First of all, I was surprised that the statutory warning—‘Smoking is injurious to health’—did not appear alongside Outlook’s cover photo. Outlook can book the space for the next one year by interviewing retired admirals about the rat menace in the navy submarines, retired police commissioners on how the Indian police has a low libido due to the knickerbockers they wear and the ever so many retired bureaucrats floating in the Indian galaxy about the toilet conditions in the Shastri Bhavans across the country. No Indian government, howsoever foolish, will proclaim a dud test a success as the aam aadmi is not concerned about some test results in some desert when thousands of crores of rupees are being lost every year in the name of research in our teeming csir laboratories across the country.
G. Natesh, Chennai
To me it seems like a case of too many cooks spoiling the broth. Unlike Pokhran-I in 1974, too many groups of drdo scientists were involved in the second edition. Santhanam was an ex-barc scientist and was responsible only for instrumentation. The dispute now is more a clash of egos. The Foster’s law—the only people who find what they are looking for in life are the fault-finders—applies as much to Santhanam as it does to the institutions he is vehemently accusing.
A.S. Raj, on e-mail
Can Santhanam explain how no crater was formed by a 20-25 KT TN device, but a 20 KT fission device left a huge crater? Was there no TN device in the May 11, 1998, tests?
Ravi Prakash, Bangalore
Santhanam could give Kumbhakarna competition when it comes to sleeping over issues. Even if one assumes that he could not say anything while the NDA was in power, what stopped him from doing so when the UPA took over in 2004? There is certainly more to Santhanam’s exposure than just the mad outburst of a disgruntled scientist.
R.K. Chaturvedi, Lucknow
What took Santhanam 11 years to wise the nation up to India’s nuclear achievement that according to him wasn’t? Obviously, he was busy building and protecting his own career meanwhile. Having almost retired and collected all retirement benefits, he now has no compunctions belittling his country and colleagues by sowing doubts all around. His putting the country into this avoidable peril is reason enough for him to be tried for treason.
Parmodh Sarin, on e-mail
What is the purpose of Santhanam’s diatribe? Is it just an urge to speak the truth? Is it to urge India to have another thermonuclear test before the window of opportunity closes with the imposition of the ctbt? Or is it the compulsion for a scientist who thinks he has been denied his due and wants one last righteous hurrah? Politicians and defence analysts the world over have come to realise that having a huge nuclear arsenal, including a TN device, is no guarantee for peace in one’s own backyard! With so many economic issues facing the nation and India’s nuclear isolation finally having ended, let’s not waste more time in nuclear testing but forge ahead with setting up more nuclear plants to generate cheap and green power.
R.C. Acharya, on e-mail
Santhanam’s revelations expose nothing more than personal rivalries within the scientific community.
P. Arihanth, Hyderabad
How has a person who was a salaried scientist of the government of India been able to afford a house in the posh area of Greater Kailash Part II in New Delhi?
Aseem Swarup Johri, Toronto
Instead of simply dismissing Santhanam’s statement, why can’t the Indian scientific community tackle the issue head on and tell the nation the truth? How much worse can it get?
Jayadevan T.J., Kumbanadu
Santhanam’s piece looks too choreographed. Could there be more to this than just an angry maverick scientist seemingly craving for attention?
Ninad Huilgol, Sunnyvale, US
Your cover story achieved what it set out to do: create shock value. But the public is least interested in blame games. They want results, not rhetoric. That no country has succeeded in its first atomic nuclear test is another matter; two wrongs can’t make a right. The authorities should act against the dishonest scientists on the basis of the evidence Santhanam can provide. They owe it to the nation.
K.S. Thampi, Chennai
Santhanam was the operative head of the group of scientists who conducted Pokhran-II. If he was dissatisfied with the results, he should have spoken then. He is guilty of misleading the nation for 11 years.
A.K. Ghai, Mumbai
Santhanam still hasn’t answered one question that is on the nation’s mind: why did he wait 11 years to tell the truth?
V.R. Ganesan, New Jersey
Dr Santhanam is a distinguished scientist who retired from the drdo and who was involved in the second Pokhran tests. As such, his remarks should be taken seriously. The government should appoint an independent team of distinguished scientists and find the truth for the benefit of its citizens.
Dr C.V. Subramaniam, Bangalore
The Outlook cover story shows what we have known all along: that our scientific establishment is mired in politics and is in an utter mess. No one can make a career in science unless they are sycophants. Now they are crowing about finding water on the moon. Watch this space...after a few years, we’ll find out even this is eyewash.
Dinesh Kumar, Chandigarh
Ask an Indian scientist a subject-related question and he will, if he knows the answer, behave as if we discovered the field before the West, and if he does not, will say that all those who claim they know the answer are nothing but cheats and sycophants. Santhanam belongs to the old breed of Indian scientists: brilliant but who could not do much either because of insufficient facilities or due to an outdated scientific culture and who consequently have lived with the feeling of sour grapes. If he does have the data to prove that the experiment failed, Santhanam should, instead of going to the press, submit it to a scientific peer-reviewed international journal. He should also keep his ego under check and realise that the issue is not about him but the country. By keeping silent for 11 years, he himself is guilty of the dishonesty he is accusing others of.
Narayana Sthanam, Birmingham, US
Why doesn’t Outlook hire some MPs to rake up the issue in Parliament? This expose will serve no purpose unless investigated for truth.
Navien K. Batta, Muscat
