L E T T E R S    T O    T H E    E D I T O R

Time to improve civil-military relations

This refers to the article “Lack of cohesion hurting country’s defence,” (September 30) by Dinesh Kumar. The writer has painted a true picture of how political leaders use bureaucrats by giving them powers and higher positions like Joint Secretary and above to control every decision that concerns the defence services. The reason for this appears to disgrace the defence services or due to the baseless fear of a coup by the Army. The armed forces have always stood up for the unity and integrity of the country. One can see that none of the political leaders send their sons and daughters to the armed forces.

It is a political blunder that whenever any Chief from the Services expresses differences with the political executive, it is taken as a conspiracy by the political parties, especially the ruling one. As regards General V K Singh, he is honest but failed to realise that his comments would not be liked by any of the political parties involved directly or indirectly in what he has stated. He should refrain from being involved in any controversy that would harm his as well as the Army’s image and integrity.

MULTAN SINGH PARIHAR, Hamirpur

Misuse of defence quota

The defence quota is being misused since the inception of HUDA. Now it is being misused by defence personnel, while earlier it was being misused by politicians and HUDA  officials. HUDA allots plots as per rank structure. One kanal and two-kanal plots were entitlement of officers of the rank of Colonel and above. There used to be very few officers in the defence services from Haryana. Barring places like Gurgaon and Panchkula, there were no applicants for one-kanal and two-kanal plots in the defence quota at places like Hisar, Kaithal, Karnal, Kurukshrtra, Jind, Rohtak, Bhiwani, etc. Instead of allotting them to officers of lower ranks, these plots used to be transferred to the Chief Minister`s quota who would then allot them to people of his choice in exchange of favours.

The High Court should ask for the HUDA status report on such plots allotted by various Chief Ministers of Haryana during their respective tenures. It is agreed some defence personnel have misused the quota but why only they should be penalised and why not those who misused it in the name of the Chief Minister’s quota?

G G SINGH, Panchkula

Breach of discipline

The editorial, “Breach of discipline” (October 16) was most opportune. In the past week, some soldiers of an infantry battalion in Meerut beat up two officers following an altercation. On October 14, a soldier posted with an NCC battalion in Batala abused and assaulted his Commanding Officer, a Colonel, after the latter ordered his arrest for a breach of discipline. All this shows that things in the Army have gone awry. The Army, where discipline is always given top priority, should ignore indiscipline in toto. Not only the Army but all citizens, be they from the Army or civilians, must realise the worth and value of the law. We must not forget that the whole universe is ruled by rules. Sardar Patel once said, “We do not need an untrained mob. We need a disciplined army of young men and women.” Let us understand and realise that discipline is the hallmark of civilisation.

VIJAY SHEEL JAIN, Ludhiana

Stalled NEET

The idea of conducting NEET during November 2013 by the MCI (Medical Council of India) to check the malpractices and rampant corruption in medical education in the country has got stalled due to a Supreme Court ruling in a split verdict of 2:1. Although the Central Government has gone for a review petition, there is no outcome till date. Time is running out for admissions to be done in 2014. The government should either bring about a legislative remedy without further delay since the case was earlier lost on account of certain constitutional infirmities or else convince the Supreme Court that admissions done on the basis of a common national-level test will help eradicate many ills that plague the existing system. The country can ill afford to continue to allow undeserving candidates with money power to “buy” seats in medical colleges at the cost of meritorious students.  

BAWA TANDON, via email

Coal scam controversy

The nation has earlier read, heard and/or seen MPs saying “Prime Minister is corrupt” in the matter of coal scam which is a case of monumental corruption. Now a fresh verbal attack by former Coal Secretary P C Parakh, who has been accused by the CBI of irregularities in the allocation of coal blocks, on the PM has sparked a fresh controversy. Parakh says that “if the CBI smells a conspiracy, the PM is also answerable as he was the Coal Minister and the coal block allotments were done under his signatures. Will it not be appropriate for the Prime Minister to volunteer himself for the probe to clear the controversies?

BRIJ BHUSHAN MITTAL, Chandigarh