Sansad TV Perspective: Inter-Services Organisations Bill 2023

In the series Sansad TV Perspective, we bring you an analysis of the discussion featured on the insightful programme ‘Perspective’ on Sansad TV, on various important topics affecting India and also the world. This analysis will help you immensely for the IAS exam, especially the mains exam, where a well-rounded understanding of topics is a prerequisite for writing answers that fetch good marks.

In this article, we feature the discussion on the topic: Inter-Services Organisations Bill 2023

Anchor: Vishal Dahiya

Guests:

1. Maj Gen Dhruv C Katoch (Retd.), Director, India Foundation 
2. Air marshal Anil Chopra (retd.), Director General, Centre for Air Power Studies 
3. Vice Admiral Shekhar Sinha (Retd), Former Head of India’s Western Naval Command 

Context: Inter-Services Organisations Bill 2023 was introduced in the Lok Sabha.

Highlights of the discussion:

• Introduction
• Significance of the Bill
• Challenges 
• Way Ahead

Introduction:

• The Union government introduced a bill in the Lok Sabha to empower commanders-in-chief or any other officers posted in tri-services organizations with disciplinary and administrative powers in respect of personnel serving in them. 
• At present, the service personnel of the Indian Air Force, Army, and Navy are governed by the provisions of the Air Force Act, 1950; the Army Act, 1950; and the Navy Act, 1957 respectively. 
• Under existing norms, only officers of the respective services are empowered to exercise disciplinary powers over the service personnel under the respective service Acts. 
• The Inter-services Organisations (Command, Control, and Discipline) Bill, 2023 will also pave the way for various other tangible benefits such as expeditious disposal of cases, saving of time and public money by avoiding multiple proceedings, and greater integration and jointmanship among armed forces personnel. 
• As per the theaterization plan, each of the theatre commands will have units of the Army, the Navy, and the Air Force, and all of them will work as a single entity looking after security challenges in a specified geographical territory under an operational commander.

Also read: Integrated Theatre Commands

Significance of the Theaterization and the Proposed Bill:

• It has been a long-felt demand for armed forces as there are two hostile neighbours of India.
• The rationale behind the thought process is that there will be no duplication of resources and they can be deployed in a synergistic manner in one theatre command.
• As of now, India has 17 commands of the Army, Navy, and Air Force. Once the theaterization comes into place they will be reduced to half a dozen.
• Theaterization will bring synergy into operational capability.
• As India is moving into a tri-service environment, there are issues in the disciplinary aspects. The disciplinary proceedings become difficult when there are personnel and men from different services. The bill will address these concerns.
• In practical terms, the Andaman and Nicobar Theatre commands faced issues of carrying out rules and regulations while awarding punishments to personnel of different services. It causes hurdles in the smooth functioning of the theatre command.
• The combined services act would give equivalence and power to the commander-in-chief irrespective of the service to which he belongs.
• The three services acts were framed by the parliament and no other authority can superimpose them.
• The bill is a good step as it will address many issues like referring to Service Headquarters, etc.
• The tri-service commands were put in place a long back but they lacked synergy and faced many issues.
• There is an urgent need for commanders who have the authority to take administrative and disciplinary action against individuals.
• There is a need for three services to come on the same footing to address the emerging nature of warfare. Modern warfare or future conflicts apart from involving conflicts at sea, land, and air will involve technologies and challenges like cyber warfare.
• The ultimate objective of national security will become easier.

Existing Challenges:

• The three services are working on fixed rules and there is some amount of reluctance to change it.
• There are challenges of the involvement of technologies like Artificial Intelligence, drone technology, etc. in modern warfare.
• There are some logical issues in certain services that challenge the formulation of joint rules and collaboration of three services.
• One of the major challenges is the logistics and its smooth and coordinated implementation.
• The Chief of Defence Services (CDS) is overburdened with many roles.

Way Ahead:

• The government should give operational power within the joint service command at various levels beginning from the commander in chief to the level of the commanding officer.
• The powers should be divided such that the workload of service headquarters is reduced and they are not excessively relied on matters of operational issues.
• Some sort of synergy can be developed on promotion and marking standards between the different services.
• The CDS should be the Theatre Commander and the charge of the Department of Military Affairs should be given to some other officer.
• Assets of all the services should be placed in a central pool, till concrete steps of joint operations are taken.
• A Group of Ministers can be formed to take inputs from all the stakeholders and suggest a well-coordinated policy.
• Some changes like land use and logistics should be done on an immediate basis whereas the other complicated issues can be worked out with more deliberations.

Read all the previous Sansad TV Perspective articles in the link.

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