A confidential letter from the Army Chief to the Prime Minister has become public property. There are two issues before the government. One issue is who leaked the letter and the other, more important, is the content of the letter. Instead of blaming General V.K. Singh, the whole set-up, including the Prime Minister, the Defence Minister and our MPs, should put their heads together and address the shortcomings listed by him. That must be the priority if the country's interests are of any consequence.
S.V. Krishna,Visakhapatnam
As one who formerly worked in the Ministry of Defence, I feel the root cause for the tensions between the army and the Defence Ministry is that the Ministry is not alive to the issues of the army. There is an immediate need to revamp the functioning of the Ministry. We need to have a transparent system to address issues such as the selection procedure, training, promotion and posting, timely evaluation of the requirements and purchase of defence equipment, acquisition, hiring and management of defence properties (land and buildings), and assessment and execution of defence projects. If the present churning results in reforming the system, the controversy will have been worth it.
B.A. Dhayalan,Chennai
