In an indication of the structure of the proposed restructuring of the Indian armed forces into Integrated Theatre Commands (ITC), Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) Gen Anil Chauhan stated that the theatre commanders will be responsible for force application or the operational aspects while the Service Chiefs will look after the functions of ‘Raise, Train and Sustain.’
“The concept of establishing theatre commands is to create two parallel and complementary streams for ‘Force Application’ and ‘Force Generation’. The Force Application component will become the responsibility of a theatre commander, whereas Service Chiefs, in their transformed role will be responsible for what is colloquially called the ‘Raise, Train and Sustain (RTS) function’. In other words, the service chiefs will preside over the Force Generation, an equally important aspect,” Gen Chauhan wrote in the book he authored ‘Ready, Relevant and Resurgent: A Blueprint for the Transformation of India’s Military’ that was released on Thursday.
Recalling that it has been 22 months since he was appointed as the country’s second CDS, Gen Chauhan noted that one of the tasks entrusted to the CDS has been to facilitate the restructuring of military commands for the optimal utilisation of resources and bring about jointness and integration in operations.
This, he wrote, will be visibly manifested in the establishment of joint operational structures at various levels and echelons and this switch will be one of the “most revolutionary” changes attempted by the Indian armed forces in the post-independence era. “The creation of the Theatre Commands is the beginning of this change and will kick-start start next generation of reforms in the armed forces.”
In this regard, Gen Chauhan stated that an essential prerequisite for the establishment of theatre commands is a high degree of jointness amongst the three Services and physical integration of several processes, activities and essential infrastructure.
“The structural transformation at the apex level will usher in conceptual, sotrinal and cultural changes,” he wrote stating it will also trigger cascading organisational changes at Headquarters and establishments at lower levels which will come with its own set of challenges. The acceptability of the change will only happen once officers at all levels are aware of the impending changes, he added.
Mandate of CDS
The mandate of the CDS is to ensure “jointness” of the three services in operations, logistics, transport, training, support services, communications, repairs and maintenance and the top priority is the reorganisation of the armed forces geography-centric ITC.
The effort got delayed due to lack of consensus between the Services and was stalled by the death of the first CDS Gen Bipin Rawat, and then the delay in the appointment of his successor. The process got back on track after Gen Chauhan took over as the CDS. The formation of ITC has also been included by the BJP in its election manifesto before the 2024 eelctions.
The broad consensus among services is for the creation of three theatre commands, two land commands focusing on the western and northern borders and a maritime command to oversee the country’s vast coastline. The other and a more pertinent recommendation, confirmed by multiple sources, is that all the three commanders as well the Vice CDS should be four star officers akin to the three service Chiefs and the CDS.
Published – May 23, 2025 04:00 pm IST
