India / Govt approves creation of Chief of Defence Staff post, officer to be 4-Star General

The Cabinet on Tuesday cleared the appointment of India’s first Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), who will be a four-star General and will head the department of military powers in the defence ministry, Union minister Prakash Javadekar announced after the Cabinet meeting headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The appointment of the CDS is a major reform in India’s higher defence management, Javadekar said at the briefing. The CDS will have the same salary and perks as service chiefs, he added.

While the government is yet to announce the name of the first CDS, Army Chief General Bipin Rawat is the front-runner for the post. He retires as army chief on December 31.

The CDS will direct the three service chiefs and create new theatre commands for an optimal military response in case of hostilities. The implementation committee, appointed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and headed by national security adviser Ajit Doval, has defined the charter for the CDS who will be a single-point military adviser to the government. This is in line with what was recommended by the K Subrahmanyam-led Kargil Review Committee.

The committee tabled its report in the Parliament in February 2000. Subrahmanyam is the father of India’s current foreign minister Dr S Jaishankar.

The KRC recommended the appointment of a CDS as a means to provide single-point professional military advice to the political leadership. The four-member committee, set up in the immediate aftermath of India’s announcement on July 26, 1999 that the enemy had been evicted from Kargil, examined lapses that allowed the Pakistani soldiers to occupy strategic heights in India and submitted a report.

After the Kargil war, the Group of Ministers (GoM) had also strongly recommended the creation of CDS, who would control and manage strategic forces, ensure prioritisation of defence planning and bring about jointness amongst the armed forces.

But successive governments failed to build political consensus around this. However, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on August 15 announced the creation of the post for more effective coordination between the three armed forces.

“The CDS will be a game changer in terms of resource optimisation, jointness and capability enhancement of the military. Some teething troubles may be there initially as it is a new role but things will stabilize as we move along. Other militaries have faced such challenges. The CDS will also bring about a better interface with the bureaucracy,” said Lieutenant General Satish Dua (retd), who was the senior-most military officer handling all tri-service affairs until November 2018.

Dua retired on October 31, 2018, as Chief of Integrated Defence Staff to the Chairman, Chiefs of Staff Committee on October 31 after holding the top post for two years.

As reported by Hindustan Times on November 19, while the CDS will carry four stars (like chiefs of the three services do), he will be the “first among equals”, with the task of prioritising hardware for future Indian military needs, allocating tri-services assets to the new theatre commands, and designating tasks to these formations.

The existing structure for cross-service cooperation --- the chairman, chiefs of staff committee (COSC) --- is weak and susceptible to pulls and pressures from the service that the chairman, COSC, belongs to, two senior officials said asking not to be named.

The CDS will not be parochial and guided by the interests of his service, which was mostly the case with the chairman, COSC, said the first official cited above. The CDS will also have a fixed tenure unlike the rotating post of Chairman, COSC, who is the senior-most service chief and holds the dual charge for a few months.

“Take the case of General Bipin Rawat who took over as chairman, COSC from Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa when the latter retired on September 30. Rawat would be chairman, COSC for just three months as his term as army chief ends on December 31. There’s little one can do in such a short timeframe,” he said.