What to Read in Indian Express Editorial( Topic and Syllabus wise)

Editorial 1: Plan for theatre commands

Context:

Recently held tri-service seminar at the Army war College in Madhya Pradesh has highlighted the differences among the Air Force, Army and Navy over the structure of theatre commands. It is one of the major defense reforms initiated by government to increase efficiency and coordination of the three services during any conflict.

Theaterisation of the defense forces:

• It refers to the planned integration of the Army, Navy, Air force and their resources into a ‘theatre commands’. They will be kept under single unified command.
• Each theatre command will be assigned a specific geographical location and all resources of three services will be combined for the operational role.
• Currently, Army, and Air force have seven commands each, and the Navy has three commands. There are two tri-service commands-the Andaman and Nicobar Command and the Strategic Forces Command (SFC), which manages nuclear arsenal.
• There is also Headquarters Integrated Defense Staff (HQIDS) created during Kargil for the joint management of defense staff at higher levels.
• Idea of theatre commands was first highlighted in the Independence Day speech of PM Modi in 2019 where he emphasized that entire military of the country must work together without the fragmentation of its prowess.

Reasons for creating theatre commands:

• They are created to tackle the changing nature of modern warfare. Many advanced militaries have already created theatre commands.
• These commands are created to ensure cooperation among three services, helping them fight wars jointly.
• Modern wars will be multi-domain in nature. This increases the importance coordination between land, sea, and air assets, as well as newer platforms such as UAVs and high- precision strike weapons.
• Future conflicts involving drones and high-precision missile attacks, combined with cyber war and land wars, will require all the services coordinating their planning and integrating their assets under a single command and control system.
• All these services are already taking steps to increase their jointness such as cross-postings among themselves, creating joint logistics nodes, and jointness in procurement, training, and staffing through joint planning and integration of their requirements.
• Government created the post of Chief of Defense Staff (CDS), who was a four-star general, to head the Department of Military Affairsunder Defense Ministry as it secretary. CDS was entrusted with responsibility to promote jointness in procurement, training and staffing of the services through joint planning and integration of their requirements.
• CDS was expected to facilitate the restructuring of military commands for optimal utilization of resources by bringing about jointnesss in operations including through establishment of theatre commands.

Steps taken to create theatre commands:

• First CDS was planning to create four theatre commands- an air defense command, a maritime theatre command and two land based theatre commands, each one on western and eastern sectors.
• Since then the concept has undergone significant changes. The new plan proposed adversary-based joint theatre commands instead of four-defined theatre commands. This may involve carving out from existing 17 service-specific commands, integrated theatre commands for northern and eastern borders with china, another for the western borders with Pakistan, and a third maritime commands to tackle threats in maritime domain.
• Plans are drawn on the structure of theatre commands, the location of their headquarters, their operational areas, the lead service under which each theatre command will operate, and whether the Andaman and Nicobar Command and the Strategic Forces Command (SFC) will be subsumed into the existing commands.

Challenges with the theatre commands:

• Creating theatre commands entails dismantling the existing structure of service-specific commands under three services, which have been functioning for decades.
• This has created many challenges. Air force expressed that it would lead to division of its already scarce combat assets. IAF fear that it may reduce its role to just the support arm of the army.
• Theatre commands should be future ready in dealing with emerging forms of warfare in the space and cyber domains. They should not increase the decision making chain from the existing levels.
• There are views that we must take steps to increase the jointness of three services, instead of imitating the countries like US in rolling out theatre commands.

Way forward:

Modern era warfare involves simultaneously launching attacks in multiple domains. Theatre commands must be able to counter these multi-domain attacks. Presently there is also the threat of multi-stage joint war from China, Pakistan. Theatre commands must be formed to tackle these challenges. But, the concerns of all the three services should also be taken into consideration; Theatre commands must be formed suitable to our domestic security concerns instead of blindly imitating advanced militaries.

 

Editorial 2: Making them play by the book

Context:

Parliament has passed the National Sports Governance Bill, 2025. It will replace the guidelines based National Sports Development code of India with rules-based governance for sports. It will help increasing credibility of sports organizations, introduce international best practices and increase participation in the sports.

Challenges for the sports governance in India:

• Several national-level sports federations today enjoy near monopoly and are directly concerned with the selection of teams representing India.
• India became the first Asian country to participate in the Olympics in 1900; there is no comprehensive legislation to govern sports body till today.
• Currently the sports federations are guided by National Sports Development code of India. It contains a set of makeshift rules hastily drafted by Ministry of Youth Affair and Sports.
• Sports federations today have become the fiefdom of political dispensation and the crony capitalists.
• In 2014 Parliamentary Standing Committee on Human Resource Development has highlighted that majority sports federations are headed by non sportspersons. Many cases of malgovernance are pending in the courts today.
• In some cases, courts have appointed Committee of Administrators to govern federations as immediate measure, after the position of the erstwhile office bearers has become legally untenable.
• The sports federations are facing penalties from global agencies. The Wrestling Federation of India was suspended in 2023 as it failed to hold timely elections. FIFA suspended the All India Football Federation because it was being governed by court appointed administrators.
• Sportsperson face the cost of such terrible affairs. Their careers are bounded by the constraints of time and age. Their aspirations are further stifled by mis-governance and unending litigation involving these federations.
• The National Sports Governance Bill, 2025 is passed to correct these issues and can be considered watershed for the sports governance in India.

National Sports Governance Bill, 2025:

• It empowers the Centre to establish National Sports Board, which will grant recognition to various national sports federation and their affiliate units. This will put an end to the battles of legitimacy faced by many federations within the same sports.
• It establishes the National Olympic Committee, the National Paralympics Committee, the National and Regional sports federationsfor each sports. They have the mandate to establish Code of Conduct rules in line with best practices in each sport.
• The Act also creates the Executive Committee for every sports federations consisting of 15 members, with atleast two outstanding sportsperson and for omen.
• Age limits and tenure is also defined for each sport to ensure that fresh talent and vigor is inducted in the sports. Few office bearers from particular region, religion, and political affiliation do not have monopoly over the administration of the sport.
• It creates the National Sports Tribunalfor the adjudication of sports related litigations. This will streamline the sports related litigation and also ensure that the case is decided by subject related matters.
• The appeal from Sports tribunal lies to Supreme Court. This will reduce the unending rounds of litigation.
• The national panel of electoral officers will e formed to oversight the elections of national and regional sports federations.
• The sports federations may be disqualified for the repeated non-compliance with this bill.

Way Forward:

As India aims to host Olympic Games and the Commonwealth Games in near future, it is required that the robust sports governance framework is in place. This framework must introduce good governance in sports federations at its core. The Act will ensure that Sports federations become true representatives of the sportsperson and democratize the sports in India.