Shishir Gupta, Hindustan Times
Major military reforms are in the offing with
defence minister Manohar Parrikar slated to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi
early next month to discuss the mandate of a proposed chief of defence staff
(CDS).
Work has begun on creating joint commands to
optimise resource utilisation among the three armed services; the Army, Navy
and the Air Force.
South Block sources told Hindustan Times that the
Modi government has decided to appoint a CDS, a single point military adviser
to the political leadership in matters of acquisition, procurement policy and
resource rationalisation.
The mandate for the proposed CDS will be decided by
defence minister Parrikar in consultation with the PM and National Security
Adviser Ajit Doval. “The new post of CDS will not be used for parking slots for
super-ceded generals and a new man will be tasked with the job once work
profile is clearly defined,” said a senior official.
Parrikar is currently studying the report of
retired General DB Shekatkar on making military more effective with better
teeth-to-tail ratio.
The Shekatkar committee has also identified areas
where there is redundancy, and downsizing of the military could be undertaken
without compromising combat effectiveness.
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“For example, a couple of hundred signal troopers
had been deployed to listen to radio broadcasts in 1962. This unit is still
functional despite it being technologically redundant. Similarly, the National
Cadet Corps could be downsized by more than 50% by hiring retired soldiers,”
said the official.
After preferring merit to seniority in appointment
of Army Chief, the defence ministry is now examining the case for a joint command
as a step towards integrated theatre commands.
The army, air force and navy currently operate in
silos with each protecting its turf and operations. The ministry now is looking
towards creating integrated structures where all three services are synergised
towards military operations.
For example, it is proposed that Northern Command
could come under one overall commander from any one of the three services, with
overall control of all military and air assets. “This does not mean that top
level vacancies will be reduced. Only that there would be one overall commander
in one theatre and future roles of military chiefs being redefined and
refocused. Essentially, the reforms will be close to what has been done in US
Armed Forces with tweaking on ground,” said a senior official.
However, top defence analysts are sceptical about
the theatre command concept as it not only required dedicated military
resources but also command synergy at the cutting-edge levels. According to
them, maybe the first step could be formation of tri-services battle groups
before the theatre command concept is followed.
“US has global armed presence and hence the theatre
command concept works with dedicated land, air and naval assets earmarked for
each command. In India, we have flexible air and naval assets that are
earmarked as per operational requirement,” said an analyst.
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