29 August 2024 : Daily Answer Writing
Q1) What do you understand by theaterisation of commands? Enumerating the impediments in theaterisation for India’s armed forces, discuss the role of Chief of Defence Staff in enhancing the effectiveness of India’s external security response.
(250 Words/15 Marks)
ANS
The aterisation is a concept that seeks to integrate the capabilities of the three services- army, air force and navy under an operational commander with authority over all three services in a geographical area known as a ‘theater command.’
There are following impediments in seamless theaterisation of the armed forces:
- Multifunctional role would require changes in training. Military personnel will need varying level of acquaintance, skills, and experience with land, maritime and air forces. There are proposals for separate command for doctrinal matters and logistics which could increase the complexity of theaterisation.
- Inter-service divergence: Not all the services are onboard for theaterisation. The IAF has expressed concerns about the model for division of its air assets, the nomenclature of commands, the leadership of theatre commands and dilution of powers of chiefs.
- Division of Responsibility: Having CDS as a single point authority is susceptible to disruption and delays in events of death, or injury. E.g., the plan to operationalize a theater command for western borders by 2022 was delayed due to death of CDS General Bipin Rawat.
- Land-bias: Due to historical reasons, there could be bias towards threats on land borders. E.g., a single Maritime Theatre Command for eastern and western commands of the Indian Navy from Sir Creek to Sundarbans and Andaman & Nicobar Islands.
The Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) is military position manned by a three or four-star general, who acts as the Principal Military Advisor to the Defence Minister on all matters related to tri-services (Army, Navy, and Indian Air Force). The core functions of the CDS are to foster jointness in operation and synergy of resources, which makes his role important in enhancing India’s external security response:
- Swift: The CDS fosters greater operational synergy and resource-optimization between the three armed services, to enable swift response. E.g., through operational control over the theatre commands.
- Effective: He has role in upgradation of the armed forces in terms of doctrine, technology etc. to make them more effective as a modern fighting unit. E.g., raising of mountain strike corps against China.
- Decisive:
- Pending Reforms: His role is key to bring about standardisation needed for interoperability of resources. E.g., theaterisation of the armed forces
- Strategic decisions: As permanent chairman of Chiefs of Staff Committee, CDS acts as the single-point military adviser to the Defence Minister. His strategic role is also critical as the advisor to the Nuclear Command Authority (NCA).
- Cooperative:
- Civil-Military Relations: As the head of the Department of Military Affairs (DMA) in the Ministry of Defence, CDS integrates military and civilian bureaucracy. E.g., addressing apprehensions relating to defence pensions.
- Tri-services cooperation: As the permanent chairman of the Chief of Staff Committee, CDS has role to keep inter-services rivalries to a minimum and build consensus among services.
Care must be taken to ensure that the theaterisation of India’s armed forces contributes to the aim of creating Joint Armed Forces. Global best practices from countries like US, Russia, France, China etc. should be adapted. The CDS will have to ensure that ‘service parochialism’ does not become a hurdle in India’s military modernisation.
