Proposals new military chief in India

Radical changes to the structure of India's military command are expected in a government report on national security and defence reforms.

The proposals are said to include the creation for the first time of the post of Chief of Defence Staff, and a new strategic command to oversee India's nuclear weapons.

The ministerial group compiling the report was set-up after national security concerns were highlighted by an earlier report into the Kargil conflict, in 1999, in which Indian and Pakistani-backed forces fought each other in the Indian-administered part of Kashmir.

After the conflict there were criticisms that India's armed forces had operated without co-ordination and that greater integration was needed. The latest report has been submitted to the Indian prime minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service