What all you need to know about Kashmir & Article 370

This article shall have a) Introduction with the context and relevance of Abrogation of Article 370

 b) Understanding  Kashmir in chronological order of events and c) Answering a few basic and general questions 

1.  What went wrong with Jammu and Kashmir? Could it be handled in a different way 

2.  Why India didn’t quell out the tribes backed by Pakistan from the occupied Kashmir 

3. Why has the international community supported Pakistan more than India in the UN
4. What is the opinion of Ambedkar, the then Law Minister; Nehru, PrimeMinister 

5.  What are the claims of the union government in support of abrogation of article 370 

6.  What is presumed to be the actual case- by critics 

7.  Is it right for a Parliament to pass the bill ignoring the J&K state legislative assembly 

The union government on August 5, 2019, has ended the special status for Jammu and Kashmir provided under article 370. The autonomous  State is replaced with 2 union territories, Jammu and Kashmir with legislative assembly and Ladakh without one. This will come into force from 31 October.

In this digital age of social media, we tend to get bits and pieces of information on Kashmir and Article 370. We may get the gist of the context thus not being in a position to make an informed decision. We need to know the whole part of history. My attempt in this article is to present this part of the history in a whole lot of chronological order of events wherein we can understand what happened, what were the viewpoints of different eminent personalities, who has done what, why the incidents has taken such a shape and so on.

Understanding Kashmir in chronological order of events

1911 -  Raja Hari Singh ascended the throne of the princely state Kashmir 

1911 to 1947  -  The insecurity of Raja Hari Singh against outsiders (Britishers) settling in Kashmir coupled with Pandit agitations resulted in bringing  ‘subject Laws’ wherein no outsider shall be allowed to purchase land in the state of Kashmir 

1947 Indian independence 

1947 2nd October-  “Tribal invasion of Kashmir”. Pashtun tribesmen of the north Kashmir backed by Pakistani army invaded the state of Jammu and Kashmir 

1947 26th October -  to save Kashmir from armed tribes backed by Pakistani army, Maharaja Hari Singh signed the Instrument of Accession by which J&K was made part of the Indian union. 

Indian Armed Forces were deployed in Kashmir and could stop the tribesmen from further invading the Kashmir. This took the shape of war between India and Pakistan

India meanwhile appointed Sheikh Abdulla as the caretaker of the interim administrative government.

1948 1st January - To sort this out, India on the advice of Lord Mountbatten decided to take the issue to the UN. The submissions of the two counties in the UN were,

India-  insisted on the withdrawal of Pakistan backed tribesmen and Pakistan army and conduct the plebiscite

Pakistan - Insisted on the plebiscite under the Imperial interim administration but not Sheikh Abdullah

British supported Pakistan position on this 

1949 26th November -  Article 370 was inducted into the Indian constitution. The  details of the article and the necessity of inducting it in the  Indian constitution, we shall deal it  in the latter part

1949 - UNMOGIP( United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan) was set up by the United Nations to monitor the military activities along the line of control

1950  -  UN Security Council asked both countries to withdraw their armies from the state.  This could not materialize because India asked Pakistan to withdraw its troops and Pakistan demanded that the National conference government in Jammu and Kashmir be removed as it believes that the Shiekh Abdullah  interim government is appointed by the Indian government and is no less than a puppet 

1951 Elections were held to the Kashmir constituent assembly. All 75 seats were won by Sheikh Abdullah‘s National Conference.

Shaikh Abdullah has decided to join the Kashmir into the Indian union. As it is a representative democratic government, this decision has legitimized the Kashmir joining the Indian union

A body from these elected representatives was entrusted to formulate the Constitution of J&K.

1952 Delhi agreement (between Sheikh Abdullah and Nehru). 

The features of this agreement are,

-  Kashmiris will become citizens of India 

- Jammu and Kashmir  will have greater autonomy than any other state of India

- People outside Jammu and Kashmir were prohibited to buy land or property within it

-  Delhi will not send forces to handle internal disturbances without the consent of Srinagar 

-  all residuary powers of the Indian constitution which otherwise rest in the center will be under Jammu and Kashmir State 

Presidential order of 1952 - Abolished Monarchy

On the recommendation of the Jammu and Kashmir constituent assembly, the President of India has issued orders through which Article 370 is amended by abolishing the monarchy.

Subsequently, Sader-e-Riyasat (Governor) has become a titular head from the real head of the government.

1953 -  Government of India suspended Sheikh Abdullah on charges of ‘Kashmir Conspiracy’ where he is believed to be colluded with Pakistan in making Kashmir independent state/conduct plebiscite.  He was also jailed against these charges 

Presidential order of 1954 

It is a comprehensive order to implement Delhi agreement, 1952 through legal status.

Article 35A was added to the Indian constitution

1957 The Constituent Assembly (CA) after drafting the constitution for Jammu and Kashmir has approved it.  The CA has also disbanded itself as the task of preparing the Constitution was complete 

1957 26th January the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir came into force.  

Unique from the rest of the states in India Jammu and Kashmir state has its own constitution apart from its own flag. J&K has two flags and two constitutions.

Call for  plebiscite in the 1960s led by Muslim united front, sheik Abdullah 

1972 Simla Agreement
The crux of which was to put an end to conflict and confrontation between India and Pakistan and take steps to normalize mutual relations.

1974 Indira Abdullah accord 

Sheik Abdulla dropped his demand for a plebiscite in exchange for the establishment of the autonomy of J&K and assurance of self-rule by a democratically elected government. In subsequent elections, he was elected as the Chief Minister.

1989 agitation by ladakhi Buddhists on the demand for conferring union territory status to Ladakh.

As a result of this 2 autonomous Hill councils,  Leh and Ladakh were created

1989 Operation Tupac
Marked the start of the cross border terrorism/Militancy in Kashmir which is still in operation.

The 1990s - the forced exodus of Kashmiri pandits from the valley 

After understanding the historical background of Jammu and Kashmir now let’s look into some general questions surrounding it 

1. What went wrong with Jammu and Kashmir? Though the Kashmir was one among the 565 princely states that integrated with India after 1947 why and how was it different?

The social and cultural organization of Kashmir lies in its heterogeneity, multi-ethnic, multi-religious and multilingual nature. Its population consists of Dogras, Kashmiri Pandits, Kashmiri Muslims, Gujjars, Bakkarwals, Ladakhi Buddhists

Strategically, Kashmir is a Muslim majority (53% at the time of partition) state with a Hindu ruler; shares borders with Pakistan, China, and Afghanistan.

After partition, both India and Pakistan were hell-bent on acceding the princely states. Pakistan wanted to take full advantage of the confusion, indecisiveness, and aspiration of the princely states of Hyderabad, Junagadh, and Kashmir.  Hyderabad was acceded by Police Action and Junagadh was acceded into India by plebiscite.  'This made Pakistan desperate to take control of Kashmir at any cost. Sensing the situation tilting towards Indian union, Pakistan has backed the armed tribesmen to invade Kashmir. India retaliated and could stop the invasion after Raja Hari Singh acceded Kashmir into the union of India.

The view or the idea of India in 1947 was far different from what it is today. Kashmir was a princely state and was not part of India from an administrative point of view. After the British left India, princely states were left with a choice to join either India or Pakistan or remain independent. If we start our understanding of Kashmir from here we get to know why the Indian leadership took the decision which now is a history.
Government of India from 1947 onward has taken a series of decisions like,

Article 370 

Super autonomous status to J&K

Article 35A

These were only to gain the confidence of the people of Jammu and Kashmir. Here we should remember that though the accession was completed technically, the majority of the Kashmiri people where Muslims and that could've been taken as an advantage by Pakistan. Thus the above decisions were all taken as part of building confidence in the people of Kashmir.

The main reason why the Kashmir problem is lingering even until today is the disputed area, Pakistan occupied Kashmir (POK). When India could stop the tribal invasion and could take back certain areas from them, the natural question comes up as to why we could not quell or sent the tribesmen and Pakistani army back and reclaim the whole territory of Kashmir?

With the onslaught of winter in 1947 November, there was a gap in the mutiny operation from both sides ((Indian troops started fighting back Pakistani tribes from October 1947).  In this gap of three months, Pakistan has created ‘Azad Kashmir Army’ whose members were from that region and were familiar with the tough terrain. 

Indian Army halted its forward movement from Kargil, Drass in the north and Poonch in the West because, given the tough terrain we needed massive air support and extra troops,  which seems to be in limited availability.
Citing these technical reasons the British general in command of the Indian Army is believed to have stopped the troops from going into northern Kashmir 

On a political front Syama Prasad Mookharji, in a letter to Nehru asked as to "How is India going to get this territory”. He hinted on many fronts to wage a war. 

In response, Nehru thought that they were trying to decide a very difficult and complicated constitutional question by methods of war.

To bring this logjam to an end and avoid military casualties, Governor-general Mountbatten has advised India to go to the UN and resolve the issue.  But unfortunately, things didn’t found to be in favor of India. Why was it so?

Pakistan’s representatives' ability - subject knowledge, oratory skills, have outweighed the Indian representatives and they were successful in convincing the UN in their favor.

The United States and the United Kingdom given the strategic location of Pakistan on one side, Indian foreign policy being a bit closer to Russia on the other, thought supporting Pakistan will work in their interest

Nehru in this regard has observed, UN decision on Kashmir was taken by the political organization strategists but not by the impartial arbitrators

Could the Kashmir issue have been handled in a different way by the then leaders?

 If we see history from this date and have a comparative study of how other princely states where annexed and had smooth integration into the union of India we somehow feel that Kashmir could have been handled differently at least after the signing of the instrument of accession.  To be precise the extra autonomy given to Kashmir was unwarranted. Here the words of Dr.Syama Prasad Mukherjee, founder of Jan Sangh, the precursor of BJP, is worth a mention,

"... two National Flags showed the divided loyalty unacceptable in a sovereign country  

“Even if the valley (a Muslim majority area) wanted a limited accession, Jammu and Ladakh must be allowed to integrate fully“But a better solution still would be to make the whole state a part of India without any special concessions. This would bring it on par with all the other princely states which despite earlier promises made to them as regards to autonomy had finally agreed to be subject to the provisions of the Constitution in toto 

“Abdullah himself had been a member of the Indian Constitute Assembly yet he’s asking for special treatment. Did he not agree to accept the constitution in relation to the rest of India including 497 princely states. If it is good enough for all of them why should it not be good enough for him in Kashmir”

Dr.Amedkar as the law minister has spoken in the Parliament

Mr Abdullah you want that India should defend Kashmir, you wish India should protect your borders, she should build roads in your area, she should supply your food grains and Kashmir should get equal status as India but you don’t want India and any citizen of India to have any kind of rights in Kashmir and government of India should have only limited powers. To give consent to this proposal would be a treacherous thing against the interest of India and I as the law minister of India will never do. I cannot betray the interests of my country

On these precise lines that the present Indian government has abrogated Article 370.
But at first place why was (Article 370) it introduced?

 Article 370 was a joint decision of Sardar Patel, Gopal Swami Ayyangar, Sheikh Abdullah, Jawaharlal Nehru and other members of the cabinet, for the following purpose 

1. Balance the demand of Jammu to integrate with India on one side and Kashmir for autonomy on the other.

2. Induce confidence in the people of Kashmir.

3. Provide legality to the instrument of Accession between Raja Hari Singh & Union of India

Article 370 provides for the special Powers for the state of Jammu & Kashmir.  

A. The power of Parliament to make laws for the state shall be limited to certain subjects and in regard to other subjects, it requires the consent, concurrence of the J&K Constituent Assembly.

B. According to 370, any law made by the Parliament should be in accordance (limited) to the areas listed in the Instrument of Accession signed by the Union of India and Raja Hari Singh.

C. It also mentions that the president can continue this article or repeal it only on the recommendation of the Constituent Assembly of J&K. 

Later in 1954 through the Presidential order, Article 35A was added to the Indian constitution which provides for,
The power to decide the 'Permanent Residents' was given to the State Legislature of J&K. These Permanent Residents shall have special rights viz, purchase land and immovable property, caste vote and contest elections and seeking government employment. Non-permanent residents, even if Indian citizens were not entitled to these special rights.

The necessity of 35A is,

 Political movements in 20th century, for instance, Pandit community agitations “Kashmir for the Kashmiris” demanding only Kashmiri should be employed in state government jobs Coupled with Maharaja Hari Singh’s insecurity against the Britishers settling down in the valley has built a tradition and internal law against outsiders buying land thereby setting down there. 

Nehru statement in Lok Sabha regarding this reflects the same, “For a long time passed the Maharaja time, there had been laws there preventing any outsider that is any person from outside Kashmir from acquiring or holding land in Kashmir 

“Maharaja was very much afraid of a large number of Englishmen coming and settling down there 

“So the present government is very anxious to preserve that right”

The present NDA Government differs with this view  not only in theory but also has put forward the practical situation in Kashmir claiming it to be the impediment of,

Peace

Decentralization of power down to panchayats 

Rampant  political corruption

Equality

Amit Shah, the Union Home Minister in the Parliament mentioned that many laws made by Parliament Like below mentioned were not brought into action in Jammu and Kashmir because of the special provisions of article 370,

Child marriage Act 

Minorities act 

Right to Education 

National Council of Teachers Education 

land Acquisition Disability Act 

Maintenance of Parents and Senior citizens Act Delimitation Act 

Whistleblower protection act 

National Commission for Safai Karamchari 

Political Reservation for SCs and STs

Let’s now see from the critics' point of view as to what presumes to be the actual situation.

Peace 

Richa Kumar one of the 3 interlocutors appointed by the Centre in 2010 opined
'it’s not clear how changing the status from a state to Union Territory would help in maintaining the security since under article 370 it is anyway a central subject' 

Development 

Facts and figures in regard to the development can be seen in the following picture which clearly contradicts the claim of the government 

Sector	Indicator	J&K	India	Best States	Worst States
Health	Infant Mortality Rate (2017) Deaths under 1/1000 Births	23	33	1.Kerala        (10) 2.Tamil Nadu (16) 3.Delhi          (16)	1.MP    (47) 2.Assam (44) 3. Odisha (41)
	Life Expectancy (2012-2016) in Years	73.5	68.7	1. Kerala (75.1) 2. Delhi   (74.2) 3. J&K     (73.5)	1. UP      (64.8) 2.Chattisgarh (65.2) 3. MP     (65.4)
Education	Literacy Rate (2011) in %	67.2	73	1.Kerala      (94) 2.Delhi        (86.2) 3.Himachal (82.8)	1.Bihar  (61.8) 2.Arunachal(65.4) 3.Rajasthan (66.1)
	Graduates & above as % of Population	5.2	5.6	1.Delhi             (16.4) 2.Uttarakhand (9) 3.Maharashtra (7.7)	1.Bihar  (2.9) 2.Assam (3.2) 3.Jharkhand (4)
Gender	Total Fertility Rate (2017) Avg Children per Woman	1.6	2.2	1.Delhi (1.5) 2.J&K; Punjab; TN; WB; AP; Himachal (1.6)	1.UP (3.2) 2.Chattisgarh (3) 3.MP  (2.7)
	Sex Ratio at Birth (2017)	917	896	1Chattisgarh (961) 2.Kerala   (948) 3.WB       (939)	1.Haryana (833) 2.Uttarakhand(841) 3.WB   (939)
Economy	Per Capita GSDP (2016-17) in Rs.	1.02L	1.17L	1.Delhi     (2.87L) 2.Haryana  (1.98L) 3.Maharashtra (1.87L)	1.Bihar (40,832) 2.UP  (57,024) 3.Jharkhand        (69,692)
	GSDP Growth Rate  in %	5.5	8.2	1.Gujarath (9.8) 2.Delhi    (8.4) 3.MP      (8.3)	1.WB   (4.8) 2. Jharkhand (5.2) 3.J&K   (5.5)
	Poverty Ratio (2011-12) % BPL	10.4	21.9	1.Kerala    (7.1) 2.Himachal (8.1) 3.Punjab   (8.3)	1. Jharkhand (37) 2.Bihar   (33.7) 3.Odisha    (32.6)
	Unemployment (2017-18) in %	5.3	6.1	1.Chattisgarh (3.3) 2.AP      (4.5) 3.MP    (4.5)	1.Kerala  (11.4) 2.Delhi     (9.7) 3.Haryana (8.6)

Source: Times Of India

The most developed states in India are those which have a strong democracy in action, a strong Federal set up with the least interference from the center. Even in Jammu and Kashmir in the beginning years under the then, sheik Abdullah administration brought in some of the best land reforms in India. Even in the time of years between 2009-2014 saw the least.........

On the other hand, J&K has suffered in the period when Centre’s influence was very frequent in the times of Indira Gandhi who tried to increase her presence in the backdrop of  Farooq Abdullah son of Sheikh Abdullah standing in the opposition to her at the center.

Corruption

According to Transparency International, Jammu & Kashmir is not amongst the most corrupt states.

Decentralization of power 

With a downgrade of Jammu and Kashmir from a state to the UT, The union government with its action has contradicted its claim of weak decentralized power in the state.

The step has also made the representative democracy weak in the state as in one union territory there is no legislative assembly with no directed representation of the people and in the other, there is an assembly with limited powers meaning Limited representation of the People 

Is it right for a Parliament to pass the bill ignoring the state legislative assembly of Jammu and Kashmir?

Critics say it’s not a majority in the Parliament but majoritarianism as the will of the people of Jammu and Kashmir is not represented with only a handful of MPs participated in the discussion and that too has opposed the bill.

Supreme Court has said that article 370 can’t be removed without the consent from legislative assembly.  

In 2015 the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir ruled that Article 370 cannot be abrogated, repealed or even amended

Critics of the bill also find that it is a strong blow to the federal set up which is the basic principle of the Indian Constitution 

Conclusion

The international community this time has, stating that it is a bilateral issue of the two countries and they both have to sort it out, in a way supported India. It is a blow to Pakistan which made all efforts to make it an international issue.
Within the country, the Supreme Court of India has opined to give some time to the government. On the clampdown on J&K cutting all the communication channels, detaining the key leaders of the state, the Supreme Court said abrogation of Article 370 is a drastic step and it requires some drastic measures as well to keep the law and order in control. So let's wait and give some more time to the government.
Given the situation of the clampdown, curtailing all the basic rights of the citizens of J&K government of India has to take all necessary steps to bring it to the normal state of affairs. Otherwise, the grim situation can be taken as an advantage by the ISI and terrorists making this landslide decision of abrogating Article 370 a remedy worse than the disease.

Whom to VOTE in Elections - to the Party or a Candidate?

The general trend of the voting pattern is that we vote for a Prime Minister and Chief Minister in the Loksabha and State Legislative Assembly elections respectively. But is it right? And what should be the ideal case? Should we vote for a Prime Ministerial Candidate or a Political Party or a Candidate?

Unlike a Direct Democracy, wherein you vote for and elect President or Prime Minister, in a Representative Democracy you elect the Member of Parliament, amongst whom the PM is selected by themselves.
Indian Democracy is Representative. We send our representative from our constituency to the Parliament to, primarily,

• Make laws
• oversee the implementation of these laws
• participate and represent our voice in the framing of policies
• overseeing the implementation of welfare and development programs
• voice our constituency's social, collective concerns in the Parliament.

However, while electing the candidate, we also need to keep other things in mind which can be in the following sequential order

Candidate, Manifesto for that elections and then Party (its Ideology and track record)

First, Candidate, who has the ability to analyze, ponder, study and propose solutions to our issues. The credibility of the candidate also matters which shows his/her will, intention to do good to the constituency and the country.

                                   Ability+Credibility = Right Candidate

The second parameter to decide whom to vote is the Manifesto which the party announces before elections as to what is their road map to develop the country. The manifesto should include both welfare (short term), as ours is still a developing country and a large chunk of the population - 22% live in below poverty line and also Developmental (long term) policies.
For example, if we take two major national political parties of India the striking aspects of BJP's manifesto for 2019 elections are a) Implementation of Uniform Civil Code, b)Setting up of 1.5lakh health care centers, 75 Medical and PG Medical Colleges.
And Congress' manifesto a)setting up a separate budget for farmers and b) around 20 lakh government jobs in 2 years.

The third parameter is the Party (Ideology & Track Record ) on behalf of which the candidate is contesting.
The ideology is the base of any political party which tells us what is the - nature, vision, mission on one side and the means they chose to achieve the end of doing good to the people on the other. It is critical because most of the political parties are trying to achieve this end by choosing wrong means viz, a show of muscle and money power, fielding criminal record candidates and so on.
The track record of the party whom you are voting is also important. If the said party has won and had a chance to be in government earlier, we need to gauge its performance in terms of implementation of the promised manifesto.
For example in the previous election manifesto of 2014, BJP has promised to bring back all the black money stashed in foreign banks and also 2 crore jobs creation, which were not put into action in their incumbent period of 5 years.
And on the other hand, Congress's 2019 election manifesto item promising separate budget for the farmers, why it has not been able to handle farming sector in a way it had to and the farmers in large numbers across the country had to commit suicides. Is it not the responsibility of the Congress party, after being in power for so many terms that the farming sector has slipped into deep crisis.

If you elect the other way around, ignoring the candidate's credentials and also not considering the above parameters, then the danger is,

1. The credibility and eligibility of the candidates become irrelevant when there is no change in the voting percentage to the party with respect to the fielding a good or bad candidate. 
2. Political parties will take people for granted. And this is not good for democracy.
3. Parties will start giving tickets to the candidates who can win by hook or by crook - using muscle or/and muscle power
4. over a period of time, the parties will be filled with criminals and corrupt MPs/MLAs. we can see this trend of criminalization of politics in the following table

          According to the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) report, the following is the % of MPs facing criminal charges

• 2014  - 34%
• 2009 -  30%
• 2004 -  24%

To be precise, the trend of elections should be bottom to top approach but not otherwise. If we elect good candidates parties will be forced to field credible candidates.

Healthy Living - Understanding Diet and Workout

Life is a joyride we all wish it to be joyful, smooth and happy. But not everything goes as expected and life is no exception - the most uncertain thing is life, the only certain thing is death. The key variable factor here is the 'health'. The good thing about health is most of the times if we want it to keep, stays in our control. And the point is whether you want to control your health and keep it 'the way it is ought to be' or mend it to be destroyed with your indisciplined, unnatural lifestyle which includes poor dietary habits, sedentary style of functioning and insufficient rest (sleep). 

Unfortunately we very well knowingly are turning our eyes blind to the health of our life. The indiscipline lifestyle has become indispensable driven by the necessities and luxury aspirations of our lives. In the pursuit of happiness, we are ignoring the fact that health is the base of happiness. And some, in the rat race for the success tend to ignore the quotient of health and also ignore the fact that  'the foundation of success in life is Good Health'.

Worse is some people treat their body as if they rented it from someone else, they don't take care of it well.

Most of us think very highly of ourselves in terms of health. As we are not suffering from any disease currently we think that we are safe. But we should remember that Health is not the absence of sickness. Every day you do one thing to your body - build health or produce disease. 

Thus it should be our constant effort to keep the natural process of our bodies intact supplying the needed nutrients and physical activities it requires. As Jim Rohn rightly said,  

Take care of your body, its the only place you have to live. 

To do this first we should understand what your body is made of, then what is the present health condition and then the solution

WHAT YOU ARE MADE OF

1. Body Water

Your body is counted with more than 50% of water. Along with the blood and other bodily fluids water contains in fat and muscle. 

2. Protein

Building Blocks of your body

3. Minerals

Your body contains minerals which are primarily contained in two places: in the bloodstream and inside the bone tissue. 

4. Fat

The substance everyone seems to be obsessed with and is always doing their best to get rid of. However, body fat is necessary for the body to function - allows the body to store energy, protects internal organs, acts as an insulator and regulates body temperature. 

Nobody can have 0% body fat, and maintaining body fat percentages lower than 4%  (referral range is 10%-20%) is generally regarded as inadvisable for long-term health.

The above components have their unique yet complementary role to be played in the smooth functioning of your body. 

Another important portion which helps in not only building up but also the smooth functioning of your body is Nutrients. There are two kinds of Nutrients,

Micronutrients - Vitamins & Minerals

Macronutrients - Protein, Carbohydrates, Fat

MACRONUTRIENTS - 

Vitamins & Minerals are the two Micronutrients which your body requires in small quantity, in Milligrams and Micrograms. There are various forms of Vitamins and Minerals, 

Vitamins	Minerals
	Major Minerals	Minor Minerals
Vitman A	Calcium	Iron
Vitamin B - 1,2,6 & 12	Magnesium	Chromium
Vitamin C	Sulphur	Iodine
Vitamin D		Manganese
Vitamin E		Molybdenum
Vitamin K		Selenium
		Zinc

MACRONUTRIENT 

Macronutrients, even though essential for proper functioning of the body are not produced by itself. Thus it is mandatory to fuel them from outside through diet. Macronutrients are required by the body in relatively large quantities, in Grams. There are 3 types of Macronutrients which are detailed hereunder,

1. PROTEIN 

Proteins are the building blocks of life. If your muscles are a house, protein is the bricks.

A human body contains around 37 trillions of cells and Every cell contains protein. The role of the protein is, it repairs damaged cells and builds new ones. Thus it is necessary for building your muscle. This very function of the Protein helps the growth and development in children, teens, and pregnant women.

If you are a  sports person or doing physical activity on a regular basis, your muscle tissues (a group of cells) are damaged at increased level. Thus you need to take extra protein as supplements to repair the damaged tissues and regenerate them in a proportionate pace.

Your nutritionist, in addition to protein supplement, may also suggest the BCAA (Branched Chain AMINO ACIDS). Thus in this context, we need to also understand about the amino acids. 

The basic structure of the protein is a ‘chain of amino acids'. Amino Acids, branched as chain forms the Protein. If protein is the building block of your body then the Amino Acids are the building blocks of the Protein.

2. CARBOHYDRATES

Carbohydrates (at the chemical level) = carbon+hydrogen+oxygen.

They are the most important ‘source of energy’ for your body. The digestive system - small intestine absorbs the sugars which then enters into bloodstream and travel to the liver. The liver converts these sugars into glucose. This glucose, through the bloodstream, enters your body cells with the help of insulin. This glucose (sugar) is used as energy for your cells, tissues, and organs. 

Food → Small intestine → Liver → Glucose → Cells

What if we consume extra Carbs?

The extra unused sugar is stored in the liver and Skeletal muscles (chest, arms, lats, quads, and hamstrings) and other cells in the form of Glycogen. Once the glycogen stores are full, carbs are stored as fat.  So if you are consuming more Carbs than required per day then you are increasing the fat storage in your body. Thus to avoid this you need to either keep the intake of carbs minimal or keep your body more active.

What if we consume less than required Carbs? 

1. Then the body will consume Protein as fuel to supply energy to the body. This is something to worry on two fronts, 

one, your muscles get weaker and lose strength as a result of which your body as a whole becomes weak

Two, body using protein instead of carbs for fuel puts pressure on the kidneys resulting in the passage of painful byproducts in the urine.

2. And also without sufficient glucose, the central nervous system suffers, which may cause dizziness or mental and physical weakness

3. People who don't consume enough carbs may also suffer from insufficient fiber which can cause digestive problems and constipation.

Now the question is how much are the carbohydrates count that we need to take. The ideal intake of Carbs is around 2.5grms per kg of body weight.

However, along with the quantity of the carbs, the source of it is also important. The source of the Carbohydrates are divided into two-  Simple & Complex, 

Simple Carbs

Complex Carbs

Source of Sugars; Are also added artificially during food processing and refining Are absorbed quickly into the blood Found in processed foods; consumption of Sugars particularly from the processed foods in which the sugars are added artificially to enhance the taste and form are bad to health.  It increases cholesterol.  Ex: White bread, Pastries, aerated drinks, French fries..

Source of Starch and Fibre Available naturally Takes relatively more time to be absorbed;  Found in Whole grain bread and Cereals, Vegetables, legumes; Consumption of Complex carbs in the right proportion is healthy as it includes,          Starch - helps in proper digestion and lowers blood sugars, reduces appetite                      Fibre - softens stool, helps maintain bowel health, lowers cholesterol level, helps in strengthening muscle

In case of other nutrients, it is the count which is important. For example Vitamins, Minerals and Protein the consumption of grams per kg of body weight is important whereas in case of Carbs and also the Fat nutrients it is the source (simple carbs or Complex carbs) which is more important.

3. FATS

Fat is a nutrient without which we can’t live. Not only does fat supply us with energy, but it also makes it possible for other nutrients to do their jobs. Broadly Fats can be divided into GOOD and BAD

GOOD FAT		BAD FAT
Monounsaturated Fat (Unsaturated Fat) Lowers cholesterol thus reducing the risk of heart diseases and diabetes Found in Olive oil, Nuts (Cashews, Almonds) Peanut Butter and Avocados	Polyunsaturated Fat (Unsaturated Fat) There are 2 types of this fat, Omega 3 and Omega 6 Lowers blood cholesterol, reduce arthritis, joint problems Found in Fish oils, Soybean oils, Sunflower oils Nuts, Seeds, Eggs etc.	Saturated Fat Derived from animals Raises Bad Cholesterol Found in high-fat Cheese; high-fat cuts of meat; Whole fat milk and cream; ice-cream; Butter etc.	Trans Fat Not naturally occur; synthetically made in an industrial process. It is easy to use and cheap to produce; enhances the taste and shelf life of a product Raises bad cholesterol Found in most of the processed food -fries, pastries, cakes, biscuits, pizzas, burgers etc.

Thus if you consume good fat it is good for your body and if you consume bad fat then it harms your body. We shall know more about bad fat as the harm it creates is no less and eventually it may even kill you.

To start with, first, we need to know how the 'bad fat' is stored in your body. It is done in two ways

1. Subcutaneous Fat - that people can see, 

2. Visceral Fat – Visceral fat is internal fat that develops in the abdominal cavity, gets stored around the organs, and wraps around your kidneys, intestines, stomach, and liver.

It's easy to see the Subcutaneous Fat whereas it isn’t so easy to see the Visceral Fat. This is the reason why some people are skinny but still, their BCA (Body Composition Analysis) report shows as obese. So here if your subcutaneous fat is low you may look not that fat but at the same time if you have high Visceral fat then the harm remains the same. It is called being 'Skinny Fat'.

So the bottom line is looking skinny doesn't mean you are healthy. It is dangerous to become skinny fat. How do people become skinny fat?

Skinny Fat = Decrease in Muscle + increase in fat

1. Essentially, the net result of losing muscle mass (and decreasing metabolic rate) and gaining fat mass due to high caloric intake creates the skinny fat condition. 

Similarly, muscle mass decreases over time when the muscles are not being used. If you work in a 9-5 job that requires you to be seated and not move around for most of the day, skeletal muscle mass is likely to decrease over time.  Fat mass will also increase as mobility decreases.

Sitting all day, eating an unhealthy diet, and skipping workouts is a recipe for muscle loss and fat gain. 

2. Some people do dieting and also workout but without any result, the reason is not doing it the 'right way' - Severe calorie restriction, excessive amounts of cardio, minimal weight Training. Doing this is a Remedy Worse than disease. 

If you try to cut calories, while at the same time run on a treadmill an 1 hour a day 5 days a week, your body may not have the energy it needs to perform.  After a certain point, your body will start metabolizing muscle because it needs energy once the other options are exhausted. Weight loss will occur at the expense of both fat and muscle loss.

Now that you understand the cause, here is the solution.

People who want to be thin and healthy need to increase their muscle and reduce their fat.  This can be done by the way of 

1. Compound Exercises - Cardio+Weight Training
2. Eating a balanced Diet - Protein+Carbohydrate+Fat, all in good proportion

Compound Workout coupled with proper diet increases your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR). The higher your BMR, the more calories your body naturally burns when it is doing nothing (i.e. sleeping).  The more calories you burn at rest, the greater the fat loss.

Some people who want to lose weight badly are worried that building muscle might make them look bulky instead of skinny. This is the same with the women in general. Don’t worry! because 

• Muscle is much denser than fat, 
• Muscle is also heavier than fat

meaning that if you were 60kgs with more fat and less muscle and now if you are 62kgs with less fat and more muscle you still appear thinner and of course healthier. We can see the same in the following picture where both people are of the same Hight - 6ft and weight - 250 pounds (113kgs) but they look different as the person in left has more Percentage of Fat (PBF) - 31% and the person on the right looks lean because the PBF (Percentage of Fat) is only 10%.

So, now you know the facts, weight is not the only parameter you should look in gauging your health. Just because someone looks skinny, don’t just assume they are healthy. At the same time just by looking at their weight don't assume they are obese. Don’t aspire to be skinny, aspire to be healthy.  Because at the end of the day, being healthy is always attractive. 

Fit & Healthy body is the best fashion statement.

After knowing about the nutrients we shall now see how much of them we should consume

Nutrients	Calories	Intake in Grams	%	Food (example)
Protein	-	1.5 grms/kg of body weight	35%	Chicken, Eggs, Fish, Paneer, Milk, Quinoa, Peanut Butter etc.
Carbohydrates	900 -1300	2.5 grms/kg of body weight	55%	Brown-Rice & Bread, Millets, Whole Wheat-Rotis & Bread etc.
Fat	-	0.5 grms/kg of bodyweight	10%	Homemade cooked oil(Sunflower, Olive), Egg yolk, Diary Products -Cheese, Milk, Curd etc.

Food is the most powerful medicine or drug on the planet with the power to cause or cure most of the diseases - Dr.Mark Hyman

Diet decides 70% of your health. You are what you Eat. But the track of healthy diet is missed for the taste. We give importance to the taste more than it deserves. And to remind you, taste is not for the tongue but for the mind. If you condition your mind not to have the food which is not good for your health, even your tongue doesn't water for it. It's like what you do for 21 days becomes a habit and what you do for 90 days becomes your character. Eat to Live not Live to Eat.

In a nutshell, let's see what food to have and what not,

TAKE	AVOID
Plenty of Water (minimum 3-5 liters)	Aerated drinks (coke, Thumsup, Maza etc); Alchohol; Smoking
Home Food	Outside  Food- Restaurants, Hotels, Tiffin Centers.
All varieties of vegetables in the cooked, boiled form	Fried, deep-fried vegetables
Brown Rice, Millets	Minimize White Rice (don’t have to avoid)
Whole wheat flour (gehoon, Godhuma)	Refined Flour (Maida, all-purpose flour, white flour)
Brown Bread, Whole Wheat Bread	Milk Bread
Biscuits made from Whole wheat flour (Marigold)	Cookies and other forms of biscuits made from Refined flour
Protein - cakes, Muffins; Protein, Millets made chips	Sweets, Pastries, Chips and other processed  junk food available in bakeries
Protein-rich & Trans fat-free chocolates (available in supermarkets)	Chocolates
Good Fat Diary Products - Greek Yogurt, Toned Milk, Cottage Cheese, Mozzarella Cheese, Tofu, Paneer, Butter Milk	Cream rich dairy products - Double Cream Milk, American, Mexican, Swiss, Cream Cheese, Lassi; Ice Cream
Peanut Butter	Butter
Seasonal Fruits. Don’t filter your fruit basket until and unless your doctor or your dietician asks you not to go for certain fruits.	Fruit Juices, wherein Trans Fat (sugar) is mixed; Fibre and starch is filtered; Fruits flavored, essence juices(Tropicana etc)
Nuts - Almonds, Walnuts, Cashews	Take Raisins & Dates in a limited quantity (don’t have to avoid)

The single funda to be followed as told by Micheal Pollan is If it came from the plant have it if it is made in the plant then don't.

WORKOUT SESSION

Based on the above observation it is evident that we need to maintain the right proportion of the Muscle and Fat. To do this, along with the proper diet as we discussed above, we need to adopt a proper approach of the physical workout.

Now, What is the right approach to the workout?

The workout per day has to be divided into cardio and strength - 

10-20 min -Cardio 

45-60 min - Strength

CARDIO

We should include a maximum number of workouts and machinery to get the maximum result in a given time. Also, it is safe from injuries & muscle cramps to not continue with the same kind of machinery which puts pressure on the same targeted part of your body.

Basic Machinery to be used are (which u can find any gym)

Treadmills - 10 mins

Cross Trainer - 10min

Spin Bike

Recumbent Bike

Floor Workouts - Burpees, Stepper, Skipping…….

Follow the rotation process - a combination of two types of machinery or Floor workout per day. Then next day next round of machinery and so on.

STRENGTH WORKOUTS

Chest & Triceps

Lats(upper Back) & Biceps

Shoulder & Lower Back 

Rest Day (Abs & Cardio) -During sleep, your body’s production of growth hormone increases, which aids in the repairing and rebuilding of muscles

Quads, Hamstring, Calfs 

Not necessary that you follow the same order. Change it according to your convenience, depending upon your requirement, fitness goals. And it is also not mandatory that you should couple the large and small muscles in a day. Again this depends upon your requirement and ask.

Importance of Warm-up & Cool Down

Warm-up before and Cool down after the workout is the most underplayed or underestimated part of the fitness regime. Some people think it is inferior or amateurish. But it plays a very important role so as to decide the success rate of your fitness goal. What and how it does, let's see,

Warm-up

Depending upon lifestyle- body mobility, your muscles are generally in its own condition. From this set condition if you suddenly jolt your muscles it will be a kind of shock and chances of them getting injured are very high. The warm-up helps in increasing the blood circulation throughout your body, making your muscles ready for further pressure to bear.

Cool-Down

When your body is working out, be it by exercise or playing any sports, the heart pumps the blood at more than the normal rate. When the workout is stopped abruptly the blood circulation slows down and may not reach the heart and brain as usual. It results in dizziness, lightheadedness, fainting

After the workout, your muscles are charged up and are in a very high tempered condition - tight and sore muscles. If you go back home with the same condition again the chances of your muscles getting injured are high. And also after a workout session, there is a 'lactic acid' accumulation in your body. This lactic acid needs to be flushed out for the quick recovery of muscles 

Cooling down your body helps the above challenges to be addressed. Walk a while and do a bit of cycling. But do remember that the stretches give the best results in cooling down your body. Stretches thus for a right reason called the mother of all cool down and also warm up workouts.

Rest your Body

The next important aspect of your health to keep it up is Rest. After a workout your muscle tissues are damaged, energy (muscle glycogen) depletes; bodily fluids are lost; chemicals like lactic acids are formed and stored in your body.

Good rest to your body along with the good diet (Micro & Macro Nutrient rich) allows optimization of protein synthesis and also increases in growth hormones - making the muscle to repair and rebuild. Sufficient rest of 6-8hrs a day also helps in replenishing the energy and also through increased blood circulation helps in flushing the unwanted chemicals formed in your body.

Myths vs Facts in regard to the diet and workout

MYTH	FACT
shouldn't Drink Water while workout	Gulping water helps in hydrating your body
Abs-6 packs are made in the gym with rigorous abdomen workouts	Abdominal muscle is like any other muscle which depletes by overtraining. Abs are already made with minimal weight training. To make them visible, follow the DIET. They say   Abs are made in Kitchen
Don’t have Rice, egg yolks, nuts, dairy products, if you are on weight loss program	Fat is not a bad word per se. we need to understand the difference between Good fat & Bad Fat; also distinguish between the sources of Carbohydrates - good source gives you more energy with fewer calories and bad carbs which gives less energy with more calories.
We can have immediate weight loss with Crash Diet	Yes, you can have but with the loss of all important Micro & Macro Nutrients like Vitamins, Minerals, Protein etc which only have drastic side effects later in near future. Regaining the weight is evident.
Cardio is for weight loss  Weight training is for weight gain	Cardio and Weight training are both complementary to each other.
We will gain more weight if we stop going to the gym	Yes but not because you stopped going to the gym but due to the deviation from your disciplined lifestyle of having a balance between the intake and burning of the calories which you had it while going to the gym.
Having Supplements may have side effects	Supplements like Protein powder, BCAA, Multivitamin & Fish Oil tablets are nothing but the nutrients which are there in your body but are supplemented according to the need of your body. There is no harm in taking them under expert supervision.  One thing you should be careful is Steroids taken to increase body performance. It does have side effects.

As we are proceeding towards the end, I hope u start a new beginning to shape your lifestyle more healthy. Do it irrespective of what is your profession or what you do. Don't say I don't have time for workouts or I am not finding time to hit the gym. Those who say I don't have time for workout sooner or later have to find time for ill health thereby having trips to hospitals.

We have read, listened to hundreds of times that Prevention is better than cure. So its always good to follow a healthy lifestyle and prevent inviting certain diseases rather than spending a lot of time, money and energy in curing them.

All you do today in your professional life is with a vision to lead a better life tomorrow. And just imagine your tomorrow's life without 'Health'. The best investment in terms of time and money is undoubtedly on your health. Make physical workout part of your life. Do it as you do other essential things of your day like eating, sleeping etc. 

And to just summarise and make the whole thing simpler putting it in three sentences as to make your life Healthy, Happy and Prosperous practice this,

To reach the destination of HEALTHY LIVING, travel on the 3 wheeler - 

Diet (Protein+Carbohyderate+Fat)

Workout (Cardio+Strength)

Rest (6-8hrs)

Period.