I have accordingly decided to do so and I attach the Instrument of Accession for acceptance by your Government. The other alternative is to leave my State and my people to free-booters. On this basis no civilized Government can exist or be maintained. This alternative I will never allow to happen as long as I am Ruler of the State and I have life to defend my country.

I am also to inform your Excellency’s Government that it is my intention at once to set up an interim Government and ask Sheikh Abdullah to carry the responsibilities in this emergency with my Prime Minister.

If my State has to be saved immediate assistance must be available at Srinagar. Mr. Menon is fully aware of the situation and he will explain to you, if further explanation is needed.

In haste and with kind regards,

The Palace, Jammu

Your sincerely,

26th October, 1947

Hari Singh
© Copyright 2015 Indian Defence Review

The Original Himalayan Blunder: How India Lost Gilgit-Baltistan

The Original Himalayan Blunder: How India Lost Gilgit-BaltistanSanjay Dixit @Sanjay_Dixit
Commentary | 10-10-2015




The original Himalayan Blunder was with regard to the Gilgit Agency and the Wazarat, which many don’t even remember. Gilgit-Baltistan, as we know it today comprised Gilgit Agency and Gilgit Wazarat back in 1947.

A lot has been written about the Himalayan Blunder committed by India in 1962. Even more has been written about the blunders committed in the prosecution of the Kashmir War of 1947, notably thereference to the United Nations by Jawaharlal Nehru at a time India was gaining momentum in the war. Poonch had been secured. Enemy forces had been chased away from the outskirts of Leh and Kargil had been won back. The Poonch-Uri road had been secured. India only needed a last push to capture Skardu back and take Muzaffarabad and Mirpur.

History would also tell you that Jammu and Kashmir was also the only princely state which was not under the charge of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. Kashmir was a separate Ministry under the Government of India and was directly under the charge of Prime Minister Nehru.

I would not labour the oft repeated events that pre-dated the accession of Kashmir to India.

I begin at the point of accession.


Field Marshal Manek Shaw

There is a fine account by Late Field Marshal Manek Shaw who was then the Director of Military Operations in the Army HQ in the rank of a Colonel. General Sir Roy Bucher, the C-in-C of the Indian Army sent him to accompany VP Menon who was flying to Srinagar to get the Instrument of Accession signed.

The Kabaili tribals were hardly 10-12 kms away from the Srinagar airfield. They came back on 25th Oct, and it is worth recalling in Manek Shaw’s own words what happened the next morning in a meeting of the Cabinet Defence Committee:

“At the morning meeting he handed over the (Accession) thing. Mountbatten turned around and said, ‘come on Manekji (He called me Manekji instead of Manekshaw), what is the military situation?’ I gave him the military situation, and told him that unless we flew in troops immediately, we would have lost Srinagar, because going by road would take days, and once the tribesmen got to the airport and Srinagar, we couldn’t fly troops in. Everything was ready at the airport.

As usual Nehru talked about the United Nations, Russia, Africa, God almighty, everybody, until Sardar Patel lost his temper. He said, ‘Jawaharlal, do you want Kashmir, or do you want to give it away’. He (Nehru) said,’ Of course, I want Kashmir (emphasis in original). Then he (Patel) said ‘Please give your orders’. And before he could say anything Sardar Patel turned to me and said, ‘You have got your orders’.

I walked out, and we started flying in troops at about 11 o’clock or 12 o’clock. I think it was the Sikh regiment under Ranjit Rai that was the first lot to be flown in. And then we continued flying troops in. That is all I know about what happened. Then all the fighting took place. I became a brigadier, and became director of military operations and also if you will see the first signal to be signed ordering the cease-fire on 1 January (1949) had been signed by Colonel Manekshaw on behalf of C-in-C India, General Sir Roy Bucher. That must be lying in the Military Operations Directorate.”

One more event of great momentous consequence had already taken place.

Maharaja’s forces broadly comprised 50 per cent Muslims and 50 per cent Hindus. Manek Shaw records that the Muslim elements of Maharaja’s forces had revolted.

This position was known both to the Army and the political leadership. However, they got so busy looking after Srinagar that they forgot completely about both the Gilgit Agency and the Wazarat.

A bit of background may be called for at this point.

The princely State of Kashmir and Jammu (as opposed to J&K of today), had five main regions – Jammuwith Jammu as HQ, Kashmir with Srinagar as HQ, Ladakh with Leh as summer HQ, and Skardu as winter HQ, Gilgit Wazarat with Astore as HQ, and Gilgit Agency on a 60 year lease to the British from 1935.

Gilgit Agency comprised Chilas, Gilgit, Yasin, Ghizr, Iskoman, Humza and Nagar valley. All areas east of Bunji were in the Wazarat which was directly administered. As the Great Game was unfolding in Central Asia, and Britain was getting more and more obsessed with the threat of Communist Soviet Union, they thought it fit to administer this part of Maharaja’s State directly and accordingly took it on lease in 1935.

As the Indian Independence Act was passed by the British Parliament on 13 July 1947 and the date of transfer of power to India and Pakistan was set to 15 August, Mountbatten decided to let go of the Gilgit Agency lease.

On the 1st of August, administration of Gilgit passed back into the hands of Maharaja, a responsibility he was simply not up to discharging. He had a British Chief of Army Staff, Major General Scott. Scott had just two battalions around Gilgit. A battalion of Gilgit Scouts which was a British force and another battalion of 6, Kashmir infantry stationed around 50 kms away at Bunji on the eastern bank of Indus in the Wazarat area.

Gilgit Scouts was a 100 per cent Muslim force. It had one HQ Company stationed in Gilgit and ten platoons contributed by the various Rajas. 6th Kashmir infantry at Bunjion the left bank of Indus had 2 Dogra and Sikh companies and one Muslim company. General Scott sought a British officer to command the Gilgit Scouts as the force was 100 per cent Muslim and a Hindu might find it difficult to command it, and for obvious reasons, a Muslim could not be trusted in the situation that prevailed.

So Scott marshaled his resources and got a British Captain who was then posted in Chitral, and also accepted his recommendation to have another British officer working under him at Chilas.

The biggest advantage that Pakistan had over India in Kashmir was that there was not a single road or rail route that connected India with J&K. Srinagar was accessed from Rawalpindi, through Murrie and Muzaffarabad (The road to Muzaffarabad bye-passes Murrie today).

Poonch road was through the town of Gujrat after crossing the Chenab at Wazirabad. Even the road to Jammu was Amritsar-Sialkot-Jammu. Jammu had a light railway too. It ran from Wazirabad Junction on the main Lahore-Rawalpindi line through Sialkot to Jammu. Gilgit and Skardu were both accessed through Rawalpindi-Abbottabad road which crossed into Gilgit agency at the 4200 metre Babusar pass and joined the Indus at Chilas.

If the Babusar pass was closed due to snow, then there was the alternative route along the Indus valley which is the present alignment of the Karakoram valley.

From Chilas, the road went through Bunji upto the place where GilgitRiver joins the Indus, from where Indus upstream goes further north until it hits the Karakoram Range and turns south south-east near Sassi.

It went on to Skardu, from where another road along Indus, Shingo and Suru valleys joins up with Kargil. The other route took off from the Gilgit-Indus confluence and went up to Shandur pass in the West from where it crossed into Chitral, a Muslim princely State.

The river Hunza meets the Gilgit River at Gilgit. The road along Hunza valley led to the vassal States of Hunza and Nagar. The present Karakoram Highway is along this alignment going further into Chinese Turkestan over the Khunjerab pass.

The Gilgit-Indus confluence has the unique geographical feature of three of the greatest ranges – Himalayas, Karakoram and Hindukush meeting at one place.

The route from Jammu to Gilgit and Skardu via Srinagar was open only during summers as it was not possible to cross the Pir Panjal during winters. Also, going to Gilgit Wazarat’s capital Astore involved crossing the rivers Sind and Kishanganga, before going up to the Burzil Pass through Mini Margh.


Map of Jammu and Kashmir

Even the flights in small turbo prop planes had to first go to Peshawar from Srinagar before refueling and taking the route up along the Indus valley.

It is here that the big blunder took place.

Major William Alexander Brown, the commander of the Gilgit Scouts had one singular merit, not unlike many other Englishmen. He kept a diary. This was later published as his memoirs.

A look through the memoirs reveals his mindset. Right from day one of his taking over as Commander at Gilgit, he had a political agenda. When the lease of Gilgit Agency was prematurely terminated by Mountbatten and Maharaja formally resumed his territory, Major Brown was inducted as an officer of the Kashmir and Jammu Army.

Brigadier Ghansara Singh of the Maharaja’s Army was sent in as the Governor. Brown derides him as incompetent and lazy. Brown’s memoirs cannot be taken at their face value as he was always scheming against the Maharaja.

In early September, he had decided to support Kashmir’s accession to Pakistan. He has mentioned in his diary that he had his mind made up that in case Maharaja decided to accede to India, he would be with his Muslim soldiers and would mount a mutiny.

Brigadier Ghansara Singh did not size up the situation well. The 6th Kashmir Infantry based at Bunji had 3 battalions, one of which was a Muslim battalion. Everyone knew how Muslim battalions had deserted the Kashmir forces in the various mutinies which occurred from Poonch to Muzaffarabad to Baramula. Gilgit Scouts had an unconventional formation of an HQ company and ten platoons. These were widely distributed at Gupis, Chilas and Gilgit.

After the accession had been achieved and Indian troops had taken control, Gilgit should have been immediately secured through an air bridge as was Srinagar.

Had Gilgit been secured, every other garrison in Gilgit Baltistan would have become safe including Skardu and Ladakh Agency. This blunder was committed as much by the Kashmir Army, as by the Indian Army and India’s political leadership.

Gilgit had a small air strip which could have taken small aircrafts, but Skardu had a fairly long airstrip. An airlift of the size which occurred in Srinagar was militarily not possible, but induction of Indian Army and its commanders was an urgent imperative.

As things transpired later on, Major Brown led the mutiny of Gilgit Scouts as he had intended to, right from September onwards. The Kashmiri Governor, Brigadier Ghansara Singh was arrested by Major Brown. The Muslim company of 6th Kashmir Infantry also mutinied, as they had already been compromised by Major Brown.

The remainder of the 6th Kashmir Infantry were chased away from Bunji, Pakistan flag was unfurled at Gilgit and the way was opened for the whole of Gilgit and a major part of Baltistan to be taken by Pakistan.

Major Brown directed the entire operations into Gilgit-Baltistan until he was relieved in January 1948. After the fall of Gilgit, every man in Kashmir knew that Skardu would be the next target.

Gen. Thimayya is on record that he considered Skardu to be the last frontier in the battle to save Ladakh. Yet, no airlift occurred till the Kashmir Forces in Skardu under that great soldier Sher Jung Thapa had been besieged in February by Gilgit Scouts and Chitral Bodyguards.

This failure to resupply and relieve the garrisons at Gilgit and Skardu immediately after the airlift of Srinagar were great military blunders, besides political ones.

A sagacious Army commander, which General Sir Roy Bucher probably was, should have proceeded to defend Skardu and Gilgit through an air bridge. We are, however, not sure how much of his heart he had in this war.

Pakistanis similarly blame General Sir Douglas Gracey, the Pakistan Commander-in-Chief. It was a great error of judgment on part of Maharaja to entrust his forces to English officers, and to place trust in Muslim companies and battalions when they were deserting everywhere.


The hero of Skadru Lieutenant Colonel Sher Jung Thapa

The saga of rape and murder of Indians in Bunji and Skardu need to be retold to all the Indians today so that they would know how Pakistan forces fight, and how misplaced their sense of fair play is when it comes to Pakistan, whether with their forces or their public.

Narendra Modi and Doval have sized up the situation correctly. I am sure that if it had been Modi and Doval in 1972, they would not have let the advantage of having 90,000 POWs melt away without wresting away some major part of Pakistan, or without breaking up Pakistan. A War Crime Tribunal would have broken up Pakistan at that time.

My two bits about the present situation is that this great Ummah feeling has completely disappeared from Gilgit-Baltistan today. Shias and Ismailis are persecuted, and Sunnis are being increasingly seen as a colonizing force.

We need not have any illusions about the population in these parts, but it is certain that the way to conquer Kashmir is not through Muzaffarabad, but through Khapalu and Skardu. This is true not only in territorial terms, but also in terms of minds of people.

http://indiafacts.co.in/the-original-himalayan-blunder-how-india-lost-gilgit-baltistan/

India’s Great Wall Can Be Seen From Space

India’s Great Wall Can Be Seen From Space

The India-Pakistan boundary appears as an orange line in this picture taken from the International Space Station, Sept. 23, 2015.

NASA

A nighttime picture taken from the International Space Station of the boundary between India and Pakistan—visible because of a string of Indian floodlights erected in an effort to prevent militants from crossing into its territory–went viral this week.

The U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration said the frontier was one of only a few visible from space at night. Among the others are the dividing lines between South Africa and Zimbabwe and North and South Korea – both marked by sharp differences in the prevalence of electric lighting on the two sides.

In the case of estranged neighbors India and Pakistan, the Indian floodlights, which extend for more than 1,900 kilometers, limn a boundary that is disputed in places

Indian security forces say they are trying to prevent militants from smuggling weapons, ammunition and fighters across the line from Pakistan into the Indian-controlled part of Kashmir, a region also claimed by Pakistan. India blames Pakistan for harboring terrorists who strike in India, something Pakistan denies.

In July, Indian security forces shot dead four suspected militants who had mounted a deadly assault on a police station in northern India after attacking a bus. India said the gunmen came from Pakistan.

India’s Home Ministry wants to replace the current floodlights with LED bulbs, which are more energy efficient and has launched a pilot project along the boundary in the state of Punjab using this type of lighting.

A nighttime panorama taken looking north across the Indus River valley from the International Space Station on Sept. 23, 2015.

The distinct, bright light above the horizon is known as airglow, a phenomenon caused by the excitation of atoms and molecules high in the atmosphere by ultraviolet radiation from the sun, NASA said.

This wasn’t the first time a photograph of the boundary from space has been widely shared. This picture was taken from the International Space Station in 2011.

Clusters of yellow lights on the Indo-Gangetic Plain indicate numerous cities in this photographof northern India and northern Pakistan taken by an astronauton Aug. 21, 2011, from the International Space Station.

An undated NASA image of the Earth at night.

A daylight view shows the bends of the Indus River valley winding through otherwise desert country on June14, 2014.

NASA

India wins patent war on hair loss formula

India wins patent war on hair loss formula


Based on India’s evidence, the patent application was finally “deemed to be withdrawn” by the applicant on June 29 this year.

NEW DELHI: India scored an important success when it fully protected its traditional knowledge by stalling a leading UK-based laboratory's move to patent a medicinal composition containing turmeric, pine bark and green tea for treating hair loss. The move comes just days after India foiled a similar attempt by US-based consumer goods giant Colgate-Palmolive from patenting a mouthwash formula containing herbal extracts.

The vigilance of the Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL) of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) helped protect the Indian products as the council in its submission to the European Patent Office managed to prove that turmeric, pine bark and green tea were being used as a treatment for hair loss in Indian systems of medicine like Ayurveda and Unani since ancient times.

The UK-based company - Pangaea Laboratories Limited - had filed the patent application in February, 2011. The CSIR-TKDL unit had, however, objected to it and filed evidence on January 13, 2014 once the patent application got published in the European Patent Office website.

Based on India's evidence, the patent application was finally "deemed to be withdrawn" by the applicant on June 29 this year.

The back-to-back victories in thwarting the attempts of the two big foreign entities (Colgate-Palmolive and Pangaea Laboratories Limited) adds another feather to the cap of TKDL's which has tasted success now in about 200 such cases without incurring any cost to the public exchequer.

Recently, it had frustrated a move by Colgate-Palmolive to patent a mouthwash formula containing herb 'Jayaphal' (Nutmeg) extract. "The Traditional Knowledge Digital Library of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, headed by senior scientist Archana Sharma, had submitted proof in the form of references from ancient books, which said the herb and its extracts of 'Myristica Fragrans' were used for oral diseases in Indian systems of medicine", said an official note.

The TKDL is a pioneering initiative to prevent misappropriation of country's traditional medicinal knowledge at international patent offices. It has structured and classified the Indian traditional medicine system in approximately 25,000 sub-groups for Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha and Yoga.

It is proving to be an effective deterrent against bio-piracy and is being recognized as a global leader in the area of traditional knowledge protection.

Silicon Valley CEOs Met PM Modi

5 Big Announcements After Silicon Valley CEOs Met PM Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's digital India dream got the thumbs up from leaders of global tech firms like Apple, Google, Microsoft and Qualcomm when he met them at the Silicon Valley today.

Sundar Pichai-led Google will help bring wireless Internet or WiFi to 500 railway stations across the country "in a short time," PM Modi said.


Microsoft's Satya Nadella shared the company's plan to help the government take low cost broadband to five lakh villages.


Microsoft will also announce next week the availability of its cloud services operating out of Indian data centers. "We believe low cost broadband connectivity coupled with the scale of cloud computing and the intelligence that can be harnessed from data can help drive creativity, efficiency and productivity across governments and businesses of all size. This is turn will create global opportunities for India," Mr Nadella said.


Qualcomm has promised a 10 billion rupee fund for startups in India. "We share Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision to transform India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy," Qualcomm executive chairman Paul E Jacobs said.


Qualcomm also announced that it will set up a number of 'design houses' for product innovation in India.

Thevar - Netaji was alive

The declassification of 64 files on Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose by the West Bengal government, which have several references and correspondence indicating he was alive after 1945, has elated many of his followers who are eager to know the complete details of the files.

Interestingly, to corroborate this, Tamil Nadu's former MLA A R Perumal, in a book has revealed that on January 23, 1949, during a public meeting held at the Tamukkam grounds in Madurai, freedom fighter and former Tamil Nadu president of All-India Forward Bloc, Pasumpon U Muthuramalinga Thevar had said that Netaji was indeed alive and had not died in the crash as presumed by many.

In his book Mudisooda Mannar Pasumpon Muthuramalinga Thevar, Perumal quoting Thevar's speech says: "Netaji is well and safe. It is false that our leader Netaji died in the air crash. Our leader will appear before the people at the right time. Besides, I am in direct contact with Netaji."

It may be recalled that thousands of Tamils from the southern districts of Madurai, Ramanathapuram, Sivaganga, Virudhunagar, Tuticorin and Tirunelveli and those spread across Burma (Myanmar), Singapore and Malaysia had joined the Netaji's Indian National Army (INA) because of love they had on him.

Now, many descendants of those members from the INA are elated over the West Bengal government's move and want to know what the files contain. T G Yoganandam, son of former INA member, Thirugnanam of Virudhunagar said, "My father who died recently told many things about Netaji. My father's INA attire is still at home, which makes our family members remember Netaji always. I wish to go to the museum (where the files are kept) and look at them with my own eyes."

J Vivekanandan, grandson of another INA member Vaithilingam said his family's financial constraints are preventing his desire to go and see the files.

Madurai-based National Netaji Association chairman V Swaminathan said the exhibition of files coincides with a certain information that he had gathered from many INA men in the districts with respect to Netaji's presence after 1945. After the alleged air crash, Netaji had stayed in a secret room at Padmanabapuram palace in Thiruvananthapuram and a farm land belonged to Muthuramalinga Thevar in Pulichikulam in Virudhunagar district, claimed Swaminathan. He further said he is thinking of inviting Netaji's grandnephew Chandra Kumar Bose who has been fighting to make public the files, to Madurai.

Pasumpon Thevar Sinthanai Maiyam founder V S Navamani urged the central government to officially make public many important files relating to Netaji like the West Bengal government.

It may be recalled that Netaji who walked out from Congress, formed the All India Forward Bloc in 1939. To mobilise support he then toured many places in the country. As part of it, he attended a meeting at Marina beach in Chennai on September 3, 1939, wherein he announced All India Forward Bloc's Tamil Nadu branch.

Netaji, who lauded Thevar by terming him as the Bose of South also made him the Tamil Nadu president, said Navamani.

Following it, Netaji on the request of Thevar came to Madurai on September 6 and spent a whole day. He went to then Udupi hotel (now Pothys) and stayed in Thangaraj clinic in the Vakkil Pudhu Theru, Swaminathan said.

The 64 files that made public by the West Bengal Government on Friday has referred to the reported presence of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose after the air crash held on August 18, 1945, remembers a public meeting, held at Madurai's Thamukkam ground on January 23, 1949, birth anniversary of Netaji, which had suggested Netaji's presence after the air crash.

Netaji-founded All India Forward Bloc' former Tamil Nadu president Pasumpon U Muthuramalinga Thevar spoke out in the meeting that Netaji was not dead in the alleged air crash.

In his book 'Mudisooda Mannar Pasumpon Muthuramalinga Thevar, the state's former MLA A R Perumal has quoted Thevar' speech. According to it, "Netaji is well and safe. It is false that our leader Netaji died in the air crash. Our leader will appear before people at proper time. Besides, I am in direct connection with Netaji," said Muthuramalinga Thevar in the public meeting.

The heirs of member of Indian National Army (INA) headed by Netaji and fans of Netaji are happy over the West Bengal government's move. They said they are eager to know the contents of the files that have been kept at the Police Museum in West Bengal.

Thousands of Tamilians of the southern districts including Madurai, Ramanathapuram, Sivagangai, Virudhunagar, Tuticorin, and Tirunvelveli and Tamilians who spread in Burma, Singapore, and Malaysia loved Netaji and joined in the INA. Among those districts Madurai is directly related to Netaji.

T G Yoganandam, son of former INA man Thirugnanam in Virudhunagar said, "My father who died recently told many things about Netaji. My father's INA attire is still in my home, which remembers us Netaji all along our family members. Thus, I wish to go the museum and look at the files on my own eyes."

J Vivekanandan, grandson of other INA man Vaithilingam said his family' financial constraints prevents his wish to go there.

Madurai-based National Netaji Association chairman V Swaminathan said the exhibition of files relating to Netaji are coincided with a certain information that he had gathered from many INA men in the districts with respect of Netaji's presence after 1945.

After the alleged air crash Netaji had stayed in a secret room at Padmanabapuram palace in Thiruvanandapuram and a farm land belonged to Muthuramalinga Thevar in Pulichikulam in Virudhunagar district, said Swaminathan.

He further said he is thinking of to invite Netaji'grand nephew Chandra Kumar Bose who fights to make public the files, to Madurai.

Pasumpon Thevar Sinthanai Maiyam founder V S Navamani urged the central government to officially public many important files relating to Netaji like the West Bengal Government.

It may be recalled that Netaji who walked out from Congress, formed All India Forward Bloc in 1939. To mobilize support he then toured many places in the country. A part of it, he attended a meeting at Marina Beach in Chennai on September 3, 1939, wherein he announced All India Forward Bloc' Tamilnadu Branch. Netaji who appreciated Muthuramalinga Thevar by stating that Thevar was the Bose of South also made him as Tamilnadu president, said Navamani.

Following it, Netaji on the request of Muthuramalinga Thevar came Madurai on September 6 and spent a whole day in Madurai. He went to then Udupi hotel (now Pothys) and stayed in Thangaraj clinic in the Vakkil Pudhu Theru, Swaminathan said.

HINDI ISSUES

A small portion of India, UP, has managed to dominate the whole of India with their hindi by completely subverting and removing the significance of most languages in India. hindi became popular only because of the moguls. Only the Rajputs and Marathas fought the Moguls. 

These naturally subservient UP wallas who did nothing significant to oppose the moguls, later played the same role with the british and then the same politics with the whole of India. It is time for this to stop and for all languages in India to have its proper place in our society. 

English is our window to the world. For economic and social reasons we will learn it and also master it. But for all other practical reasons, people should be proud of their local language and culture. India was never united by Hindi. It was united by the spirit of Bharath that prevails across all people in this motherland.

hindi was also in no way responsible for the economic development of India. In fact it is the hindi belt that is the bacward region of India.

Some Reflections this Hindi Divas (14th September):

1. If a person from a non-Hindi speaking state goes to a Hindi speaking state, he/she makes a great effort to learn the language. If the reverse happens, YET the non-Hindi speaking person only has to learn Hindi (to interact with the migrants) or else face ridicule in his/her own state! Most of the time, the person going there doesn't make any effort to learn the local state language. So either way it’s Hindi or nothing. Classic case of making the cake and eating it too!


2. And then worse still is the audacity of people to complain that some cities (read Chennai and maybe others like Mangalore,Thiruvananthapuram, Lakshadweep, Shillong, Kolkata to a lesser extent) are unfriendly to outsiders because they don’t know THEIR language! Try speaking in English there for a change if you don’t know Tamil/Tulu/Kannada/Malayalam/Khasi/Bengali etc. instead of expecting someone else to know your mother-tongue.

3. How would you (Hindi-speaking people) like if all the signboards in your states, forms in banks and every single Central Government PSU, their websites, IVR’s of customer services, announcements in the train/flights, etc. are say all in Telugu or Mizo? It would be nothing less than a foreign language for you. Similarly Hindi is as foreign as English or any other language in Non-Hindi states.

4. So a person studying in a Hindi-medium school can take the UPSC/IIT/AIIMS/RBI/SBI etc. exams in Hindi but a person from say an Odia or Marathi medium school cannot do the same in his/her language. Unfair disadvantage before even starting to write a word! Any surprise then that 80%+ people in the Railways are from certain states only?

5. Why is it that not a single of the 11 Hindi speaking states/UT’s have implemented the 3 language formula but almost all non-Hindi speaking states have?

6. Why are 48 languages like Marwari, Bhojpuri, Chhattisgarhi, Awadhi, Braj, Bundeli, Bhageli, Malwi, Kumaoni, etc. classified as ‘Hindi’ in the census despite being considered as separate languages (and not dialects) by their own states and even by linguists? For a boost in the percentage? [Till 1961, even Urdu and Punjabi and till 2003 even Dogri and Maithili were considered as Hindi]

7. Finally let us remember that India is not Hindia and not all Indians are Hindians. The solution lies in first redefining what constitutes ‘Hindi’ and then giving equal status to all (or at least the living ones) of the 22 (and counting) scheduled languages of India. This is very much possible as demonstrated by the European Union which has 24 official languages and everything is conducted in all languages without any being given more or less importance over the other. Simultaneous translation from any language to any other language takes place. This could actually create thousands of jobs too! The only other fair alternative is to declare English as the sole official language as it is the only link language and let everyone be equally disadvantaged.
‪#‎HindiDivas‬
‪#‎StopHindiImposition‬
‪#‎PromoteLinguisticEquality‬
‪#‎IndiaIsNotHindia‬
‪#‎HindiIsNotTheNationalLanguage‬

Indian Navy pulls off visits to 40 nations in a year

From Iran to Saudi Arabia and Israel, Indian Navy pulls off visits to 40 nations
By Manu Pubby, ET Bureau | 15 Sep, 2015, 02.49AM IST

Admiral Dhowan said the unprecedented footprint in the Indian Ocean Region and beyond reflected the role the Navy played in shaping the maritime environment.

NEW DELHI: The Indian Navy has managed to send frontline warships to almost 40 nations in the past year, creating a record on engagements across the world and reflecting the foreign policy focus of the government.

The Navy has also pulled off the almost impossible by deploying warships to nations as diverse as Iran and Israel — within ten days of each other — as well as Saudi Arabia and the UK, all within the past month. Several Navy officers ET spoke with said that this is the first time that over three dozen nations have been directly engaged, calling it a significant increase in interaction with friendly foreign nations.





"In the past 12 months, Indian warships have been deployed from the western Pacific in the east to the west coast of South Adriatic and have shown the flag in almost all major ports and interacted with friendly navies in the region," Navy chief Admiral RK Dhowan told ET.

The nations visited is diverse and reflects Indian interests across the world — from Vietnam, Japan, Singapore and Myanmar in the east to Egypt, Turkey, France and Spain in the west. Frontline warships like the indigenously made stealth frigate, INS Sahyadri, have even sailed as far as Hawaii within the past year. "This unprecedented footprint in the Indian Ocean Region and beyond reflects the role the Navy plays in shaping the maritime environment in our area of interest," Admiral Dhowan said.

Sources told ET that the increase in engagements across the world reflected Prime Minster Narendra Modi's increasing focus on foreign relations and plans to steadily increase Indian presence even further as newer platforms join service. Modi, who will be addressing top military commanders onboard aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya next month, has already made it clear that his government's priority is on the maritime domain with most major modernisation projects cleared pertaining to the Navy, including an ambitious Rs 1 lakh crore plan to construct six nuclear powered attack submarines indigenously.

"There is possibly no other major Navy that would be welcome in places as diverse as Iran, Israel and Saudi Arabia. Our warships sailed into ports in all three nations within two weeks, with Saudi Arabia being the last on September 10. This reflects India's good relations with nations across the world," an officer told ET.

Persia And The Aryan Race

Persia And The Aryan Race

According to the Greek historian Herodotus, the middle east over 2000 years ago was called the Kingdom of the Aryans "These (The Medes and Persians) were called anciently by all people as the Aryans"[B][/B]. On the walls of a cliff face in Bagastan, Iran, the great Persian King Darius wrote "I am Darius the great King, King of Kings, King of many countries and many people, the King of this expansive land. The Archaiemenid, the son of a Persian, Aryan from the Aryan race".

In the great scriptures of Persia, the Avesta, we find numerous quotes which identify the land of Persia as the Kingdom of the Aryan race "Ahura Mazda spake unto Spitama Zarathushtra, saying: I made the Aryan Glory, rich in food, rich in flocks, rich in wealth, rich in Glory; provided with full store of intelligence, with full store of money, to withstand Need, and to withstand enemies" [B]Ashtad Yasht Verse 1[/B] "Horses multiply a thousandfold, flocks multiply a thousandfold; and so does his virtuous offspring, (as) the bright, glorious star Tishtrya moves on equally, and so does the strong wind made by Mazda, and so does the Glory of the Aryas (Aryans)". [B]Ashtad Yasht Verse 5[/B] "I bless the sacrifice and prayer, and the strength and vigour of the Glory of the Aryas (Aryans) made by Mazda". [B]Ashtad Yasht Verse 7[/B]

This land which was previously known as the Kingdom of the Aryans became known to the world and history as Persia due to European and Greek influence. As with India the middle east was a patchwork of Kingdoms, over two hundred, ruled by great powerful Kings and as also with India there was one Kingdom which extracted tributaries from other Kingdoms which formed a tentative allience. It seems that the most powerful Kingdom was the Parsa Kingdom of Iran. Iran itself comes from the name Aryan, devolving from Aryan to Arya to Aria and finally the name we have today being Iran and in its scriptures the Avesta, Iran is referred to as Airyanem Vaego, the seed of the Aryans. Parsa was a Kingdom within the region of Iran and because of its prominent political position the Greeks referred to this confederacy of Kingdoms as Parsa which eventually became Persia.

According to Vedantists Parsa and ultimately Persia comes from the Sanskrit/Vedic [B]Parsu[/B] which refers to the great Vedic warrior [B]Parshurama[/B]. Mr Prods Oktar Skjaervo is professor of Iranian studies, he says the following "Persians are first mentioned in the 9th century BC Assyrian annals. On one campaign in 835 BC Shalmanezer is said to have received tributes from 27 Kings of [B]Parsuwaz[/B]". Parsuwaz is actually Parsuvaz, Parsu being Sanskrit for axe and Vaz being Sanskrit for abide or dwell - one who abides in Parsu. The Lorousse (french) encyclopedia of mythology says "The first allusion to the [B]Parsu[/B] or Persians....occurs in 837 BC". In his book "International encyclopedia of linguistics volume four" William Bright writes "The [B]Parsu[/B] have been identified as the Persians". Hamma Mirwaisi in his book "return of the medes an analysis of Iranian history" says "They avoided the assosciation with the descendents of the madayue people - the Kurds - to this day in favour of the [B]Parsu[/B] people - the Persians".


Parsu is Sanskrit for axe and the people of Parsu were not naming themselves after some mundane axe, they were referring to Parshurama, the great axe warrior of the Vedas. So what we have 2500 to 4000 years ago is a vast land which is very much like India in its social orders, philosophy and its network of Kingdoms, and which to the people themselves was the Aryan Kingdom and to the Europeans and Greeks, a land which included Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Jordan, Israel, Egypt and Afghanistan became known as Persia.

The Kingdom of Persia is very much identified with the religion of Zarathustra, which may go back as far as 4000 years or more. The name contains two Sanskrit words, Zara meaning gold and Ustra which is Sanskrit for camel, for some reason his name was golden camel. His father was called Pourashaspa and his mother Dughdhava. Pourashaspa seems to be two words Puru and Aspa, Puru is Sanskrit for many and Aspa is a corruption of the Sanskrit Asva meaning horses, subsequently his name is Sanskrit for "Many horses". The Sanskrit Puru and Persian Pouru are the same meaning "many" and "more". Pouru is a prefix for many Persian names such as Pouru Dakshiti, Pouru Bangha and Pouruchista. His mothers name Dughdhava, is Sanskrit, Dughda and Dugdhatva being Sanskrit for milk and milkmaid.

Zarathustra took birth in the land known as Airyamen Veja. Airyamen Veja means “Aryan seed” its considered the holy land of Zarathustra and the origin of the Iranian race. Within the land of Arya was the holy river Vanguhi Daitya, Daitya is as Vedic as the Devas coming from mother Diti, the wife of Kashyapa Muni, the great Vedic sage. Upon the banks of the Daitya the Zarathustrian God Yima would commune with Ahura Mazda, Zarathustra would pray and gradually his religion spread. The God of Zarathustra is Ahura Mazda, Ahura being the Sanskrit Asura and Mazda being the Sanskrit Medha. In Sanskrit Asura can mean divine as well as demoniac and Medha is Sanskrit for wisdom - divine wisdom.

The scriptures are known as the Avesta and the language they are written in is Avestan. These scriptures were revealed to the prophet Zarathustra by the God Azura Mazda and through the patronage of King Vishtapa it spread throughout Iran and what became known as Persia. The son of Vishtapa is the great King Darius whose words are inscribed upon the stone walls in Iran “ My father is Vishtapa, Vishtapas father is Arshama and Arshamas father is Airyaramna “ Arshama is the Sanskrit Asama meaning unequalled and Airyaramna is simply the Vedic Arya meaning Aryan meaning noble. In the Fars province of Iran we find more inscriptions from King Darius. As well as the beautiful murals depicting former Kings, upon one wall is the following inscription “I am Darius the great King, King of Kings, King of many countries and many people, the King of this expansive land. The son of Archaemenid, the son of a Persian, Aryan from the Aryan race“.

Before the Europeans and Greeks decided to call this land Persia it was known as the Aryan Kingdom, an extension of Vedic India and even the name Iran is nothing more than a corruption of Aryan. And as for Darius, the great King of Persia, his name is Sanskrit, Dharya a Sanskrit name meaning “holding” his name as explained by academia is “holding firm the good”.

Of course if one is going to postulate that over 2000 years ago the middle east, the land of Persia was an Aryan Kingdom, an extention of Vedic India, deity worship must be seen to be prominent and not only do we find it, it is all pervasive. The above picture is a 1500 year old Iranian bowl showing the deity Anahita with four arms holding the Sun and the Moon whilst seated upon a lion. Her full name is Aredvi Sura Anahita which is actually [B]Sarasvati Sura[/B], the great river Goddess of the Vedas. As conformation of this the other name the Iranians call this deity is Harahvati, the Goddess of waters.

The principal deities of the Persian Avesta are the tri murti of Azura Mazda, Mithra and Baga. Azura Mazda is the Sanskrit [B]Asura Medha,[/B] Asura can also mean divine as well as demoniac and Mazda is Sanskrit for wisdom - divine wisdom. Mithra is described as the guardian of the waters and the deity of the sun, the [B]Mitra[/B] of the Vedas is basically one with Varuna the God of the ocean and is also known as the morning sun, leaving one to assume they are one and the same. The third of the Persian tri murti is Baga, which is the Sanskrit Bhaga meaning [B]Bhagavan[/B] the Supreme Lord.

As the Vedas speak of numerous deities which form a universal administration, the Persians also worshipped numerous deities. We have [B]Vayu[/B] in the Vedas and Vayu in the Persian Avesta. We have [B]Vata[/B] in the Vedas and Vata in the Avesta. Yima is the Persian God of the underworld, the guardian of hell and the son of the Sun God and in the Vedas we have exactly the same thing with [B]Yama[/B], the God of death. Yima also gained communion with Azura Mazda upon the banks of the sacred river [B]Daitya[/B] and Zarathustra also prayed there, Daityas being very much part of the Vedic cosmic village. The Avesta mentions Vivahvant as the God of the sun and the Vedas describe [B]Vivasvant[/B] as the God of the sun. In the Vedas we have [B]Ida[/B] as the Goddess of sacrifice, in the Avesta we have Iza as the Goddess of sacrifice. Ushah was worshipped by the Persians as the Goddess of the dawn and in the Vedas we have [B]Usha[/B] who is the Goddess of the dawn. [B]Aryaman[/B] is one of the Vedic Adityas who assosciates with Mitra, we have the same in Airyaman of the Avesta. We also know from the stone tablets of Armana that [B]Varuna[/B] and[B] Indra[/B] were also venerated throughout Persia.

The language of the Avestan, the language of Persia for some reason changes the "S" into a "H". We have seen it with their name for Sarasvati which they describe as Harahvati and for the word "week" we see Hapta instead of Sapta meaning seven as in seven days of the week. This is also seen in their name for the Sun which is Hvar and which is nothing more than the Sanskrit/Vedic [B]Svar[/B] meaning Sun.
If Persia was originally the land of the Aryans and very much an extention of Vedic India, as well as cultural similarities in the form of deity worship, philosophy and the four social orders of life, we should also find a similar language. In his book "About the word Zarathustra" Professor H.Kern says "The Bactrian (Persian) is so greatly related to the old Indian language and in particular that of the Vedas that without exageration it can be called a dialect thereof". Professor Kern gives the following example of how close the languages are by citing a verse from the Persian Avestan and how it would read in Sanskrit. The Avestan Yasna 10.8 reads[B][/B][B] "Yo yatha puthrem taurunam, haomem vandaeta mashyo, fra abyo tanubyo, haomo visaite baeshazai".[/B] The Sanskrit equivalent of this verse is[B] "[/B][B]Yo yatha putram tarunam, samam vandeta martyah, pra abhyas tanubhyah, somo visate bhesajaya".[/B]

As we can see there is little difference between each language. In the Avesta Yasna 72.11 we find this verse [B]"Aevo pantao yo ashahe vispe anyaesham apantam". [/B][B][/B]The Sanskrit version of this is [B]"Abade pantha he ashae visha anyaesham apantham" [/B]Comparing both verses its quite obvious these two languages are from the same origin and if we view the historicity of the Vedas and the Sanskrit language i think most will conclude that the Persian language, the language of Avestan, is a dialect of Sanskrit[B].[/B]

The above verses i have quoted come from the Avestan Yasna, Yasna means sacrifice, it comes from the Sanskrit Yajna which means the same thing. The verses themselves are known as Gathas which comes from the Sanskrit Gatha meaning the same thing. Other texts from the Avesta are called the videvdat, videvdat is simply the Sanskrit vi - deva - datta. Vi is Sanskrit for opposing or against, Deva means the Gods and Datta means protected. The Videvdat are a collection of texts which are meant to protect you against the demons whom they describe here as Devas, it seems there were two kinds of Devas, Devas as Godly beings and Daevas who were known as Rakshasas - demons.[B][/B]
A list of the many similarities between Sanskrit and Persian - Sanskrit - [B]Apas [/B] - Persian - [B]Apas[/B] - [B]Water[/B] - Sanskrit - [B]Apam Napat[/B] - Persian - [B]Apam Napat[/B] - [B]Son of waters (as in Visnu creating from the causal ocean)[/B] - Sanskrit - [B]Rta[/B] - Persian - [B] Arta[/B] - [B]Righteousness[/B] - Sanskrit - [B]Maha Rayi[/B] - Persian - [B]Maza Rayi [/B] - [B]Fortune [/B] - Sanskrit - [B]Atharvan[/B] - Persian - [B]Athravan[/B] -[B] Priest [/B] - Sanskrit - [B]Dada[/B] - Persian - [B]Dadar [/B] - [B]Giver [/B] - Sanskrit - [B] Vata[/B] - Persian - [B]Vad [/B] - [B]Wind[/B] - Sanskrit - [B]Azman[/B] - Persian - [B]Asman [/B] - [B] Firmament [/B] - Sanskrit - [B] Bhaj[/B] - Persian - [B] Baj[/B] - [B] Prayer[/B] - Sanskrit - [B]Mantra[/B] - Persian - [B]Manthra[/B] - [B] Holy words[/B] - Sanskrit - [B]Band-Dar[/B] - Persian -[B] Bhandar[/B] - [B]Enclosed area[/B] - Sanskrit - [B]Namas[/B] - Persian - [B] Namo[/B] - [B] Homage [/B]- Sanskrit - [B]Raga[/B] - Persian - [B] Rak [/B] - [B]Melody [/B]- Sanskrit - [B]Ahi dahaka[/B] - Persian - [B] Azi Dahaka [/B] - [B]Fire breathing serpent [/B]- Sanskrit - [B]Avarsa[/B] - Persian - [B]Awarza[/B] - [B]excessive bringer[/B] - Sanskrit - [B]Su Manah[/B] - Persian - [B]Vohu Manah[/B] - [B]Good thoughts [/B] - Sanskrit - [B]Rta Vasistha[/B] - Persian - [B] Ardvahisht[/B] - [B]Best Law[/B] - Sanskrit - [B] Ksatra Vairya[/B] - Persian - [B]Kshathr[/B]a [B]Vairya[/B] - [B]Heroic Dominion [/B] - Sanskrit - [B] Spanda Armati [/B] - Persian - [B]Spenta Armaiti [/B] - [B] Bounteous Devotion [/B] - Sanskrit - [B] Amaratata [/B] - Persian - [B]Amaratat [/B] - [B] Immortal[/B] - Sanskrit - [B]Sarvatata[/B] - Persian - [B] Haurvatat[/B] - [B]Wholeness[/B]

Sanskrit - [B]Ahi[/B] - Persian - [B] Azi [/B] - [B]Serpent[/B] - Sanskrit - [B] Druh[/B] - Persian - [B]Druj[/B] - [B]Falsehood[/B] - Sanskrit - [B]Prasasti [/B] - Persian - [B]Frashast[/B] - [B]Glorification[/B] - Sanskrit - [B]Samskara[/B] - Persian - [B]Hamkar [/B] - [B] Sacrament [/B] - Sanskrit - [B]Soma[/B] - Persian - [B]Haoma[/B] - [B] Heavenly plant of immortality [/B](Once again we see the Persian tendency to replace the "S" with a "H") - Sanskrit - [B]Sumaya[/B] - Persian - [B]Humayi[/B] - [B]Good Maya[/B] ( Again we see the "S" becoming a "H") - Sanskrit - [B]Krpana[/B] - Persian - [B]Karapan[/B] - [B] Miser [/B] - Sanskrit - [B] Kavi [/B] - Persian - [B]Kav [/B] - [B]Wise Man[/B] - Sanskrit - [B]Mahalaya[/B] - Persian - [B]Mahal [/B] - [B]Great Abode [/B]- Sanskrit - [B]Kriya[/B] - Persian - [B]Kriya[/B] - [B] Ritual [/B]- Sanskrit - [B]Maga [/B] - Persian - [B]Magi[/B] - [B] Priest [/B](and the source of the word Magician) - Sanskrit - [B]Dhruvasva[/B] - Persian - [B]Druvaspa[/B] - [B]Settled Horses[/B] - Sanskrit -[B] Abaddha[/B] - Persian - [B]Abadah[/B] - [B]Without Beginning[/B] - Sanskrit - [B]Parvara[/B] - Persian -[B] Pharvara [/B] - [B]Nourishing[/B] - Sanskrit - [B]Ayana [/B] - Persian - [B]Aryanah[/B] - [B] Protecter[/B] - Sanskrit - [B] Sarvastoma[/B] - Persian - [B]Harvastum[/B] - [B]All in all[/B] (Again we see the Persian tendency to turn an S into a H)

Sanskrit - [B]Snana[/B] - Persian - [B]Nahn [/B] - [B] Ritual Bath[/B] - Sanskrit - [B]Pavitra[/B] - Persian - [B]Pavi [/B] - [B]Sacred[/B] - Sanskrit - [B]Syena Mrga[/B] - Persian - [B]Saena Meregh[/B] - [B] Eagle[/B] - Sanskrit - [B] Urvar [/B] - Persian - [B]Urvar [/B] - [B]The original plant/seed[/B] - Sanskrit - [B]Svah [/B] - Persian - [B]Vah[/B] - [B]Fire invocation [/B] - Sanskrit -[B] Vrata[/B] - Persian - [B]Varah [/B] - [B] Vow [/B] - Sanskrit - [B]Yatu [/B] - Persian - [B]Yatu [/B] - [B] Magic [/B] - Sanskrit - [B]Yajata [/B] - Persian - [B]Yazata[/B] - [B]Worthy of worship [/B] - Sanskrit - [B]Stotra [/B] - Persian - [B] Zoathra[/B] -[B] Worship [/B]- Sanskrit - [B]Namakarana[/B] - Persian - [B]Nama Karana[/B] - [B]Name giving ceremony [/B](Nama being the source of the English word name) - Sanskrit - [B]Pati [/B]- Persian - [B] Paitisahem[/B] - [B] Feast[/B] - Sanskrit - [B]Rama[/B] - Persian - [B]Ram[/B] - [B]Joy[/B] - Sanskrit - [B]Sada[/B] - Persian - [B]Sada[/B] - [B] Pure [/B]- Sanskrit - [B] Bhratra [/B] - Persian - [B] Baradar[/B] - [B]Brother [/B]- Sanskrit - [B]Paradesha [/B] - Persian -[B] Pairidaeza [/B]- [B]Paradise[/B] - Sanskrit - [B] Varnas[/B] - Persian - [B]Franas[/B] - [B]Qualities [/B]- Sanskrit - [B]Bagastan[/B] (Behistun) - Persian - [B]Bagastan[/B] (Behistun) - [B] The abode of God[/B] - Sanskrit - [B] Rtastan [/B] - Persian - [B]Ardastan[/B] - [B]The city of righteousness[/B] (Ardabil - Ardekan - Ardehal - These are all Iranian cities whose suffix "Arda" and "Arde" are a corruption of the Sanskrit Rta meaning righteousness) [B][/B]

Indo-Pakistan War of 1965

10 facts to know about Indo-Pakistan War of 1965

The second Indo- Pak war in 1965 was started by the Pakistani Army. The war took place after Pakistan launched a covert operation across the ceasefire line in Kashmir. Pakistan attacked first by occupying the Kanjarkot area in Kutch. It subsequently opened new areas of war in J&K.



New Delhi: The second Indo- Pak war in 1965 was started by the Pakistani Army. The war took place after Pakistan launched a covert operation across the ceasefire line in Kashmir. Pakistan attacked first by occupying the Kanjarkot area in Kutch. It subsequently opened new areas of war in Jammu and Kashmir. The war ended with UN intervention with both sides moving back to pre-war positions.

Let’s have a look at 10 most interesting facts related to 1965 Indo-Pak war:

1.The 1965 war between India and Pakistan is said to be the the one of the most fiercely fought wars to be fought after World War II.The war was fought on the western front of India starting from Rann of Kutch to Kashmir.


2. It all started in the month of January 1965 when Pakistani Army started 'Operation Desert Hawk' in the Rann of Kutch. The main motive of the Pakistan army establishment was to keep the Indian forces engaged in Kutch so that the Pakistani Army could launch an attack in Kashmir.

3.After the misson in Rann of Kutch a force of around 33,000 infiltrators who were mostly from the Pakistan Army crossed the Line of Control (LoC) from Kashmir in the month of August and gave it the name 'Operation Gibraltar'. However it’s a bitter truth that the Indian defence establishment came to know about the aggression of Pakistani soldiers only after a week.

4. It was on 28th August 1965, that Indian army opened up its front and went eight kilometers inside the Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) and took control of strategically important Haji Pir Pass. It was an important victory for Indian forces since the control in Haji Pir Pass meant that Indian Army can take control over Muzzaffarad.

5. The Pakistani Army also started 'Operation Grand Slam' on 01st September in the Akhnoor sector of Jammu & Kashmir. The idea was to cut all supply line of the Indian Army and take Akhnoor under thier control. The PAkistani Army started heavy shelling in the Chamb and Jurian region.

6. It was after the Pakistani aggression in the Akhnoor sector that the then defence minister of India S B Chauhan decided to involve Indian Air Force in the war. The 45th Squadron of IAF was put into the service which launched a direct attack on the Pakistani forces.

7. Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri took a historic decision to put pressure on the Pakistani Army .Lal Bahadur Shastri gave the Indian Army the permission to launch an attack in Pakistan. It was for the first time that the Indian Army crossed International Border and attacked Lahore under the leadership of Major General Prasad who was heading the 15th Infantry Division of Indian Army.


8. The Pakisani Army launched a counter attack with its newly acquired Patton Tank the 1965 Indo-Pakistani War was witness to the largest tank battle in military history between World War II and 1965. The Pakistani army with its fleet of 97 Patton tanks were moved towards Amritsar after they took control of Khem Karan and Munnabao.The tank were weighing about 60 tons and also equipped with 105mm cannon and M60 rifle.The battle of Asal Uttar turned the tide and also became the graveyard for the Patton tanks in the 1965 India-Pakistan war in favour of India and ultimately led to the surrender of Pakistan.

9.Hawaldar Abdul Hamid played a crucial role when he in a jeep fitted with a recoilless gun attacked the heavy Patton tanks in their most vulnerable position and destroyed them. This battle led to the creation of Patton Nagar (or "Patton City") at the site of the battle. This is because a large number of Patton tanks fielded by the Pakistani forces were either captured or destroyed at the scene. He destroyed a total of seven Patton tanks. He was posthumously awarded with the highest gallantry award of the Country - Paramvir Chakra.

10. However Indian forces were able to subdue the Pakistani tanks and scored a decisive win in 1965. By Sept 22 both sides had agreed to a UN mandated cease-fire ending the war that had by that point reached a stalemate.

India to have the World's Deadliest Technology

India to have the World's Deadliest Technology
Tuesday, September 08, 2015
By : Mrityunjay Chaubey
Courtesy : DEFENCE NEWS Network
The time is not too far when Pakistan will itself stop threatening India with nuclear toys and China won't measure its strength by missile technology as India is all set to become a missile-proof country where no uninvited missiles could dare to touch Indian soil.



The time is not too far when Pakistan will itself stop threatening India with nuclear toys and China won't measure its strength by missile technology as India is all set to become a missile-proof country where no uninvited missiles could dare to touch Indian soil. Indian scientists are working on a top secret project under which the smartest military weapon of the 21st century is being developed which is named after Hindu goddess Kali.

In Scientific term, KALI stands for 'Kilo Ampere Linear Injector'. www.DefenceNews.in brings you an inside update on how the world's deadliest weapon system works. It is designed to work in such a way that if an enemy missile is launched in Indian direction, it will quickly emit powerful pulses of Relativistic Electrons Beams (REB) and destroy the target in no time. Unlike laser beams, it does not bore a hole in the target but thoroughly damages the on-board electronic systems.

Scientists say that it can potentially be used as a beam weapon. Bursts of microwaves packed with gigawatts of power (one gigawatt is 1000 million watts) produced by this machine, when aimed at enemy missiles and aircrafts will cripple their electronic system and computer chips and bring them down right away. According to scientists the KALI is far deadlier than so-called laser weapons that destroy by drilling holes since this process consumes time. Its efficiency has pushed our scientists to look forward to inventing a high-power microwave gun to destroy incoming aircrafts and missiles, based on the same method.

In order to understand this technology in a comprehensive way, we at DefenceNews.in will take you back over two thousand years, when Archimedes, an ancient Greek scientist, burned down Roman ships by bending sunrays towards the ships and successfully defended the city of Syracuse. In comprehensible words, the old man directed the incoming energy from the Sun to Greek ships. As a result, it quickly heated up the ships and reduced them to ashes. In 1985 Dr. R Chidambaram, the then director of the BARK, came up with the idea of developing weapons on the same concept and four years later he began working on it. The project was about to complete in 2004, however it was delayed owing to some obstacles lying in its way.

The USA attempted to develop the same technology for its defence as well but could not succeed. India, on the other hand, is believed to have conducted a successful test of the first phase of the KALI in 2012. Pakistani news channels blame India for the Siachen Glacier avalanche of 2012 when reportedly 135 Pakistani soldiers were buried alive and many injured. They say that Indian scientists emitted high energetic beams of electronic rays which melted some ice-sheets of Siachen glacier and artificially created this catastrophe using 'KALI' technology.

The long and the short of the story is that India is about to step in the epoch of a new technology where no country can pose missile threat or nuclear threat to the country. As India's GDP is growing significantly, our scientists are achieving new heights every now and then without any foreign assistance.

Be it space research or other scientific developments, We are frequently becoming a self-dependent nation. So far, a lot we have achieved, but there is a long journey to be covered yet.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This article was first published on www.DefenceNews.in. 12:45 p.m. 07th Sept 2015. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Article written by Mrityunjay Chaubey exclusively for Defence News. B.Sc (Physics and Maths), Indore ------------------------------------------- http://www.defencenews.in/defence-news-internal.aspx?id=YgCWuNVimy8%3D

16 Intriguing Facts About NSA Ajit Doval, India’s Top Spy Master

16 Intriguing Facts About NSA Ajit Doval, India’s Top Spy Master

Only one name comes to our mind when we talk about spy missions in India: Ajit Doval. His tactful strategies are every terrorist’s nightmare and his words are more harmful than bullets. He is currently India’s National Security Advisor and mastermind behind the creation and execution of every spy operation undertaken by our intelligence sleuths. So who is he? And, why is he so integral to the security fabric of the country? Let us know:

1. In June 2014, Doval played a vital role in ensuring the secure return of 46 Indian nurses from ISIS hands.

The nurses were trapped in a hospital in Tikrit, Iraq, in a region under control of Islamic State.





2. He terminated 15 hijackings of Indian Airlines aircraft from 1971-1999.





3. Doval was India’s main negotiator with the hijackers of Indian Airlines flight IC-814 in Kandahar in 1999.





4. He lived as an undercover agent in Pakistan for seven years.



5. Doval posed as a Pakistani spy and collected info from Khalistani militants before ‘Operation Blue Star’.

He disguised himself as a rickshaw puller.



6. He was actively involved in the anti-insurgency operations in Mizoram, Punjab and Kashmir.

Doval made 6 of Laldenga’s separatist outfit defect to the Indian side during the height of Northeast Insurgency in 1968.





7. Doval is credited with persuading hardcore Kashmiri militant Kuka Parray to become counter-insurgent.

He also targeted hardline anti-India terrorists and paved the way for state elections in Jammu and Kashmir in 1996.





8. He worked for six years in the Indian High Commission in Islamabad, Pakistan.




9. Doval has a Master’s Degree in Economics.

He received his early education at the Ajmer Military School in Ajmer, Rajasthan. He completed his Masters in Economics from the University of Agra in 1967, obtaining the first position.





10. On January 31, 2005, Doval retired from the position of Director, Intelligence Bureau.

He is held in high esteem as one of the India’s sharpest minds and a well-known foremost analysts and commentators on strategic national and international issues.





11. He is the founder director of the Vivekananda International Foundation.

He has delivered guest lectures on strategic issues at IISS, London, Capitol Hill, Washington D.C., Australia-India Institute, University of Melbourne, National Defence College, New Delhi and the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, Mussoorie.





12. A Garhwali by birth, Doval has a military background.

Ajit Doval was born in 1945 in the village of Ghiri Banelsyun in Pauri Garhwal in the erstwhile United Provinces, now in Uttarakhand. His father had served in the Indian Army.



13. He is an IPS officer from Kerala Cadre’s 1968 batch.





14. He is the youngest police officer ever to get the Police Medal for meritorious service.

He got it after six years in the police.





15. In 1988, Doval was awarded India’s second highest peacetime gallantry awards – the Kirti Chakra.

He also become the first police officer to receive a medal previously given only as a military honour.



16. On May 30, 2014, he was appointed as India’s fifth National Security Advisor.

He is currently the 5th National Security Advisor to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.