Government in favour of 'more detailed discussion' on theatre commands

By Ajit K Dubey
New Delhi (India), June 15 (ANI) Amid the process to create new military theatre commands, the government feels that there is a need to have detailed discussion on the reforms as other ministries would also be involved and such reforms have to be carried out after reaching "broader consensus" among all stakeholders.
The issue of theatre commands was discussed threadbare in the defence ministry in the presence of top government functionaries including Secretaries to the Government of India on the draft cabinet note for seeking government approval.
"Issues were pointed out during the presentation made by an Army officer which brought out that some paramilitary forces under the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Indian Coast Guard would be brought under the military commands," defence sources told ANI.
It also emerged during the presentation that there was a plan to give service extension to some of the theatre commanders who would be higher than the vice chiefs of three services and lower than the services chiefs.
While the paramilitary forces are under the Home ministry and the creation of new official structures would also require the consent of the Finance Ministry, it was felt that there was need to have wider discussion at inter-ministerial level and have detailed discussions with other stakeholders too, they said.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has been very supportive of the reforms in the defence forces and it was under him that recently the Army Headquarters reforms were carried out to make it more efficient.
During the presentation, points were also raised on the structures and geographical areas allotted to the commands and the analysis of the creation of these new commands, the sources said.
The meeting also saw some officials raising points about the service specific nomenclature of the proposed commands, they said.
The government while announcing a major military reform in its second term had given the task of creating new commands to Defence Ministry headed by Rajnath Singh. (ANI)