Last week, Kami Rita Sherpa broke his own record to climb Mt Everest for an astounding 32nd time. Meanwhile, the ranks of those who do not want the world’s tallest peak to be named after the Welsh geodesist who led the Trigonometric Survey are growing. Last year, a Chinese politician raised eyebrows by calling the peak by its Tibetan name, Chomolungma, over 10 times in a 20-minute speech. Some want it to be officially known by its Nepali name, Sagarmatha. Yet others want it named after Radhanath Sikdar, the mathematician who first recognised the peak as the tallest. What India can surely do is increase support for the institute named after Sikdar at Agarpara to implement the National Geospatial Policy 2022 with impeccable quality at the ground level.
