Who should call the shots in a theatre command—Air Force, Army, Navy? Let the context decide

Last week, I wrote about the military identity being targeted by civilian authorities in the context of civil-military relations. The argument made was that the impact of the military’s denuded identity could manifest itself in tainted military advice. That, in turn, could cost the nation dear. In fact, the phenomenon is layered atop another identity struggle that got deepened three years ago when the Narendra Modi government created the post of the Chief of Defence Staff and mandated him to restructure the Armed Forces by creating Theatre/Joint Commands. Thereafter, what has apparently transpired is the boosting of self-preservation efforts due to perceived threats to the individual Service identity that has been traditionally based on land, sea and air identity. Integration through restructuring is facing headwinds that are derived from such perceptions. The end result is that the Theatre Command is nowhere in sight.