On December 30, 2019 outgoing Indian Army chief General Bipin Rawat has been appointed as India’s 1st Chief of Defence Staff(CDS) till 2022. The CDS is a 4-star single-point military adviser to the government’s defence ministry as suggested by the Kargil Review Committee in 1999 headed by K. Subrahmanyam.
Rawat retires on December 31, 2019, for completing 3 years of service and will be replaced by Manoj Mukund Naravane as the 28th Army chief. He became the Army chief on December 31, 2016.
The CDS will serve upto a maximum age of 65 years and will head the Department of Military Affairs (DMA), which will be created within the Ministry of Defence(MoD) and function as its Secretary. The serving period has been increased from 62-65 years by making changes in the Army Rules, 1954.
Areas dealt by Department of Military Affairs headed Bipin Rawat
The areas include
- Armed Forces of the Union. The armed forces are the Army, the Navy and the Air Force.The Chief of the Integrated Defence Staff, also known as the COSC (Chiefs Of Staff Committee), who heads this tri-services organisation will also come under the CDS and will be renamed as the Deputy CDS.
- Integrated Headquarters of the MoD Comprising Army Headquarters, Naval Headquarters, Air Headquarters and Defence Staff Headquarters.
- Territorial army & works related to Army, Navy and Air Force.
- Procurements exclusive to the services except capital acquisitions, as per prevalent rules and procedures.
- The CDS will also head all tri-services institutions such as the National Defence Academy in Pune, Maharashtra, College of Defence Management in Secunderabad, Telanganaand the National Defence College in Delhi.
iii.Other functionality: The CDS will also be the Permanent Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee and act as a Principal Military Adviser to the defence minister on all tri-Services matters. The 3 chiefs of Army, Navy and Air Force will however continue to advise the defence ministers.
iv.CDS functions as a permanent chairman of Chiefs of Staff Committee: The following are the functions of CDS as a permanent chairman of Chiefs of Staff Committee.
- Tri-services organisations administration. The organisations related to Cyber and Space will also be under the command of the CDS.
- CDS will be the member of Defence Acquisition Council chaired by the defence minister and Defence Planning Committee chaired by National Security Advisor(NSA).
- Functioning as Military advisor to Nuclear Command Authority.
- Implementing 5-year Defence Capital Acquisition Plan (DCAP), and 2-year roll-on Annual Acquisition Plans (AAP), as a follow up of Integrated Capability Development Plan (ICDP) etc.
v.CDS creation announcement: The creation of the post of CDS was announced by the Prime Minister on 15th August 2019.
