A question of honour

It's a fight for honour and pride say two gentlemen. One happens to be a General, and the other a space scientist of repute. The General in question happens to be the Chief of the Indian Army, General V. K. Singh, who is fighting a controversy surrounding his date of birth. On the other hand the space scientist, Dr Madhavan Nair, feels he is being victimised without even being given a fair hearing.

DEALING WITH ACHIEVERS

With the Congress (I) led-UPA Government already neck-deep in scandals and facing difficult electoral battles in key states, the fresh round of controversy appears bizarre at face value. Is there a deeper political game to sideline more difficult issues like the Lokpal Bill, the 2G scandal and economic ills, is a matter of speculation. However, the question on people's minds is, is this the way the Government should deal with achievers? Should the PM or the Ministry concerned have handled the issues with greater maturity and avoided such a fracas in public? After all, to reach the top post in the defence services is no mean achievement, nor is the case of Dr Madhavan Nair, under whose tenure the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) achieved an enviable record of nearly 25 launch successes, including the Moon Mission called Chandrayaan , which matches the best from the US or Russia.

The inept handling of the contentious date of birth issue of General V. K. Singh has snowballed into a big fight, with the General, perhaps the first Army Chief taking his case to the apex court on grounds to protect his ‘honour and integrity' . The Supreme Court in its wisdom today pulled up the Government for the way in which it summarily rejected General V. K. Singh's statutory complaint and gave a week for it to respond. In his response, the Defence Minister, Mr A. K. Antony said the Court decision would be final.

At another level, background efforts to find a truce seem to be appearing with the General meeting the Finance Minister. Mr Antony's reported comments that the problem lay in the Army in a way brings down the conflict area and gives scope for reconciliation. In contrast the ‘unexpectedly' decisive action by the Government has summarily banned Dr Madhavan Nair and three more space scientists from holding any Government post. The case in question is the Antrix-Devas multimedia transponder deal, first exposed by Business Line and The Hindu last year.

GUILTY UNTIL PROVEN INNOCENT

Regardless of whether Dr Madhavan Nair and the three scientists are guilty the way a scientist of his stature has been treated, threatens to impact the image of the space department at the global level. It is perhaps time that the probe committee reports are made public, and scientists given their due voice. The Government should intervene to sort out matters, and not allow a free fall of the high international reputation steadfastly built by ISRO for more than 4 decades. That Mr Narayanaswami, Minister of State in the PMO has spoken of a rethink is welcome. In the case of the Army, the desirable step should be to amicably diffuse the situation and settle it. So, what is at stake is honour and reputation, for which the two gentlemen claim to be fighting. It is in the fitness of things that the claims are dealt with the care and decency they deserve.

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