A NUMBER of ex -serviceman of village Bhodsi, in Sohna district, raised their voice on the birth certificate of Army Chief General V K Singh (who is left in the picture). They all blamed the central government, in particular, the Ministry of Defence for not accepting General Singh’s date of birth. One feels that these ex-servicemen should not interfere in the official matter of the Ministry of Defence. The matter, at the end of the day, is to be decided by the ministry only, and none else.

These ex-servicemen also criticized that the rank of a Lieutenant Colonel was earlier above that of a   Superintendent of Police, which has been only very recently reduced to a DSP level. They further claimed that war weapons with the latest technology are not provided nor are facilities in the army up to the standard.

The retired servicemen should not interfere in the working of the Ministry of Defence since the ministry will go as per the record available and submitted by a particular officer or jawan at the time of his appointment. You can’t keep on changing or challenging your own record, which at the time of appointment, was submitted to the Ministry.

Certainly the first Date of Birth record issued by the Hospital/ Municipal Authority or which appears in the 10th Standard Examination should be considered as the Final Date of Birth. General Singh’s Date of Birth, too, be ascertained from his certificate and hence let there be no controversy on the issue. Let the ex-servicemen, instead of joining politics, keep themselves busy or involved in social activities and family and village welfare and its development - instead of joining the dirty politics of which there is no dearth.