THEATRE OF TRANSFORMATION

India is going ahead with a landmark reorientation of its armed forces, aiming to alter their operational, tactical and strategic posture

- SANJIB KR BARUAH

Perched at about 11,000 feet, Drass—Ground Zero of the 1999 Kargil War—is touted as the world’s second coldest inhabited place. One would have wondered what a posse of Indian Navy’s marine commandos (MARCOS) would be doing in the mountainous cold desert on this year’s Kargil Vijay Diwas event on July 26. After all, Drass is thousands of kilometres from the nearest coast.

Times are changing. The functional military boundaries of land, sea and air are fading. Brigadiers and colonels are being sent to train with the Navy and the Air Force, while senior Navy and IAF officers are training with the Army. The department of military affairs (DMA), created on the first day of 2020, is working to promote the culture of theaterisation. Cross-postings are the order of the day. The idea is to integrate units of all three services in a single theatre under a common commander to enhance operational efficiency. The Chinese did it in 2016, the US and most major militaries had done it a long time ago. Even the Pakistanis are reported to be on the job.

India, despite some initial setbacks, has kickstarted the process to set up theatre commands, which involves jointness and integration of the disparate war-fighting units. The Inter-Services Organisation (Command, Control and Discipline) Bill, 2023, a key prerequisite for theatre commands, got parliamentary approval on August 8. It awaits presidential assent now.