Tri-service Conference ‘Parivartan Chintan’

• The first-ever tri-service armed forces planning conference called’ Parivartan Chintan’ was held in New Delhi on 8 April 2024.

KEY HIGHLIGHTS:

• The conference was organised by the Union Ministry of Defence.
• The first tri-service planning conference was chaired by the Chief of Defence Staff, General Anil Chauhan.
• Chief of the Indian Army General Manoj Pande, Air Marshal Vivek Ram Chaudhary of the Indian Air Force and Admiral R.Hari Kumar of the Indian Navy represented the three services.
• The meeting of the chief of the three-armed forces, the Army, Navy and Air Force, was held in the background of the attempt in the country to set up a unified, integrated theatre command, combining all the three wings of the armed forces.
• The ‘Chintan’ was curated as a brainstorming and idea incubation discussion to generate new and fresh ideas, initiatives and reforms to further propel Jointness and Integration in the Armed Forces.
• Jointness and Integration are the cornerstones of the transformation to Joint Structures which the Indian Armed forces are progressing towards with the intention of being “Future Ready”.

ABOUT THEATRE COMMAND:

• In the military, theatre means a specific geographical location, which could be on land, air or sea. These identified areas are or could become areas of conflict in the future.
• The Lt. Gen (Retd) DB Shekatkar committee, set up by the Union Defence Ministry in 2015, recommended setting up an integrated tri-service command in India.
• In India, there are 19 commands of the Army, Navy and Air Force. Only two commands, the Andaman and Nicobar Command and the Strategic Forces Command, which is in charge of the country’s nuclear weapons, function as tri-service commands.
• The theatre system will provide India with an integrated warfighting capacity that can deter threats while also reducing operational costs.