Addressed to NDTV
Posted: Mon May 31, 2010 7:26 pm
Source: Received by e-mail
Dear Nitin,
It is interesting that the program named, 'Mistreating the Military' should have a police officer participating in it. Since you are the Senior Editor (and I presume from your designation that you are really senior and have some knowledge of Defence Affairs and it is not just a fancy designation for an uprated reporter) Defence and Strategic Affairs of NDTV, may I ask, by what stretch of imagination, a policeman becomes a part of the military? If that would have been so, India would have been called a 'Military Republic', and that, I'm sure it is not.
I am quite sure the police have their genuine problems and they are serious too, but let's not dilute the problems of the Military with those of the police just because the both of them wear uniform. Isn't it bad enough that the Army has to do most of the dirty work of the police without having to be lumped with them too.
Secondly, are the first-line anchors of the NDTV just confined to the glamorous aspects of the Military like Barkha Dutt in the Kargil Conflict, reporting from a gun position (which is normally 20 - 30 km behind the front line) and pretending to be at the front line. Does NDTV have ANY reporter with the guts to do what reporters from CNN or BBC do with such élan? Have you as Senior Editor Defence and Strategic Affairs, ever had the opportunity to be fired upon and to listen to the crack of bullets passing close by or the whine of splinters from artillery fire? Do we deserve a fifth line anchor who cannot even plan the program? Do we deserve to be aired at a time when only insomniac housewives will watch the program?
How dare you and whoever the anchor of that pathetic program trivialise the entire issue without even a feel (and I do not mean the guided tours that the journalists are subjected to) of the real spine-chilling feel of action?
If you are going to make a program on the problems of the military, have the guts to go out there and understand what it is all about.
I would like to end with a quote from Kautilya's 'Arthashastra' and you may remember that this was documented over 2500 years ago. This is a quote from a letter Kautilya wrote to the Emperor Chandragupta Maurya and which he has quoted in his text:
'The Mauryan soldier does not the Royal treasuries enrich nor the Royal granaries fill. He does not carry out trade and commerce nor produce scholars, littérateurs, artistes, artisans, sculptors, architects, craftsmen, doctors and administrators. He does not build roads and ramparts nor dig wells and reservoirs. He does not do any of this directly.
The soldier only and merely ensures that the tax, tribute and revenue collectors travel forth and return safely; that the farmer tills, harvests, stores and markets his produce unafraid of pillage; that the trader, merchant and financier function and travel across the length and breadth of the realm unmolested; that the savant, sculptor, maestro and mentor create works of art, literature, philosophy and astrology in quietitude; that the architect designs and builds his Vaastus without tension; that the tutor and the priest teach and preach in peace; that the rishis meditate in wordless silence; that the doctor invents cures and medicines undisturbed; that the mason and bricklayer work unhindered; that the mother and the wife go about their chores and bring up children in harmony and tranquillity; that the cattle graze freely without being lifted or stolen.
Pataliputra reposes each night in peaceful comfort, O King, secure in the belief that the distant borders of Magadha are inviolate and the interiors are safe and secure, thanks only to the Mauryan Army standing vigil with naked swords and eyes peeled for action, day and night, in weather fair and foul, all eight praharas (round the clock), quite unmindful of personal discomfort and hardship, all through the year, year after year.
While the citizenry of the State contributes to see that the State prospers and flourishes, the soldier guarantees it continues to EXIST as a State!
To this man, O Rajadhiraja, you owe a debt: please, therefore, see to it, suo moto, that the soldier continuously gets his dues in every form and respect, be they his needs or his wants, for he is not likely to ask for them himself.
The day the soldier has to demand his dues will be a sad day for Magadha for then, on that day, you will have lost all moral sanction to be King!'
In 1982, I had the privilege to accompany the then Chief of Army Staff, Gen K V Krishna Rao, PVSM to the IAS Academy at Mussorie. In his speech to the IAS probationers, Gen Rao had much the same to say to them. Unfortunately, these very IAS officers (who must all be in very senior positions today) do not seem to have understood the import of Gen Rao's message and the country now has to see the spectacle of ex-servicemen being denied the permission to hold a vigil at the Amar Jawan Jyoti to highlight the problems of the soldier.
If you have to show a program on the problems of the soldier, do it honestly and with the prominence the problem deserves, OR DO NOT DO IT AT ALL. We are not looking for your largesse.
Beware of the situation, where the serving soldier has to ask for himself!...........................COL Nitin Sawardekar
Dear Nitin,
It is interesting that the program named, 'Mistreating the Military' should have a police officer participating in it. Since you are the Senior Editor (and I presume from your designation that you are really senior and have some knowledge of Defence Affairs and it is not just a fancy designation for an uprated reporter) Defence and Strategic Affairs of NDTV, may I ask, by what stretch of imagination, a policeman becomes a part of the military? If that would have been so, India would have been called a 'Military Republic', and that, I'm sure it is not.
I am quite sure the police have their genuine problems and they are serious too, but let's not dilute the problems of the Military with those of the police just because the both of them wear uniform. Isn't it bad enough that the Army has to do most of the dirty work of the police without having to be lumped with them too.
Secondly, are the first-line anchors of the NDTV just confined to the glamorous aspects of the Military like Barkha Dutt in the Kargil Conflict, reporting from a gun position (which is normally 20 - 30 km behind the front line) and pretending to be at the front line. Does NDTV have ANY reporter with the guts to do what reporters from CNN or BBC do with such élan? Have you as Senior Editor Defence and Strategic Affairs, ever had the opportunity to be fired upon and to listen to the crack of bullets passing close by or the whine of splinters from artillery fire? Do we deserve a fifth line anchor who cannot even plan the program? Do we deserve to be aired at a time when only insomniac housewives will watch the program?
How dare you and whoever the anchor of that pathetic program trivialise the entire issue without even a feel (and I do not mean the guided tours that the journalists are subjected to) of the real spine-chilling feel of action?
If you are going to make a program on the problems of the military, have the guts to go out there and understand what it is all about.
I would like to end with a quote from Kautilya's 'Arthashastra' and you may remember that this was documented over 2500 years ago. This is a quote from a letter Kautilya wrote to the Emperor Chandragupta Maurya and which he has quoted in his text:
'The Mauryan soldier does not the Royal treasuries enrich nor the Royal granaries fill. He does not carry out trade and commerce nor produce scholars, littérateurs, artistes, artisans, sculptors, architects, craftsmen, doctors and administrators. He does not build roads and ramparts nor dig wells and reservoirs. He does not do any of this directly.
The soldier only and merely ensures that the tax, tribute and revenue collectors travel forth and return safely; that the farmer tills, harvests, stores and markets his produce unafraid of pillage; that the trader, merchant and financier function and travel across the length and breadth of the realm unmolested; that the savant, sculptor, maestro and mentor create works of art, literature, philosophy and astrology in quietitude; that the architect designs and builds his Vaastus without tension; that the tutor and the priest teach and preach in peace; that the rishis meditate in wordless silence; that the doctor invents cures and medicines undisturbed; that the mason and bricklayer work unhindered; that the mother and the wife go about their chores and bring up children in harmony and tranquillity; that the cattle graze freely without being lifted or stolen.
Pataliputra reposes each night in peaceful comfort, O King, secure in the belief that the distant borders of Magadha are inviolate and the interiors are safe and secure, thanks only to the Mauryan Army standing vigil with naked swords and eyes peeled for action, day and night, in weather fair and foul, all eight praharas (round the clock), quite unmindful of personal discomfort and hardship, all through the year, year after year.
While the citizenry of the State contributes to see that the State prospers and flourishes, the soldier guarantees it continues to EXIST as a State!
To this man, O Rajadhiraja, you owe a debt: please, therefore, see to it, suo moto, that the soldier continuously gets his dues in every form and respect, be they his needs or his wants, for he is not likely to ask for them himself.
The day the soldier has to demand his dues will be a sad day for Magadha for then, on that day, you will have lost all moral sanction to be King!'
In 1982, I had the privilege to accompany the then Chief of Army Staff, Gen K V Krishna Rao, PVSM to the IAS Academy at Mussorie. In his speech to the IAS probationers, Gen Rao had much the same to say to them. Unfortunately, these very IAS officers (who must all be in very senior positions today) do not seem to have understood the import of Gen Rao's message and the country now has to see the spectacle of ex-servicemen being denied the permission to hold a vigil at the Amar Jawan Jyoti to highlight the problems of the soldier.
If you have to show a program on the problems of the soldier, do it honestly and with the prominence the problem deserves, OR DO NOT DO IT AT ALL. We are not looking for your largesse.
Beware of the situation, where the serving soldier has to ask for himself!...........................COL Nitin Sawardekar
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