Honour, no more

Honour, no more
It is intriguing what prompted Gen VK Singh to drag the ‘Age row’ to court at the fag end of his career. He had only succeeded in washing of dirty linen in public. Moreover by concurring with Defence Minister’s statement that the army is responsible for this mess, he has let down his own subordinates thus demoralising them. The stand taken by the General on his year of birth as 1951 in spite of his accepting 1950 as year of birth in writing, shows the hollowness of his claims of ‘honour’ and ‘integrity’. The reason for withdrawing his plea can only be construed as a clever strategy to avoid the gross embarrassment if adverse remarks are made by the Court . Now even if he resigns it will be termed as an ‘honourable’ exit and it looks like the only option left for him to protect his ‘honour’ and ‘integrity’.
—Haridasan Mathilakath, Navi Mumbai

II
This refers to the front page report, “It’s 1950.” (DNA, February 11). From the beginning of the case, it was crystal clear that his year of birth was 1950,as he was given three promotions, leading to his elevation as Army Chief. Nowhere in his career, he disputed his year of birth as 1950, when he was promoted in the rank.  The observations of the Supreme Court on the morale of India’s 13-lakh strong army are apt. Had 1951 been accepted as his year of birth, it would have disturbed the government’s plans to appoint the next army chief.   It would have also affected other Army officers expecting promotions.   There is a joke going around that In India, the government decides the year of the birth of the Army chief and in Pakistan the Army chief decides the age of the government. This matter should not be taken lightly, as it is for the first time that an Army chief in the country, has approached the court on service matters. Now, the issue should be buried.
—Deendayal M.Lulla, via email

III
The Supreme Court’s order in the army chief case is a trend-setter. The court has shrewdly, without mincing any words, pointed out to that decorum of high posts must be maintained at all costs and is of paramount importance. Those in top positions must think before they can lean on any court as a last resort. By retorting ‘why now’, the Supreme Court has chided the army chief on his desire to continue in office and his losing sight of this date discrepancy earlier. It meant he is not keen on attention to details. In a way, the government also has been snubbed for its inability to make-up with a person of the stature of an army general. It could have thought twice before issuing statements on the army chief in and outside the court. Those in responsible positions must know they should not add to the burden of courts especially when genuine grievances can be redressed without taking recourse to law. This subtle message has added sheen to the court’s judgment.
—Ganapathi Bhat, Akola

Premature planning for BJP
The Karnataka Advocate General’s revelation that he was “pressurised” by the saffron party to quit as Special Public Prosecutor in the assets case against Jayalalithaa comes as a shock and only goes to show that the Lotus party is already scouting for allies in the hope that it will be its turn next time around to rule from Delhi.  It is possible that the AIADMK manages to win more seats in the elections to the Lok Sabha in 2014 since it is the ruling party in Tamil Nadu at present and so the BJP is quite keen to keep the party in its fold before it falls for some other party’s poaching-cum-horse trading.  However, the mood of the voters some two years from now cannot be predicted, so it does look pretty premature on the part of our main opposition party to dream of such a development.
—Dr V Subramanyan, Mumbai

A clear electoral condition
Every time the election fever grips the city or the nation, a lot of discussion happens on the actual voters list and corrections to be done to prevent mischief and misrepresented votes being cast. This agony unfortunately continues even today and nothing gets done despite several initiatives driven by residents and activists. One such goof up has happened in Wadala area where the only change that has been done and that too haphazardly is an addition of few names here and there in the electoral rolls of the area. But major impacting changes such as non-deletion of an entire slum pocket from the rolls, which existed on an encroached piece of land in the area by slum dwellers some years ago but who have now been evicted and a pay and park zone has been created. This is despite the fact that many applications were made to the BMC seeking a correction.  Post eviction and rehabilitation almost a year ago, one need not be surprised that the names of those slum residents would also be duplicated in the relocated locality electoral rolls also. The activists and residents had also pointed out that in more than 50% cases there were shortcomings in the lists - no photographs, no addresses etc. The response from the authorities reeks of total apathy and utter disregard in their lust for power. There is an estimated Rs8,000 crores per annum spent just in the last five years of the BMC/BJP rule which has claimed to have been spent of developmental work by the BMC which, again, unfortunately is not in tandem with ground reality.
—Deepak A, via email