The Tough Road Ahead

AS CHIEF OF DEFENCE STAFF, GENERAL BIPIN RAWAT BEGINS INDIA’S LONGPENDING MILITARY REFORMS. THE DIFFICULT PART—SETTING UP THEATRE COMMANDS—IS BEING KEPT FOR THE LAST

- Sandeep Unnithan

WHEN FOUR JAISH-E-MOHAMMED terrorists struck at the Pathankot air base in the early hours of January 1, 2016, they exposed much more than the poor perimeter security of the complex—abysmal coordination among the services at the apex level. The air base was under the New Delhi-based Western Air Command while a nearby army division of four infantry brigades was under the Chandimandir-based Western Command. The army, which should have swiftly responded, was looking to Delhi for orders. The terrorists were eventually eliminated by the army before they could hit their targets, but the episode created bad blood between the service headquarters.

Exactly four years later, India’s first chief of defense staff(CDS), Gen. Bipin Rawat, told the media that his job would be “to achieve more through integration”. “The synergized efforts should not be the sum total of the three. It should be more,” he said.

Gen. Rawat will now be the man the political leadership dials whenever a matter requires coordination among the services—a Pathankot-like terror strike, for instance. As CDS, however, he is not just the government’s principal military advisor, but also the head of the new Department of Military Affairs (DMA) and the permanent chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee. The CDS will not only drive the integration of the armed forces but push for the far trickier Phase 2—integrating them into joint theatre commands. The government’s cabinet note mentions how the DMA will ‘facilitate the restructuring of military commands for optimal utilization of resources by bringing about jointness in operations, including the establishment of joint/ theatre commands’.