Should we take it?

8226; Apropos of the editorial, 8216;US has made an offer8217; IE, March 29, ...

8226; Apropos of the editorial, 8216;US has made an offer8217; IE, March 29, the issue is not as simple as buying aircraft: a It requires an entire support infrastructure at every base unique to US aircraft. India8217;s airforce already has a medley of ground service equipment unique to Russian, British and French systems. b Then there is the question of maintaining a committed logistics supply chain. Even if India assembles the F-16 or F-18 under licence, it will likely have to buy most actuators, sensors, hydraulic assemblies and engines from US suppliers. Any future US sanctions would be crippling. c The Indian version of F-16 or F-18 will likely be stripped of US avionics. To integrate and test Indian avionics into F-16 will be another major effort. d Weapon Systems Integration with the aircraft will be another factor which will require re-design.

8212; Ajay Agarwal On e-mail

8226; The editorial has rightly pointed out that the US now considers India as a world power. It would indeed be myopic to reject its offer.

8212; Atul Thakre On e-mail

8226; Any Indian who believes that the US8217;s offer to 8220;make India a world power8221; is a genuine one is only fooling himself. The US does not want India to be a world power. It wants to keep India down, and it can do so very cheaply by giving weapons to Pakistan. Great powers make themselves. India will never be a great power if it keeps waiting for US assistance.

8212; Anant Saraswat Cambridge, MA

8226; The editorial takes a practical 8216;half glass full8217; view of US supply of fighter aircraft to Pakistan and its offer to supply such aircraft to India. The breast-beaters are ignoring the fact that the US supplies to Pakistan are not a recent deal but go back to the mid-8217;80s. By offering fighter aircraft and nuclear reactors to India, the US has taken due care of our security concerns. We need to consider the offer seriously.

8212; M.C. Joshi Lucknow

Indian cricket

8226; Well said, Ajit Wadekar IE, March 29. It is the time to be a little supportive of one of the most successful captains India ever had. We definitely have a better team today than during Azhar8217;s captaincy. So be supportive of your team in bad times, too. Defeat comes with the package!

8212; Sen Connecticut

8226; It has been a sad commentary on Indian cricket, when the captain of the team has nothing more left in him to inspire the confidence of youngsters 8216;Split India8217;, IE, March 30. We need to make Mohd. Kaif the new captain. He did pretty well at Dharamshala in the opening match against Pakistan and he is a dashing batsman with excellent defensive skills in fielding.

8212; Raj Sharma On e-mail

8226; The last series showed that Ganguly is not fit to be Indian captain. A captain should lead from the front. If he is not a captain, he can8217;t even find a place in the team. So, Indian selectors should take some radical steps keeping in mind the next World Cup. We too often depend on seniority in India, and it8217;s time to move away from that concept.

8212; Sandeep Jain New York