“Year of Reforms will be a momentous step in modernisation journey of the Armed Forces.”: Raksha Mantri Rajnath Singh
Comprehensive National Power (CNP) of a nation is the totality of a country’s economic, military and political power in a given period of time. Military power remains the key component of CNP and has become more pronounced in uncertain times. On the New Year Day of the year 2025, Raksha Mantri (RM) chaired a meeting with the top officials of the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and in order to give impetus to the ongoing and future reforms, it was unanimously decided to declare the year 2025 as the ‘Year of Defence Reforms’ in India. Rajnath Singh has been at the helm of MoD from the year 2019 onwards and he has overseen many key reforms in the defence sector. With the rapid change in the geo- political scenario and India emerging as the leader of the Global South, the focus on Defence Reforms is crucial for the national security and corresponding CNP. Some reforms have been in the making for the last four to five years and the year 2025 may see some of them taking a formal shape and identity.
The key question is why the reforms in defence sector are critical in India. Though India spends little less than 2% of the GDP on defence expenditure, the annual defence outlay in the financial budget is around 13%. The total allocation of Rs 6.22 lakh crore for defence is approximately 12.9% of the total budget outlay for the financial year 2024-25. This outlay is much more than other key ministries. For example, the Railways got 2.55 lakh crore, Home Ministry got 2.20 lakh crore, Agriculture was allocated 1.52 lakh crore, Transport & Highways got 2.78 lakh crore, Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution got 2.23 lakh crore and so on in the financial year 2024-25. Out of the defence budget, a major chunk is consumed in the pay and pension heads. Therefore, the available funds for modernisation and procurement of defence platforms has to be most judiciously utilised. The proposed reforms address this concern more effectively.
Among all sectors of the government machinery, the reforms in the defence sector are most complex and time consuming, particularly in a democratic setup like India. The militaries the world over are conservative and tradition bound. Even in the US, the Goldwater-Nicols Defence Reorganisation Act of 1986 had to be pushed by the government. In India, the reforms process in defence sector has been initiated right from Modi 1.0 government and some of them have already made silent but significant contribution. Some of the reforms are not in public domain, purely for the confidentiality involved. But the MoD has been more proactive now and has reached out to the citizens to make them stakeholders in the security apparatus of the nation. The public announcement of the nine points of focused intervention in 2025 is assertion of confidence in the ongoing and proposed reforms in the defence sector.
The nine proposed reforms in the defence sector are: Bolster Jointness & Integration leading to establishment of Theatre Commands, Focus on new domains of cyber, space, robotics and AI, Inter-service cooperation & training, Faster acquisition process for capability development, Public-private partnership in defence production, Collaboration and effective civil-military coordination, Defence Exports, Welfare of veterans & leveraging their expertise and lastly Sense of pride in Indian culture & values that suit nation’s conditions.
A glance at the above focus areas indicates all these reforms have been given official impetus since the creation of Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) appointment with effect from 1 January 2020 under Modi 2.0 government and under the leadership of Rajnath Singh as the RM. With the sudden demise of General Bipin Rawat as the CDS in December 2021, the coordination between the services took a hit but now has been revived under the new CDS, General Anil Chauhan. The new Defence Secretary, Rajesh Kumar Singh, IAS has assumed the appointment on 1 November last year and thus he is likely to provide continuity in ushering the reforms and critical capability development of the armed forces.
Out of the proposed reforms, creation of Integrated Theatre Commands (ITC) is going to be the most complex and challenging. An ITC combines the resources of the Army, Navy and Air Force under a single commander to create a cohesive force with optimal utilisation of warfighting machinery and logistics. Thankfully in the last five years, a lot of ground has already been covered regarding planning & preparation of the ITC and such organisation is likely to take final shape soon. There are issues related to command & control as also those associated with Human Resource (HR) and the aspirational issues at the higher rung of leadership. Even after creation of the ITCs, that too in a phased manner, the new organisation would require careful monitoring and course correction to ensure the expected efficiency.
The new intake of soldiers, sailors and airmen through the Agnipath Scheme launched in June 2022 was another major transformation and reform. The intake pattern and the training regimen has stabilised now. The initial feedback is encouraging and the government has announced assured lateral absorption of the 75% Agniveers who leave the service after four years of engagement. This new system also provides a huge base of reservists for the nation, in case of war. Since the first batch of Agniveers would come up for lateral absorption in the year 2026, a delicate balancing act may be needed if this coincides with the creation of ITCs.
The major success of the Defence Ministry under Rajnath Singh has been the quantum jump in the defence exports. With the major push to indigenisation as part of Atmanirbhar Bharat and participation of the private industry, our defence exports have crossed a record Rs. 21,000 crores from the abysmal figure of Rs. 2000 crores a decade ago. Another major reform was corporatisation of defence PSUs. In October 2021, Ministry of Defence converted Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) into seven 100% Government owned corporate entities. Before this, OFB was largely a sick enterprise with little contribution in manufacturing world class arms, ammunition and equipment. Just in less than three years, the Defence Public Sector Units (DPSUs) are already in profit. In the long run, India has the potential to become a major defence manufacturing hub of the Global South.
Post Galwan clashes with the Chinese in the Eastern Ladakh in June 2020, Indian Armed Forces have asserted jointly with a long-term vision. The continued Russia-Ukraine War and Israel-Hamas/Hezbollah conflict in the Middle East has also changed the concept of war fighting. From short, swift and intense wars, the world is staring at prolonged wars stretching into years. Military analysts are struggling to postulate new theories and the world at large has to confront an aggressive China. China has deliberately not settled border dispute with India and it is likely to leverage the border crisis to its strategic advantage. Therefore, the reforms in the defence sector have become critical for the national security to deal with known threats from China, Pakistan and the emerging challenges from Bangladesh and an uncertain neighbourhood.
In India, the lack or limited knowledge of strategic culture in the political leadership and the ruling class is another issue of concern. Even there are very few specialists among the bureaucrats who are experts in matters military. This has to change fast in a nation that aspires to be a developed nation by 2047. When ITCs are functional, a large number of strategic decisions would rest with the collective wisdom of the military and non-military leadership. Wars and conflicts increasingly require ‘Whole of Nation Approach’ and every able-bodied citizen has to contribute towards the nation building exercise in the true spirit of a spirited soldier. The internal security dynamics are also intertwined with the external security and Rajnath Singh as the Home Minister from 2014-2019 under Modi 1.0 government is fully conscious of the security challenges that India faces.
The proposed defence reforms reflect the spirit of continuity and change in the best interest of the nation. All the stakeholders in the uniform and the political class also have to evince keen interest in the matters of national security, rising above protecting the turf and above political considerations. Since India is going to be the third largest economy by the year 2030, the military power acquired through the defence reforms adds value to the country’s CNP. The defence reforms formalised and articulated in the year 2025 are going to transform the Indian Armed Forces into a technologically advanced combat ready force capable of multi-domain integrated operations along the land, air and maritime borders as also to secure India’s global interests. Indian Armed Forces would indeed play a key role in realising the dream of Viksit Bharat @2047.
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