Center re-evaluates the concept of Chief of Defense Staff post of Department of Military Affairs

Re-evaluating the concept of government Chief of Defense Staff (CDS) And military affairs department (DMA) to fix the overlap in the system and streamline the process, which has led to delay in appointment of new CDS, according to official sources.

“Based on the experience so far, on higher military reforms, somewhere the government felt that the appointment of the CDS was not sufficient in itself. There are a lot of issues related to equality of status, responsibilities etc. It gave the government pause, looking back and re-evaluating the entire reform process,” said an official on condition of anonymity. “There is conflict at different ends which needs to be streamlined… Various options are being considered. The disadvantage of appointing a CDS at present is more than not having one,” said the official.

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In December 2019, The government approved the creation of the post of CDS He will also serve as the Principal Military Adviser to the Defense Minister and the Permanent Chairman of the Staff Committee (COSC). In addition, the DMA was created as the fifth department in the Ministry of Defense (MoD), with the CDS acting as the secretary.

The creation of the DMA was unpredictable, and it took time to settle down, the official said, elaborating that initially and until now there are chronic issues of work distribution between the DMA and the Department of Defense (DoD), headed by the Defense Secretary. “The coordination mechanisms are not standardized and accepted by both the parties,” said the official, adding that General Bipin Rawat guided the process from his own experience.

General Rawat, who served as the 26th Chief of Army Staff, took over as the country’s 1st CDS on 1 January 2020. He, his wife Madhulika Rawat and 12 others were killed. Indian Air Force (IAF) Mi-17V5 helicopter, which was en route from Sulur to Defense Services Staff College, Wellington, crashed at Nilgris in Tamil Nadu on December 08, 2021. The post of CDS is lying vacant since then. ,

in pictures | General Bipin Rawat, India’s first Chief of Defense Staff

General Bipin Rawat was the first Chief of Defense Staff (CDS) of India. Before taking over as the CDS, he served as the 57th and last Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee as well as the 26th Chief of the Army Staff of the Indian Army.

In December 2015, the government appointed General Rawat as the army chief, replacing two senior officers Lt Gen Praveen Bakshi and Lt Gen PM Hariz.

Defense Minister Rajnath Singh and General Bipin Rawat at the National War Memorial in New Delhi on the 73rd Independence Day.

General Bipin Rawat took over as the Chief of Army Staff on 31 December 2015 from General Dalbir Singh. He was commissioned into the 5/11 Gorkha Rifles from the Indian Military Academy (IMA), Dehradun in December 1978, where he was awarded the ‘Sword of Honour’. He hails from Saina village in Pauri Garhwal district of Uttarakhand and is the son of former Chief of Army Staff Lt Gen Laxman Singh Rawat.

In this photo from July 16, 2019, the then Chief of Defense Staff Bipin Rawat is seen with former Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Karambir Singh and former Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Birender Singh Dhanoa.

As the Chief of Army Staff, General Bipin Rawat initiated the Army’s biggest restructuring and transformation exercise since independence with four key areas: Army Headquarters Restructuring, Force Restructuring, Cadre Review of Officers and Junior Commissioned Officers (JCOs). Review of the Terms and Conditions. ) and other rank (OR).

In this photo from September 18, 2017, the then Army Chief General Bipin Singh Rawat with his wife Madhulika Rawat attends the funeral of Marshal of the Indian Air Force Arjan Singh at Berar Square in New Delhi.

General Bipin Rawat served as the Brigade Commander of the United Nations Peacekeeping Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC) in 2008, during which he received praise for his conduct of operations. He was twice awarded the Force Commanders’ Commendation in United Nations Missions.

The broad mandate given to the CDS includes bringing about “connectivity in the operation, logistics, transportation, training, support services, communication, repair and maintenance of the three services” within three years of the first CDS taking over.

Two official sources said the gazette and the responsibilities are “ambitious”. One of them said that a lot of things were fast-tracked, which was “overly ambitious” to finish the process of theatricalization in three years. “Therefore, it did not get the required support from the services and the MoD.”

The official said, while additional studies are underway by the services on the creation of a unified theater command, the theater process has more or less stalled, leading to a rethink on the need, modalities and timing of the process and how about it. Learn.

On the duality in responsibilities, the officials said that at present the CDS does not have an operational role, but as the Chairman COSC, the theater commanders to be appointed in future have to report to him.

While several options are being considered, one option would be to have a CDS with operational powers who would report to theater commanders after appropriate legislative changes, while the service chief would be tasked with augmenting, training and maintaining the functions of the respective services. Will take care , the first official source said.

Towards this end, the Chief of Integrated Defense Staff, Chairman, Chiefs of Staff Committee, will act as Secretary DMA, who will also address counterparty issues, two official sources said. One of them said that the government is re-evaluating the entire process.

In March, Lt Gen Vinod G Khandare (Retd) was appointed as an advisor to the DoD, working closely with the Defense Secretary. He retired from the Army as the head of the Defense Intelligence Agency during January 2018 and thereafter served as military advisor to the National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS) until October 2021.

As advisor, Lt Gen Khandare is playing the role of single point military advisor to the defense minister, one of the sources observed. Charman, the senior-most service chief, is serving as the COSC, currently the Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal VR Choudhary.

The mandate of the DMA includes promoting synergies in procurement, training and staffing for services; Facilitate restructuring of military commands for optimum utilization of resources by bringing about jointness in operations, including establishment of joint/theatre commands and promoting use of indigenous equipment by the services. Armed forces that were under the DoD were transferred under the DMA after it was created.