The project would mark another step in the country's ambitious space programme, which placed a probe on the moon three years ago and envisages its first manned mission in 2016.
"Our spaceship will go near Mars and collect important scientific information," Singh said in his annual Independence Day address, heralding the plan as "a huge step for us in the area of science and technology".
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is expected to launch the unmanned orbiter as early as November next year, the Press Trust of India news agency reported earlier this month.
According to one ISRO official, the cost of the mission has been estimated at four to five billion rupees ($70-90 million).
The United States, Russia, Europe, Japan and China have all sent missions to Mars.
The US robot Curiosity is currently on the surface of the "Red Planet" after landing last week to hunt for soil-based signs of life and send back data for a future human mission.
India's planned Mars mission comes as the government has been under pressure over issues such as massive power shortages and the nation's poor transport infrastructure.
Blackouts on two consecutive days this month knocked out power in vast swathes of the country.
COMMENTS (161)
The water kit may be sheer fantasy, but the struggles of Pakistan’s sick, food-insecure, and water-short are not. They deserve much more attention.
Of all, I have found Iqbal's comments to be most rational, reflective and reasonable without any prejudice and chauvinism. Having said that, I feel sorry for the tough times Pakistan is facing now. Hope there are more people like Iqbal who can steer that country to the right path to a better future.
@Ashwin3342:
If every Hindustani commentator like you built just one toilet for every single angry comment you posted, perhaps you guys wouldn't get this level of sarcasm from the rest of the world. Instead, you seem happy to continue embarrassing yourselves with your defensive reaction to the primitive levels of unrivalled backwardness and barbarity that exist in your 'country'.
Meanwhile, we're all sitting back waiting patiently for this great scentific progress that you mentioned - although last time I checked, you guys had actually slipped even further down the poverty index. I'm sure Bollywood paints a very different picture to reality, though.
Hasan
@Ashwin3342:
If all the Hindustani commentators like you decided to build just one toilet for every single angry comment you posted, perhaps you would get less sarcasm from the rest of the world. Instead you're just making an embarrassment of yourselves by being so defensive about the unrivalled levels of primitive barbarity that exist in your 'country'.
In the meantime, we're all sitting back and waiting for that great scientific progress that you mentioned - last time I checked, you guys had actually slipped further down the global poverty index. I'm sure Bollywood paints a different picture, though.
Hasan
Is making missiles, bombs, training terrorists better than sending a rocket to Mars? If you don't have the capability, just sit and clap my neighbors ...!! And we will feed our poor people by making endeavors in science. Just see......
@Hasan: hey hasan,when people react to criticism it does not mean that they are hot under the collar,it could mean that your viewpoints are wrong and they got a different view.!!First of all ,you should remember that 80% of the indian population are farmers and belong to the rural areas and literacy and civic sense is being slowly imbibed to them.Immense progress is made in this regard and with time surely a dramatic change will take place.In the meanwhile to call them filthy is insensitive .We do have a saying,:that,if a farmer does not step into filth, then there would be no food for sustenance.So his filth is your food!!
@Iqbal:
You truly are a pathetic specimen. My suspicion is that you're a Hindustani yourself, and are trying to broaden your support base by asserting some sort of 'ex-Pakistani' status. Believe me sweetheart, I have met plenty of 'ex-Pakistanis' in my time, and none of them are as desperate as you come across to be so close to Hindustanis - you're in a league of your own. Try taking your brotherly love to the sewers of Assam, I heard they could do with your sense of religious harmony over there.
LOL @ 'educated in a madrassa'...standard Brahmin reaction when he gets a little hot under the collar. You're taking a speech made by a former president in which he tried to highlight the need for Muslim countries to progress. That doesn't mean our poverty gap is wider than yours; that doesn't mean we have fewer toilets per thousand people; that doesn't mean our hunger index is at a lower level than yours. In fact all the opposites are true. Now tell me...were YOU educated in a BJP-mudhouse?
By the way, I went much further than saying Hindustanis are 'dirt-poor' - in an earlier post I correctly stated that they are among the filthiest population in the world. I'm delighted to see that when some poor Hindustani complained, his post got multiple recommendations; that can only mean that the point hit a raw nerve with quite a few of your Brahmin brothers. Let's just hope they don't repeat history and take their vengeance out on people like you, eh?
Hasan
@venkat: Dear it was sarcasm!!! you din't get it. LoL..
@jordan: "Lol…. ur water car is already proved to be fake" Sadly, judging by historical events and how it is perceived in the west the Islamic Reublic of Pakistan has turned out to be a fake. Very sad. As an exPakistani I will say whoever is the last to come out of that place please switch off the lights (if electricity is still there).
@Hasan: Were you educated in a madarasa where hatred was taught against other people? I suppose you were part of this report: http://dawn.com/2011/11/09/pakistan-schools-teach-hindu-hatred/#idc-cover I note you have said "dirt poor Hindustani..." Let me remind you of how "poor" was described by ex President Musharraf: "Today we (muslims) are the poorest, the most illiterate, the most backward, the most unhealthy, the most un-enlightened, the most deprived, and the weakest of all the human race". It seems the Hindustanis are not as poor as us. Also, let me remind you that NASA has a very high recruits from India and due to the emphasis they pay towards education I am confident they will do it. As a muslim I dont have any shame in confessing that. I will judge all individuals by their IQ. Remember, India does not beg looking for handouts like Pakistan does.
@Hafeez Pasha: They've hands and can feed themselves. If you're born, you have to work to feed yourself. That is God's law applicable on everyone right down to even the ants.
@Sid:
You were flourishing in 3rd century BC under Ashoka - a Buddhist ruler who promoted equality and pluralism. You flourished again in 16th century under the Mughal warrior-kings. Outside of those times, you were an ailing backwater province, crippled with a primitive caste system and ripe for conquest. You Hindustanis should be grateful for the many invasions that you suffered; they are the only things that have given you any semblance of a national culture.
This article is already funny enough, with dirt-poor Hindustanis pretending they have the capability to reach Mars - don't make it even funnier with your shambolic knowledge of your own history.
Hasan
No stats to quote. I am an Indian. We have poor people. Probably you guys don't have any, good for you.
But these projects are important. From so many different perspectives. They help us build confidence in ourselves, they increase our soft power. Other countries can use our GSLV and PSLV programs for missions, thereby earning us money to feed the poor.
They create aspirations. We (Indians) are a group of people who did very well till the 8th century AD, until we were invaded our libraries burnt et al. We are coming out of a long long time of oppression and such projects help us get back on the path to success.
@Iqbal: to Doctor "I will repeat, I am not Indian – I wish I were." A person like you is welcome anywhere, anytime. This time Britain got lucky!
india can do but pakistan can't that's why i see bove comments
ok here is what I think
Poverty here are two similar families, both have limited resources and love eating biryani everyday. One family decides to cut on biryani and sent their children to school. The other ignore the education and enjoy their biryani's every day. I don't need to tell you which family is more prosperous after 15 year,'
As a great leader said. "hum Ghaas khayein ge....." , was that clever or did no one in pak ate grass(metaphorically).
Water Car Now that is a real one. congrats to the engineer. I am sure he will be second pakistani to get a nobel price for his inventions. As the invention is so big it is no surprise to see the influx of car makes all over to world like Mercedes, BMW, Ferrari, Honda, Mitsubishi, Suzuki engaging the engineer to share this technology with them. After all which car maker would miss such an opportunity where they can offer which does not have any fuel cost. Image the Billions they can make.
But wait, did any car maker came to meet the engineer....hmmmm wonder why. here is the reason from two prespective
Pakistani one: world is jealous, they wont recognize a pakistani even if they can make billion by accepting a pakistani technology.
World one: A car run by water, how? Electrolysis!!! no big deal!!!!!!
@Iqbal: no one is superior its your education that makes u one in my eye u r a very superior person who looks at the facts.
@suraj: "Bhai, you are taking so much strain to convince these guys.. Can’t you understand where they educated and got this kind of mindset.."emphasized text
Agreed. Your theory also supported by this article http://dawn.com/2011/11/09/pakistan- schools-teach-hindu-hatred/#idc-cover
I have given on my ex country. It has reached a point of no return.
@Waseem janjua: and MARS is the Eastward neighborhood of Sri Nagar…….. In November 2013 It will be............ ISRO has delivered every thing it promised to Mother India till date....
@Zeeshan:
"That’s not true."
How is that not true!! I am quoting the UN for God sakes!
Britain gives aid, yes, so? We are still a developing nation and there is a lot of poverty, still.
My point was even though India had problems, it is far far lesser than compared to Pakistan, especially on the poverty front.
Another point was that India is halving poverty every 2 decades. So, in the next 20 years India's poverty will be under 10%. Imagine a country where 1 Billion people are in the middle class!! That is why we say India is destined to be a super power.
Cheers. :)
Indian, "But India is poor… Pakistanis need to make this their national anthem…." You have lowerd my temprament..hilarius. Regards.
@Doctor: Doctor have you read the article properly? Few facts from the article. I am not trying to put anyone down but we should talk on facts.
1) Indian used to be the largest IMG in UK before the new law was passed. PERIOD. Pak was number 5. 2) After new law came Indian decided they don't want to gamble with their future and because of economic boom within India they decided to stay back. That doesn't mean Pak doctors are superior as their number went up. It just shows Indian doctors are no more interested because of strict visa rules. 3) "Dr Abdul Hafeez of APPS told The News: “According to new visa arrangements under Tier 5 doctors can come to the UK for a fixed term 2 years contract and at the end of this time they have to leave the UK as their visa will not be extendable." Its only a 2 yr visa which means that they are not inviting Pakistani doctors because of their superior training/intellect. It just means that they will allows doctors when they need and send them away when they don't.
So I don't see how you are scoring point over India with this article. Also just to add my brother.. We were one "quam (country)" before 1947. We share the same ancestry (Indus Valley Civilization).. we have same genes.. So people of both country are almost on same footing in terms of physical features and intelligence. So I don't doubt that we all will do good when we go outside. I have met lot of Pakistani people in US and had a great chat with everyone. All seems friendly. I don't know why this enmity? Lets cheer for each other rather than act like frogs in the well.
@Iqbal: As an Indian we don't distinguish each other based on religion.. Secularism in India has made us respect each other religions and live peacefully though aberration happens in all society and we try to fight that. Its not a matter of hindu-muslims in India but unfortunately innocent Pakistani people are brain washed though their text books about hindu-muslim and hindus are shown as monsters.
I just have one problem with Muslims in general that they are less tolerant compared to other religions. They think every move is a plot of attack Islam. Also the sense of superiority makes them feel that whatever they do is right.
Finally just to add to your observation - let's not make it hindu/muslim issue but rather progressive/failed society. I am sure muslims will do equally well if they have progressive society in their home country (and if values are right).
Mars is nothing in front of moon. Moon is the greatest of all and one day Pakistan will capture it.
@PaKHtoon: Looks like the Indian 'Illiterates' are smart enough to send spacecrafts to Moon and ,next, to Mars, while, recently, the super literate father of Pakistan bomb, AQK, proved that he is clueless about basic science and engineering !
@Doctor: "Coming to USA, the median income for a White American is $57,000 whereas an average income for Pakistani households is $70,000" According to USA census of 2010 the figures read Indians $90,525 Pakistani $61,363
You may notice that Indians are a whopping $29,162 (47%) ahead of the Pakistanis and rank number one. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ListofethnicgroupsintheUnitedStatesbyhouseholdincome) Once again, please report the facts. As you said and I repeat "It is up to you now, if you want to accept the hard fact or follow the head in sand approach/denial policy which is de facto Indian mindset/way of thinking." (read Pakistani instead of Indian) I will repeat, I am not Indian - I wish I were.
Pakistanis are sad that the money is not used to feed them for 100 days and rather spent on a mission where they no interest in setting up dar-ul-mars.
and MARS is the Eastward neighborhood of Sri Nagar........
@Doctor: I am sorry to disappointing you. Figure is as follow http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ListofethnicgroupsintheUnitedStatesbyhouseholdincome This is a list of ethnic groups/ancestries in the United States by median household income.
Indian : $90,525 South African : $80,786 Filipino : $79,336 Australian : $74,341 Taiwanese : $73,596 Russian : $71,333 Sri Lankan : $67,683 Chinese : $67,331 Austrian : $66,460 Japanese : $65,573 Israeli : $64,639 Swiss : $63,172 Luxembourgian : $61,926 Pakistani : $61,363 Indonesian : $59,326 German : $58,617 Arab : $55,166 Laotian : $54,618 Vietnamese : $53,579 Korean : $51,476 US average : $51,222
Thai : $50,787 Cambodian : $48,854 Bangladeshi : $48,711 Hmong : $46,666 American : $46,427 Afghan : $42,682 Hispanic or Latino : $40,914 Mexican : $40,040 African : $34,751 & I hope you are not mad on me by showing the fact.
I think ET miss understood what India said is "India is going to launch mission to Mars looking place".
i hope we can one day become more mature as nations and appreciate each others achievements/ambitions. all this bickering sounds like a couple of adolescents comparing their biceps. i hope one day we are able to have joint missions to space and compete with the world rather than wasting time with these pointless taunts. just sit back and imagine what an amazing future that could be... we can either be salves to our pasts or masters of our future.. i like the sound of the latter more.
hey all, time for facts... http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-08-12/special-report/331669171mars-science-laboratory-mars-rover-mars-pathfinder
@Zeta: its a pakistani global newspaper..not a pakistani website.please stand corrected.it is meant for the whole world to read and comment on.Indians will comment on what matters or concerns them.
@amit: "sir better u use word “INDIAN” rather than “HINDU”..." I agree with you but the statistics given by the British Authorities do explicitily say "hindus". I am therefore not going to twist the facts. As an ex Pakistani I would like to apologise to all you Indians for the bigotry you are reading. I have to confess I am ashamed and am glad to be in UK where these comments would never be dreamt of. Although I still have relatives in Pakistan, I do not wish to visit that place until the security situation improves. I have my own views of what will happen to Pakistan in 20 years time. Let me keep them to myself - but hope that I will be proved wrong. Best wishes to you all Indians for Indepence Day today. You have made fantastic progress in the last 65 years but sadly cannot say the same of my birth place. You still have lot to accomplish (such as corruption and poverty) but I am confident that you will get there one day.
@Iqbal: Bhai, you are taking so much strain to convince these guys.. Can't you understand where they educated and got this kind of mindset..
@Truth Bites: "Hindus or indian are not superior they simply more in numbers everywhere in the world where they could find a place they will be there." Do you understand mathematics? Please read my earlier comment. The population of UK includes 2.7% muslim and 1.0% hindu. Since when was 1.0% more then 2.7%?
@Hasan: " ... Truth is that any Indian would love to run to a Western country if give the opportunity any given day of the week. ... "
The environment in India is polytheist, so, life is seldom a this OR that choice; it is usually a this AND that choice. And for this reason, for Indians, there is no contradiction in having a commitment to India AND seeking a better life outside of India at the same time.
@Hafeez Pasha: thats being done better than pakistan feeding its 50% bpl population and even flood affected people @pakhtoon: Indias literacy rate is higher than pakistans even when population difference is so high. your nation have school being bombed everyday and even a quran reader considered educated who will in the end just brainwashing others to blow themselves in market
@rp: Sulking to reach North Waziristan...
A lot of our Pakistani friends have expressed grave concern about the Indian space program. Such concern can come from the closest of friends. Please rest assured, it is not wasteful expenditure. The amount of money that goes up in smoke ( as in the exhaust plume ) and what is spent on the hardware is negligible. The majority of the money is used for salaries, for developing capabilities in manufacturing, electronics, engineering, etc.
The best way to think of it is as an additional outlay under the Education budget.
I do not think anybody will have objections to that.
@venkat: it's sarcasm and quite a hilarious one
@Truth Bites: "You live in UK and for your comments here, you can be reported to authortities under racism law of britain" Sir, I have supported all my facts with government released statistics. Feel free to report me. Even our PMs (David Cameron and Gordon Brown) agree with me. Just to jog your memory Mr Brown famously said that over 90% of world's terrorism is linked to Pakistan. Prove me I am wrong! Furthermore, why dont you report the authorities of this report which actually came from UK's House of Commons: http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200405/cmselect/cmhaff/165/16507.htm
@Zeta: Yes India is a developing Nation but is not on its knees with a bowl in its hand.
@Hasan: LOL…this news has cheered me up for the rest of the week. well,enjoy the the rest of your week then. "Hindustanis are known to house the poorest and filthiest majority population in the world !"
@moderators, how could you let such dirty language to be posted,i mean, calling majority of people as 'filthy', by no means it can be treated as the language of the properly educated one's, unless of course he/she has not been properly educated or there are no proper schools there to teach respect or proper manners.
Many thanks to Pakistani friends for showing concern on Indian poor even in sarcastic manner.. And, hope you guys pursue your governments to take steps to make the country a welfare state....
@Iqbal: sir better u use word "INDIAN" rather than "HINDU"(by the way i am a atheist hindu)because INDIAN=hindu,sikh,buddhist,jain,christen,jews,muslims,animist.
@Slumdog dreams: Check your facts. The biggest slum of the world is in Karachiie Orangi town.
@Slumdog dreams: From what I know, India population is seven times more. So even when you compare the number of US doctors, India’s ratio in comparison to Pak is rather disappointing. if you are interested in comparison,there are many countries in the world with which we can compare Pakistan,like isreal,srilanka etc. Afghanistan recently won a bronze in Olympics,and comparing Pakistan with these countries Pakistanis achievements seem minuscule. forget India,you have lot many countries to compare yourself with.
@Hasan: Truth is that any Indian would love to run to a Western country if give the opportunity any given day of the week. you completely forgot that the same is the case for Pakistanis.unlike Pakistanis, Indians are not running away in fear of prosecution or fearing for their life. guess what,just a few days back,many Pakistani Hindus came into India seeking asylum. rather we are still far away and things will likely stay like that until India becomes a developed nation the same was said and read about china,now the entire american economy and entire global economic recovery is linked to Chinese economic performance,and china is still not a developed country. (good luck with doing that with hundreds of millions of people. It’ll take a century at a minimum, ) it took china around 3 decades to reduce its poverty from 84 to 16 percent,with Indian economy being on it's right path,it will probably take us around 2 decades to reduce the poverty levels even then you wont solve all issues is there any country where there are no issues related to poverty or economic downturn or is completely free of all issues regarding it's society,economy etc.?
LOL...this news has cheered me up for the rest of the week.
Hindustanis are known to house the poorest and filthiest majority population in the world - but apparently Pakistanis are jealous of that?!
Yeah, in fact we're also bitterly jealous of your crippling AIDS epidemic, your abysmal sanitation record, and your spiralling religious violence. Yeah, seriously, it makes us burn with envy when we see you launch these indigenous projects which take twenty plus years and end up as new-age junk, like the Tejas and the Arjun...we cry into buckets when we see you mobilise your army like you did in 2001, blowing up 900 of our own men in the process...ouch, the jealousy hurts so much!
LOL, well with this sterling track record, we are holding our collective breath as we watch you pull a spaceship out of your sewers, while Shah Rukh Khan flies it up into space. Please get it ready for Baisanti, we love watching fireworks exploding in the sky at that time of the year!
Hahaha too funny...
Hasan
@Zeta: 800 million below poverty line, 800 million don’t have toilets in their home Please update your knowledge from i don't know - some latest information... massive defence expenditure The last i checked Pakistan spent 2.8% of its GDP on expenditure and India 2.5% half of country under maoists, freedom movemeents from Assam to Kashmir and look at them Half of country!!!!! We are not talking of Baluchistan and Pakistan... Are we?? They can’t even make one indigenous fighter plane or Tank and talking about mars. Please 'READ UP' about Arjun MBT tanks... We talked about Moon and Pakistanis said - 'But India is poor...'. When 'Chandrayaan' mission was a success virtually every country in the world appreciated it except for the one country, you know who is jealous.... No prices for guessing... Now, when we say - 'Mission Mars', Pakistani rhetoric continues - 'But India is poor...' November 2013 we will do it again and Pakistanis will continue to sing their national anthem - 'But India is poor...' In between, Mr. Zahid Hamid the great(!!!!) is not visible any more.... We Indians are missing our favourite comedy show on youtube... Is he on a Mars Mission of his own?? You know using a Spacecraft which runs on water.....
@indians
C'mmon there is no point in arguing to those who believe earth is flat and made before heavens in 6 days .
@Doctor: You seem to be obsessed with egos. I am glad I am now British (born in Lahore) but would like to remind you of the following: 1. Based on 2001 census the population of UK includes 2.7% muslim and 1.0% hindu (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DemographyoftheUnitedKingdom) 2. The latest prison statistics of UK are of 2011 and it represents 12.5% muslims and 0.5% hindu (www.parliament.uk/briefing-papers/SN04334.pdf) as per table D page 20. It some ways concludes that we are almost 5 times more likely to get involved in crime whereas hindus have about half the probability.
From the above will you agree with me that I dont blame the British or the West to look at muslims with contempt? Also does it surprise you that the hindus have now become more employable then the local people? I just want you to take a deep breath and think and for once try to accept independent figures. The above are not my numbers but are factually collected - unless ofcourse you think they are a "conspiracy".
@Zeta and other Pakistani friends:
Have you heard of the following - begani shaadi mein Abdullah deevana. It just fits on you. India is to send a spacecraft and that is India's business, why don't you mind your business and solve your own problems instead of giving unsolicited advise to what India should or shouldn't do.
@Zeta: another failed life.
The moot point here is, India is funding its space programme from its own earnings..India has become of major donors to IMF, which incidentally funds many poverty alleviation programmes in this part of continent..including Pakistan. Its for India to decide how to spend its earnings!! Surely, we know where the future is.. Pakistan can always ask India to help them in space research. India can launch Pakistani satellites at very nominal price as compared to US or even Chinese ( which are incidentally unreliable ).
@Slumdog dreams: just do a ratio comparison of both while chanting about Indian poverty. and Indian slums are richer than most of you people. @Asif: same to you, just kill others and explode yourself there by fulfill your dreams and save world’s population crisis in much better way.
This is same as Pakistan's expense on Nuclear weapons.At least gong to Mars is not for killing people.
@Doctor: You conveniently forgot that the reference you quote shows that India ranks number one as the source country of foreign doctors. SOUR GRAPES.
@iqbal and other Pakistani bashers. Hindus or indian are not superior they simply more in numbers everywhere in the world where they could find a place they will be there. Pakistanis in UK are mostly moved in 60's from villages. So you cant compare both communities. later professionals moved in too and Pakistan is not UKs source number 1 for doctors.
You live in UK and for your comments here, you can be reported to authortities under racism law of britain. You want me to do this honour?
This is funny. Massive malnutrition, 800 million below poverty line, 800 million don't have toilets in their home, massive defence expenditure, half of country under maoists, freedom movemeents from Assam to Kashmir and look at them, They can't even make one indigenous fighter plane or Tank and talking about mars.
@Rajendra Kalkhande: "Did you care to look at numbers of India (19.9%) vs Pakistan (4.8%). " I get the impression that Doctor was brainwashed at a madrassa and did selected reading. Why cannot he accept that bigotry has no place in this modern world. I dont think he is a real doctor, but just suppose he were then I can confirm he would be barred from practising in UK where the great Mr Jinnah and the Bhuttos had their education.
@Doctor: Your comment "Pakistanis in UK are mostly Kashmiri (Mirpuri) villagers who came from rural backgrounds and had no educational background whatsoever" is incorrect. The latest released UK census is of 2001 and it reads "43 percent Pakistani, 16 percent Bangladeshi, 8 percent Indian and 6 percent of other Asian ethnic background." (See http://library.fes.de/pdf-files/bueros/london/03682.pdf)
This report which was written in December 2005 has some unpleasant readings as well. Most of which confirms the 2002 report of UK Parliament and reported in the Guardian. Its one of those wake up calls. That should soothe your ego by miles.
'What Pakistanis envy is Indians pride.'
after water car, our next aim is to make a car that run with human power- just push it from behind, as by considering water scarcity in future and efficient use of ever increasing population.
Just to put in perspective the expenditure of this project to all my Pakistani friends who are talking about India's poverty being an impedance for this project - This project as mentioned costs 70-90 million dollars and US/Walmart is fighting for the domestic retail market of India which 'ALONE' is worth 450 billion dollars................. Now do the equation yourself........
@Doctor: It is up to you now, if you want to accept the hard fact or follow the head in sand approach/denial policy which is de facto Indian mindset/way of thinking. if you had read and analysed the facts carefully and you would have never posted this comment. especially, this coming from a Pakistani was a bit weird.
@jism: Over optimism is not good. Truth is that any Indian would love to run to a Western country if give the opportunity any given day of the week. Other countries are not as heavily dependent on India as you make out, rather we are still far away and things will likely stay like that until India becomes a developed nation (good luck with doing that with hundreds of millions of people. It'll take a century at a minimum, even then you wont solve all issues)
@PaKHtoon: I do respect Pakistan, and Pakistanis, but the illiteracy rate is higher in Pakistan, than in India.
we should add mars on our national flag before Indian flag on mars. and soon we will send our latest indigenous satellites from moon to pluto and to all over the universe with the help of our all weather friend china.