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• India holds that the Instrument of Accession of the state of Jammu and Kashmir to India, signed by the Maharaja Hari Singh (erstwhile ruler of the State) on 26 October, 1947, was completely valid in terms of the Government of India Act (1935), Indian Independence Act (1947) and international law and was total and irrevocable.^[41]
• The Constituent assembly of Jammu and Kashmir had unanimously ratified the Maharaja's Instrument of Accession to India and had adopted a constitution for the state that called for a perpetual merger of the state with the Indian Union. India claims that this body was a representative one, and that its views were those of the Kashmiri people at the time.
• India believes that all differences between India and Pakistan including Kashmir need to be settled through bilateral negotiations as agreed to by the two countries when they signed the Simla Agreement on July 2, 1972.^[42]
• India does not accept the Two Nation Theory that forms the basis of Pakistan.
• United Nations Security Council Resolution 47 was never able to be implemented as Pakistan failed to withdraw its forces from Kashmir which was the first step in implementing the resolution.^[43] Now the resolution is obsolete since the geography and demographics have been permanently altered.^[44] The resolution was passed by United Nations Security Council under Chapter VI of the United Nations Charter.^[45] Resolutions passed under Chapter VI of UN charter are considered non binding and have no mandatory enforceability as opposed to the resolutions passed under Chapter VII.^[46]

• India is a secular state and the many ethnic minorities in Kashmir would be treated as second class citizens in Islamic republic of Pakistan.
• Indian Government has repeatedly asked Pakistan not to allow its territory to be used for terrorist attacks against India.^[47]
• India has asked United Nations that It should not be leave unchallenged or unaddressed claims of moral, political and diplomatic support for terrorism, which were clearly in contravention of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1373 which is a Chapter VII resolution that makes it mandatory for member states to not provide active or passive support to terrorist organizations.^[48][49] Specifically it has pointed out that Pakistan Governments support to Terrorist organizations Jaish-e-Mohammad and Lashkar-e-Taiba is in direct violation of this resolution.^[50]
• Indian Government has repeatedly called on United States to declare Pakistan a Terrorist state.^{[51][52][53][54]}
• United Nations Security Council Resolution 1172 ^[55] tacitly accepts India's stand that all outstanding issues between India and Pakistan need to be resolved by mutual dialogue ( and does not call for a plebiscite)
• The state of Jammu and Kashmir was made autonomous by Article 370 of the Constitution of India.^[56]
• India points to the recent state elections held in phases in November–December 2008. High turnouts were seen in spite of calls for boycott by Kashmiri Muslim separatists.^[57]. The Pro Indian Party National Conference emerged as the winner.^[58]
• In a diverse country like India, disaffection and discontent are not uncommon. Indian democracy has the necessary resilience to accommodate genuine grievances within the framework of our sovereignty, unity and integrity. Government of India has expressed its willingness to accommodate the legitimate political demands of the people of the state of Jammu and Kashmir.^[40]

Although there was a clear Muslim majority in Kashmir before the 1947 partition, and its economic, cultural, and geographic contiguity with the Muslim-majority area of the Punjab could be convincingly demonstrated, the political developments during and after the partition resulted in a division of the region. Pakistan was left with territory that, although basically Muslim in character, was thinly populated, relatively inaccessible, and economically underdeveloped. The largest Muslim group, situated in the Vale of Kashmir and estimated to number more than half the population of the entire region, lay in Indian-administered territory, with its former outlets via the Jhelum valley route blocked.

The texts containing the teachings of Mahavira are called the Agamas, and are
the canonical literature - the scriptures - of Svetambara Jainism.

Mahavira's disciples compiled his words into texts or sutras, and memorised
them to pass on to future generations.

The texts had to be memorised since Jain monks and nuns were not allowed to
possess religious books as part of their vow of non-acquisition, nor were they
allowed to write.

Jain theology developed after Mahavira through the teachings of particularly
learned monks - these teachings too, had to be memorised - and so the amount
that the monks had to remember steadily increased.

Unfortunately many of the original teachings of Mahavira have been lost.

Mahavira Jayanti

This festival celebrates the day of Mahavira's birth.

Jains will gather in temples to hear readings of the teachings of
Mahavira.

Images of Mahavira are paraded through the streets with much pomp and
ceremony.

Paryushana

The word 'Paryushana' means 'to stay in one place', which signifies a time of
reflection and repentance for the Jain devotee. Originally this was primarily a
monastic practice.

This festival consists of eight days of intensive fasting, repentance and
pujas. Often monks will be invited to give teachings from the Jain
scriptures.

Digambra Jain Paryushana celebrations at a temple in Bulawadi, Mumbai ©

Divali

This festival is celebrated throughout all of India.

In Jainism it has special significance, as on this day in 527 BCE (according
to Svetambara tradition) that Mahavira gave his last teachings and attained
ultimate liberation.

On Divali parents will often give sweets to their children, and lamps are lit
all over India. Some very religious Jains will also fast for the two days of
Divali, following the example of Mahavira.

Kartak Purnima

Following Divali in October/November is an important festival called Kartak
Purnima. This is considered to be an auspicious time for pilgrimage to the
sacred sites associated with the Jain religion.

Mauna Agyaras

This is a day-long observance of fasting and silence. Jains also meditate on
the five great beings.

The first Jain figure for whom there is reasonable historical evidence is Parshvanatha (or Parshva), a renunciant teacher who may have lived in the 7th century BCE and founded a community based upon the abandonment of worldly concerns. Jain tradition regards him as the 23rd Tirthankara
(literally, “Ford-maker,” i.e., one who leads the way across the stream of
rebirths to salvation) of the
current age (kalpa). The 24th and last Tirthankara of this age was Vardhamana, who is known by the
epithet Mahavira (“Great
Hero”) and is believed to have been the last teacher of “right” knowledge,
faith, and practice. Although traditionally dated to 599–527 BCE, Mahavira must be regarded as a close
contemporary of the Buddha
(traditionally believed to have lived in 563–483 BCE but who probably flourished about a century later). The legendary accounts of
Mahavira's life preserved by
the Jain scriptures provides the basis for his biography and enable some
conclusions to be formulated about the nature of the early community he founded.

a religion of India that teaches
a path to spiritual purity and
enlightenment through a disciplined mode of life founded upon the tradition of ahimsa,
nonviolence to all living creatures. Beginning in the 7th–5th century BCE, Jainism evolved into a cultural
system that has made significant
contributions to Indian philosophy and logic, art and architecture, mathematics, astronomy and astrology, and literature. Along with Hinduism and Buddhism, it is one of the three most ancient Indian
religious traditions still in
existence.

Oklahoma, Texas, and Arkansas.

             Those states had suffered greatly in the early 1930s, both from
escalating joblessness and a severe drought that for several years denied
much of the Great Plains sufficient rain to produce its usual complement of
wheat and cotton. The drought had also produced a spectacular ecological
disaster. Wind driven dust storms had arisen in a broad swath of counties in
western Kansas and the Oklahoma and Texas panhandles on several occasions
between 1933 and 1935, each time filling the air with millions of tons of
finely plowed top soil and blackening skies for a thousand miles as the
clouds moved east. The dust storms brought press attention and later
government intervention to the affected area, soon known as the "Dust Bowl."