NEW DELHI: At long last, the cabinet has cleared the decision to reorganize the command structure of the armed forces by establishing an integrated defence staff unit of the three wings of the forces.

As a beginning Lt Gen Pankaj Joshi took over as chief of the integrated defence staff.

Supporting him will be a team of defence staff drawn from the three services of the defence forces and civilian officers of the ministries of defence and external affairs.

For the time being, this integration will be at the policy planning level and it will be sometime before it percolates down to lower levels and vice admiral Arun Prakash will take over as the commander in chief of the Andaman and Nicobar command later this month.

His role will be essentially that of executing political decisions, including nuclear weapons. It also includes the joint medical command, planning and training.

An integrated procurement board is being set which will be headed by the defence secretary.

It is expected to cut down delays in procurement of military equipment.

The first and major reorganization of the setup has been planned by a group of ministers of the national security which said in its report, “the capabilities of the armed forces can be enhanced significantly, if other operating three individual units operate in close tandem with one another in various tasks including training.”

It was further pointed out by the GOM that India was slow in the process of integration even as several developed countries had already done so.

While commendable as it would seem that the government had taken some of the preliminary steps in this direction, it has yet to make up its mind on many crucial issues.

For instance, it has yet to decide on the issue of the appointment of a chief of defence staff who will be the single point of reference for advising the cabinet on military affairs.

On making this appointment, it has not been able to reconcile the differences among the three wings on an appropriate choice as the chief of defence staff.

Also, there appear to be differences of opinion in the setting up of a joint forces of command to control the nuclear weapons system. It would appear that a decision in this regard has been already taken and a formal announcement is to be made in this respect.

Same is the case with the defence intelligence agency. There is yet some difference of opinion on who should be what in the integrated command structure.

For the time being, Lt Gen Joshi will head the command and Admiral Prakash will be the chief of personnel.

Strategically speaking, the choice of Andaman and Nicobar as the headquarters of the newly created integrated command has great significance as it controls the sea lanes to the west and links the country’s eastern sea board with the Gulf region.

This will be the first time that India is making a determined effort to make its presence felt in a strategically important area. It was not so long ago that Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh had toured the entire region and established a process of strategic dialogue with the countries of the region.

Modelled on the pattern of the American concept of theatre command, the success of the arrangement will depend on the extent of purposive cooperation that will be forthcoming among the three services.

This is in fact the premise on which the reorganization has been conceived.

Another compulsion to cooperate with each other will be the creation of common facilities, such as electronic and information pools or communication facilities.

Already the cabinet has announced the setting up of an integrated procurement board which is expected to do away with as many as 22 agencies through which individual units have to go through at present. All this would mean changes would be necessary in the government’s procedures in related matters.