New Delhi: Chinese expert and current military advisor to the National Security Council Secretariat Lt Gen Anil Chauhan (retd) was on Wednesday appointed as the new Chief of Defense Staff (CDS).
The Centre’s announcement comes nine months after the tragic death of General Bipin Rawat helicopter crash in Tamil Nadu.
This will be the first time that a retired three-star officer will return to active service in a four-star rank.
“Government has decided to appoint Lt Gen Anil Chauhan (Retd) as the next Chief of Defense Staff, who will also take charge as Secretary, Department of Military Affairs, Government of India from the date of assumption of charge and till further orders. Will work A statement issued by the Ministry of Defense said.
Born on 18 May 1961, Lt Gen Chauhan was commissioned into the 11 Gorkha Rifles of the Indian Army in 1981. He is an alumnus of the National Defense Academy, Khadakwasla and the Indian Military Academy in Dehradun.
Lt Gen Chauhan, known as the ‘China Expert’, has had several stints in the Eastern Command and retired as the Eastern Army Commander on May 31, 2021.
Before taking over as the Eastern Command, the officer, who has a career spanning over 40 years, was the Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) during the Balakot airstrike in 2019.
Lt Gen Chauhan was also architect Operation Sunrise, a joint Indo-Myanmar military operation, targeted several insurgent groups in the Northeast in 2019.
After retirement last year, he was appointed as the Military Advisor to the NSCS, headed by National Security Advisor Ajit Doval.
As CDS, Lt Gen Chauhan will lead India’s dramatization effort, with the three services yet to resolve their differences over precise structure and command.
He will also be creating a priority list of purchases that need to be made keeping in mind the joint acquisition, rather than following each service’s own list.
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Experience in Anti-Terrorist Operations
When General Rawat took over as CDS on 1 January 2020, China was not seen as India’s main adversary. This was Pakistan, and the army was more oriented towards counter-insurgency and counter-insurgency operations along the Line of Control (LoC) and in the hinterland of Jammu and Kashmir.
However, things changed with the Ladakh standoff that started in May 2020 and the subsequent clashes in the Galwan Valley.
Lt Gen Chouhan has held several command, staff and assistant appointments in his active career and has vast experience in counter-insurgency operations in Jammu and Kashmir and Northeast India.
His appointment as CDS became possible after the government came formal change As per rules and regulations in June this year, retired three-star officers were also allowed to be eligible for appointment to the top post.
theprint was to report first In May, an apex decision-making body within the government approved changes to some rules that allow the possibility of reverting a retired officer to the rank of CDS.
it was also informed of On December 9, 2021, a day after General Rawat’s death, the government was considering the possibility of bringing in a retired officer as the CDS.
In the rank of Major General, the officer commanded an infantry division in the crucial Baramulla sector of the Northern Command.
Later, as a Lieutenant General, he commanded 3 Corps in the Northeast and later became the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Eastern Command from September 2019 till his retirement from service last year.
He also served in the United Nations Mission in Angola.
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