DIVIDED OVER UNIFIED COMMANDS
Phase two of India’s biggest post-independence military reform is likely to be announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi from the ramparts of the Red Fort on August 15, 2021. The defence ministry will initiate the setting up of India’s first two integrated military theatres—an integrated maritime theatre command based in Karwar and an integrated air defence command based in Allahabad. Of the two theatres, one will pool warships, patrol craft, soldiers and fighter jets, and the other missile and gun regiments with a network of ground and air radars.
They will be a precursor to creating two more theatre commands—a western and eastern theatre command. These land-specific commands will begin consolidation by August 15, 2022, and will be raised within a year.
The first phase of the military reforms unfolded on August 15, 2019, when Prime Minister Modi announced the appointment of India’s first Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) who would “integrate the operations of the three forces”. When General Bipin Rawat was appointed the CDS on December 31 that year, his three-year mandate to create military theatres sparked dread among the services. This is because, from 17 single-service commands where they presently exercised untrammeled power, the services would now have to share turf with their counterparts in just
