Ukraine crisis
There are two sides to the Ukraine crisis. One has a Russian president who is being cursed for invading Ukraine and subject to sanctions imposed by most of the Western world, while the other is the US President-led NATO and European Commission. America’s wartime stories are terrifying. One has a war with Vietnam; With Iraq under the guise of finding weapons of mass destruction, and then Afghanistan, where nothing much was achieved. None of these blunders and misadventures found that America was either being interrogated or warned. When it comes to Ukraine, it should be noted that Russia has genuine concerns that the West ignored and went against them by violating key agreements.
Manoharan Muthuswamy,
Chennai
While the Russian full-scale military offensive on Ukraine has invited global condemnation (except for China), India finds itself on the horns of a dilemma given the mutuality of strategic and business interests between India and Russia, spanning several decades. . Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s appeal to President Vladimir Putin to withdraw talks and express his concern about the safety of thousands of Indian nationals stranded in Ukraine, was a minimal diplomatic initiative in the given situation. However, questions would be raised about India’s apparent failure to anticipate the inevitable outcome of such a military attack and its inability to organize a timely evacuation, at a time when a war seemed quite imminent even to a common man. While Russia may have genuine security concerns given the possibility of Ukraine joining NATO, attacking Ukraine does not pose any imminent military threat to its territorial integrity or sovereignty, it is a violation of established norms. It also poses a challenge to the United Nations’ own credibility in ensuring global peace. With Russia and China having veto powers, any resolution considered against Russian interests is bound to fail.
SK Chowdhary,
Bangalore
One Farm Outreach
Although the Green Revolution has corrected hunger conditions by increasing productivity with hybrid seeds and fertilisers, there is a mismatch when one looks at the country’s rank in the Global Hunger Index – where micro-malnutrition is prevalent (editorial page, “One New Channel Plowing “For India’s Food Systems”, February 25). A new channel is needed to reach the masses to mitigate this. The mention of training and travel planning in the 1970s takes a trip down memory lane when Extension – now often called outreach – played a major role in taking technologies, varieties, etc. to the target audience in their own language. The role played by All India Radio in popularizing the IR8 variety – often referred to as Radio Nail (Radio Nail). Paddy) – is a good example.
Television media has now grown phenomenally but more time is spent on entertainment and politics. There is very little time and programming devoted to the farm and related activities. It could very well be channeled into a new channel for planned progress in India’s food systems.
Dr. V. Purushothaman,
Chennai