The Indian government has taken an important step towards the creation of integrated theatre commands with the introduction of the Inter-Services Organisations (Command, Control and Discipline) Bill, 2023 in Parliament. The bill will empower the government to constitute inter-services organisations and provide disciplinary and administrative powers to their commanders. The move towards integrated or joint commands, in which all the manpower and assets of the Indian Army, Navy, and IAF will be under the operational control of a single three-star general, was stalled after the country’s first chief of defence staff General Bipin Rawat died in a helicopter crash in December 2021. With General Anil Chauhan now in the position, the creation of these unified commands is back on the agenda.
The proposed legislation will ensure the requisite command and control of the existing inter-services organisations as well as the proposed integrated theatre commands that will be created in the coming months. It will empower the commander-in-chief or the officer-in-command of an inter-service organisation to maintain discipline and ensure the proper discharge of duties of all the personnel from the army, navy, and IAF serving under their command.
India currently has only two unified commands, the geographical Andaman and Nicobar Command and the functional Strategic Forces Command, which were set up in 2001 and 2003 respectively. There are also some tri-service organisations like the Defence Intelligence Agency, Defence Cyber Agency, Defence Space Agency, and the Armed Forces Special Operations Division. However, there are as many as 17 single-service commands, with little connection in planning and operations as well as command-and-control structures. Consequently, there is an urgent need to build an integrated war-fighting machinery within the budgetary constraints through the creation of the joint commands.
China re-organised its 2.3-million People’s Liberation Army into five theatre commands in 2016 to boost offensive capabilities and establish better command-and-control structures. Its Western Theatre Command, for instance, handles the entire 3,488-km Line of Actual Control from eastern Ladakh to Arunachal Pradesh. India, in contrast, has four Army and three IAF commands for the ‘northern borders’ with China.
The introduction of this bill marks a significant step in improving India’s defence capabilities and preparedness, and it is hoped that integration and coordination between the different services will lead to more efficient use of resources, greater operational flexibility and improved overall performance.
