Pragmatic Euphony  

The intervention from the Defence Minister’s office has led to the resolution of “the correct date of birth” crisis of the next prospective Army chief, Lt. general VK Singh.

“An investigation has shown that in all of Lt. Gen. Singh’s reports since his commissioning – be they ACRs (annual confidential reports) or annual medical reports – his date of birth is consistently recorded as May 10, 1951,” said an officer who spoke to IANS on condition of anonymity.

“We are now investigating how and why this error occurred and why it took so long to rectify it,” the officer added. [IANS]

More than investigating and rectifying the error, the Army should take to task the “competing” three-star General, who leaked the story to the media. If the army is not willing to take him to task, the government should intervene and set the matters straight. Someone ought to put an end to this trend of every “aggrieved” general walking up to the media and pressurising the establishment. In any case, there will be media fatigue after some time and such stories would not get too much prominence in the mainstream media. But, the damage to the organisation, through internal dissonance and in damaged reputation, would have been considerable by then.