"Two decades after the Kargil Review Committee, India's higher defence organisation remains a work in progress." Evaluate the role of HQ IDS and the CDS–DMA structure in building jointness.

The Kargil Review Committee (1999) exposed weak coordination between the three Services. The Group of Ministers (GoM) that followed proposed reforms, but the Cabinet put off its main recommendation, a Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) [1]. HQ Integrated Defence Staff (HQ IDS, raised 2001) and the CDS–Department of Military Affairs (DMA) structure (2019) have built the "soft" parts of jointness. The structural core is still unfinished.

Contribution to jointness

• Joint platforms: the Joint Commanders' Conference, Ran Samwad and the CORE (Combined Operational Review and Evaluation) programme bring the Services' thinking together [2].
• New domains: HQ IDS builds joint capability in space, cyber and the cognitive domain, beyond land, sea and air [2].
• Institutional apex: the CDS is Permanent Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee (COSC), Principal Military Adviser to the Raksha Mantri and Secretary, DMA. The DMA began working within 20 days of approval [3].
• Logistics and doctrine: 3 Joint Logistic Nodes (Mumbai, Guwahati, Port Blair) were set up, and 3 joint doctrines were issued by 2021 [3].
• Atmanirbharta: the DMA issued positive indigenisation lists of 101 and 108 items [3].
• Legal base: the Inter-Services Organisations Act, 2023 lets heads of joint bodies command and discipline personnel from all three Services [4].

Limitations: why it remains a "work in progress"

• Late apex: the CDS came about 18 years after the GoM proposed it [1][3]. Until then, HQ IDS was a planning staff headed by a CISC of Air Marshal rank, junior to the Service Chiefs [2].
• Advises, cannot command: the CDS is a four-star officer but has no military command over the Service Chiefs [5]. Jointness still depends on the Chiefs agreeing.
• Split mandate: defence policy stays with the Department of Defence, not the DMA [3].
• Unfinished agenda: in 2021, four doctrines (Capstone, Space, Cyber, ISR) were still pending, and joint training had started in only 5 of 10 chosen subjects [3]. In 2025–26 the Standing Committee still described the Services as "moving towards" theatre commands [6].

Verdict

On balance, HQ IDS and the CDS–DMA structure have achieved coordination but not yet integration. Doctrine, logistics and joint planning have moved forward, while a unified command structure has not. A time-bound theatre-command roadmap reported to Parliament, along with the pending doctrines and joint training, would complete the Kargil Review Committee's vision. The result would be a single, self-reliant fighting force ready for multi-domain war.