Readers' comments: On criticising the military and India's ties with its neighbours

With the forces

No, the army should not be questioned and this piece should not have been published (“Far from being anti-national, it is a patriotic duty to question the military”). Do not compare Indian affairs of today with American affairs of half a century ago. You so-called journalists are exploiting democracy, which demands a modicum of self-restraint. This is why lot of Indians are calling democracy a curse on our country. Hope you will be sensible. – Madan Mehta

***

I don't think the Indian democracy is so blind as to not understand right from wrong. To write an article like this is uncalled for.

Our military has not done anything questionable since Independence. To justify your stance by citing examples of Pakistan and China is such an anti-national and Left-leaning way of thinking that it can tear the fabric of our democracy and weaken our country. – Sam Ghosh

***

Another thing that plagues our armed forces is nepotism, especially in matters of promotion above the rank of Colonel and its equivalent.

We need to remember how Nehru's nepotism lead to the rise of the unfit BM Kaul, who ran away from the war front, deserting his soldiers and leading to our downfall in the ’62 war with China.

***

Those in the Indian media who claim to be defence or strategy experts have mostly gained some superficial knowledge by fraternising with junior and middle-level officers in their younger days.

The military is both a complex art and a complex science. The complexities only grow as one moves from the tactical to the operational and then to strategic levels. They also grow because of continuously evolving military technologies and forms of warfare.

Military professionals develop the required level of expertise in this art and science over a lifetime. The media sure has right to question in a democracy but sadly, they ignore the necessity of developing expertise and real insights before doing so. – Sawaroop Kumar

Championing champions

Please give PV Sindhu a break, she cannot be expected to win every tournament she participates in (“Badminton: PV Sindhu crashes out of Denmark Open in second round”). Even boxing legend Muhammad Ali was defeated by ordinary mortals on certain occasions and Sachin Tendulkar has got out for a duck sometimes. Champions always bounce back. Rest assured that Sindhu will too.

Look book

Arshad Khan is good looking in the sense he has a good face with beautiful eyes and expression (“Watch: The Pakistani chaiwalla who became a viral sensation (and a model) gives an interview”). This is exactly want the people in the Indian sub-continent look for. In most western countries beauty is not judged by the face alone, it is judged in its entirety –looks, gait, figure, body mass-to-height ratio. No one will consider a short and plump man with a handsome face or a tall man with a paunch as good looking. Let us see the full picture of the man before people go ga ga over him. – Satish Rao

Chinese whispers

The author appears to have been paid by China (“Think before you fall for #BoycottChina. Breaking trade ties will hurt Indian business”). He does not know anything about making India becoming self-sufficient.

He is towing the official Chinese line. He appears to be a Chinese fifth columnist given the task of moulding Indian mind away from the indigenous Make in India vision.

He gloats over the fact that India is slowly increasing its imports from China and decreasing its exports to this new-world capitalist. The only asset China has is its bullet with which it controls the wages of its labour!

India is being forced to remain a supplier of raw materials for the world consumers whereas China has become the world's producer.

Invaluable raw material is forcibly being exported at unimaginably cheap prices to feed the Chinese manufacturers and India’s adivasis, the poor and its ecology are bearing the brunt of.
– Rakesh Sharan

Sowing stability

It is most unfortunate that Tamil Nadu’s farmers are in distress (“In Tamil Nadu, farmers have lost an entire crop season to the Cauvery row”). Monsoons are failing with an alarming regularity, causing farmers as well as state governments to suffer.

If a monsoon is likely to be poor, early signals of this should be given to farmers, so that they can change their cropping pattern. Besides, it has been reported that Tamil Nadu had experimented with the SRI method of rice cultivation, which requires less water and has higher productivity. It involves replanting a single rice stalk at a fixed distance and requires watering only once in three days. Both Tamil Nadu and Karnataka have to find ways of increasing their water storage capacity and also change their crop patterns to help each other.

Our government’s development plans are lopsided. The government is trying to tempt rural labour to come to cities and abandon their farms. Instead, we must develop trade and industries that support agriculture nearer farms so that farmers can be trained in the use of technology and equipment to increase production and reduce monsoon dependency. Make India does not mean we should abandon our agrarian sector. – SN Iyer

Gaping hole

This article on hunger shows us ground reality in Indian states (“Hunger is India's greatest problem even today. So why don't we ever hear about it?”).

As you said, nobody in the elite circle or in government is bothered about this grave and shameful issue.

Weeks later, our elite media is still debating on the so-called surgical strikes – but they don’t have time to discuss malnutrition, hunger and starvation deaths in the country. – Muthukkumar

False positive

This headline is stupid – arresting criminals has not reduced crime, has it (“Will sacking government employees help control the unrest in Kashmir?”)?

The world’s largest incarcerator USA, still has thieves and drug-dealers. China, Iran and Saudi Arabia have murders.

Why are you trying to confuse proper action by asking a somewhat idiotic, but to your mind, sarcastic question? By the same logic, do sarcastic headlines make Scroll.in intelligent? No they don’t!

This action was taken as per law, and let the legal process be followed. If the government officials did foment the unrest, they deserve to be sacked. Enough said. I am not going to read your lies anymore. – Raj Mumbaikar

Keep it going

I think the game should diversify into other markets like India as soon as possible (“Pokémon Gone? Three lessons that game-makers can learn from Pokémon Go's rapid decline”). Simply catching a Pokémon is not interesting. We should first make our Pokémon battle with it and then capture it. It's my humble request to Niantic to release game as soon as possible in India. – Rahul Rao

Snap ties

I think there should not be any people-to-people contact between India and Pakistan (“Venkaiah Naidu said he isn't making a case for a boycott of Pakistan– and then made a case for it”). Art is not above honour and definitely above the lives of our soldiers. Stop negotiations, seal the border, expel Pakistani diplomats and cut diplomatic ties. After 1,000 years we re-evaluate the situation.

Uphill task

Though an apt description of the Sherpa people one must not forget that traditionally the Sherpas were pastoral people, herding yaks and sheep (“The Sherpas of Darjeeling hope for a day when their children don’t have to climb mountains”). The economic plight of the Sherpa people in the Darjeeling hills is in fact the same as that of any other indigenous community forced to live under the rule of Kolkata. – Vivan Eyben

In someone else's shoes

The idea, effort and patience of Tushar and Matt has left me speechless (“What living below the poverty line taught an investment banker and an MIT grad”). All I can say is, I'm proud of them as a fellow human being.

Thank you for sharing their experience with the world. I hope it makes it a better place. – Tabassum Mosleh

Canine plight

Kerala is no place for dogs (“Why is the dog bite problem so concentrated in Kerala, asks Supreme Court”). Pet dogs are kept cooped up in little pens all day. If they aren't confined to their cages, they are tied up, again all day.

Most residents do not look at dogs as man’s best friend. They only keep them for security. When a dog is treated this way, he is bound to become aggressive.

In fact, street dogs seem to have a better deal. At least they enjoy their freedoms at night, when the rest of the city is asleep. In the day, however, they become the target of citizens’ ire.

That’s how Kerala’s men exhibit their virility – by preying on a hapless stray, without any provocation from the dog. This elicits laughter from his peers and makes him think that he is a man. – Sreekumar Prabhakaran

***

There is too much surplus non-vegetarian food thrown on to the streets and there is no proper waste-disposal scheme in Kerala. These are the major reasons why there are so many street dogs in the state. – VP

Unbankable banks

Almost all Indian banks are focused on improving the coverage of third-party channels ("Indian banks have denied responsibility for the huge debit card data leak – leaving no one to blame"). They believe that these alternate channels alleviate manpower costs and improve the bottom line.

On the contrary, outsourcing all the technology platforms only increases expenses but also threatens the safety and privacy of the customers, which directly affects the reputation and business of the bank and not of the third party. There is no fool-proof technology but there is definitely scope for better security. – Karthik