The CDS
The next Chief of Defence Staff must be appointed without further delay so that reforms initiated by the first Chief of Defence Staff, General Bipin Rawat, can continue in conjunction with tackling challenges on India’s northern, eastern and western fronts. Any further delay will disrupt the ongoing process of transformation and modernisation of all wings of the armed forces. It would also boost national security and the morale of our armed forces personnel.
Ravi Bhushan,
Kurukshetra, Haryana
In the passing of India’s first CDS, the country has lost an inspirational general. A soldier’s utmost dedication and love for the motherland is why India is safe. From the tributes that the people of the Nilgiris and Coimbatore paid to the departed souls, to the great respect and recognition at Delhi, there was only one expression — of collective thought.
One only hopes that the detailed inquiry is completed soon. Also, as our nation faces deep threats, the appointment of his successor must not be delayed.
Jayasekharan V.P.,
Payyanur, Kannur, Kerala
The road to Ooty
I write this letter as a former Deputy Director General, Geological Survey of India, Government of India. An issue that has been raised after the tragic passing of the first CDS, Mrs Rawat and the other defence personnel in the helicopter crash in the Nilgiris, is why the CDS and his entourage preferred to use a helicopter than travel by road. The answer possibly lies in the cumbersome road journey. It is pertinent to mention that the Nilgiri mountain road from the Mettupalayam foothills (from Kallar) to Coonoor and Udhagamandalam is in dire need of being made safer. It also needs to be upgraded to ensure a faster journey which can be done by road widening and tunnelling through sections of the mountains. The ghat road is narrow at many stretches and is landslide prone in the rainy season.
The road is also accident-prone with thousands travelling every day on this two-way road.
Considering the huge tourist inflow to the Nilgiris, the presence of a number of hydropower projects and a major military establishment in the form of the Defence Services Staff College, this issue can no longer be ignored. A scientific and engineering study must be undertaken from the point of view of landslides, tunnelling, and hill slope widening in forested stretches.
R. Srinivasan,
Chennai
No teacher, no class
It is slowly but certainly dawning on all those who care that children’s education has been the worst affected in the pandemic onslaught; yet it is a peripheral concern. Online classes are of course a necessary evil in the pandemic-stressed situation but it has proved to be a poor substitute especially in the case of the youngest age group of students. Even among those who had the advantage of access to online mode, the learning outcome has been minimal at the most. Imitation cannot be a replication. It is time to prepare a post-COVID-19 recovery plan which places the teacher’s role as the pivot of children’s education.
Ayyasseri Raveendranath,
Aranmula, Kerala
‘The General’
I have been a reader of
The Hindu for the past three years. I refer to the paper of December 9, 2021, i.e. Thursday, that reported the passing of the first Chief of Defence Staff, General Bipin Rawat, Mrs Rawat and 11 defence personnel with the Page 1 headline, “Rawat, 12 others killed in T.N. chopper crash”, which I found insensitive.
Being a media student I understand the basics of reporting and how newspaper printing and the industry works. But merely referring to the surname of a person, and that too of stature of the Chief of Defence Staff, is insensitive. I understand newspapers have a hard time with space constraints on the front page. But Gen. Rawat’s name could have been mentioned in a proper way in the headline too (as was done in the text).
Shitij Rao,
Gurgaon
I have been a reader of
The Hindu for the last 12 years. Being an air veteran, I was pained to see the headline without reference to the General’s rank. I could not fathom how a newspaper of The Hindu's standard could be insensitive towards a national tragedy.
Umesh V.,
Bengaluru
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