News Highlights
The Union government is reassessing the concept of the post of Chief of Defense Staff (CDS) and the Department of Military Affairs (DMA) to fix overlaps in the system and streamline the process, leading to a delay in the appointment to the post.
Background of Chief of Defense Staff (CDS)
- A Group of Ministers (GoM) entrusted with analysing the Kargil Review Committee’s (1999) report suggested its formation in 2001.
- The Naresh Chandra Committee suggested the establishment of a Permanent Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee as a stopgap measure to alleviate concerns about the CDS in 2012.
- The Lt. General D.B. Shekatkar (retd.) Committee also recommended the CDS position (December 2016).
What is the Chief of Defense Staff (CDS)?
- He will serve as the government’s lone military adviser.
- He will be a General with four stars.
- The Chiefs of Staff Committee will be chaired by the CDS and will include three service chiefs as members.
- His primary responsibility will be to promote greater operational synergy among the Indian military’s three service components while minimizing inter-service frictions.
- He will sit on the Defense Acquisition Council, which is chaired by the Defense Minister, and the Defense Planning Committee, which is chaired by the National Security Adviser.
- He will be the military adviser to the Nuclear Command Authority, which is in charge of India’s nuclear weapons and is led by the Prime Minister.
Service Conditions for Chief of Defense Staff (CDS)
- Term – maximum upto age of 65 years.
- After demitting (resigning) as the CDS, he will be ineligible to occupy any government position.
- For a period of five years after leaving the CDS office, no private job is permitted without prior consent.
Responsibility of Chief of Defense Staff (CDS)
- The Cyber and Space Tri-Services Organizations and Agencies will be administered by the CDS.
- CDS will look at contract monitoring, increasing the use of indigenous equipment, leveraging and reforming existing systems, and better prioritizing defense equipment acquisition.
- Based on the anticipated budget, he will also assign inter-services prioritization to capital acquisition bids.
- CDS will implement changes to improve the forces’ fighting capability and will assess plans for ‘out of area contingencies’ for countries in India’s neighborhood.
Why is the Chief of Defense Staff (CDS) Needed?
- In today’s world, an integrated approach to dealing with developing complex security risks is becoming increasingly important. This, combined with financial limits and communication challenges, makes having a Combined Defense Staff critical for India.
- Through cooperative planning of operations, logistics, connection, training, communication, repair, and maintenance, CDS will foster jointness across the three services. It will serve as a hub for coordination and collaboration across the three services.
- The CDS is also in charge of judicial management of the military’s limited resources. This will ensure that excessive duplication and waste are avoided.
- The role of Combined Defense Staff is held by an experienced 4-staff officer. This will allow him to put his experience and knowledge to good use in hostile situations.
Advantages of having Chief of Defense Staff (CDS)
- It will give effective top-level leadership to the three branches of the armed forces.
- The CDS will lead to improved tri-service collaboration and synergy.
- The CDS will aid in the combined combating of cyber and space threats, as well as the most efficient use of available resources.
- Operations, procurement, and joint logistics policy will be improved.
- Instead of disaggregated distinct single service perspectives, it will present a unified, all-encompassing coherent and cohesive perspective.
- During the shaping/deterrence phase, operations, or after the occurrence of threatening events, this will fix the abnormality of civic-military interface.
- It would aid in comprehensive national security management for optimal results and single point military advice on national security issues, including nuclear weapons.
Other Countries with Similar Defense Heads
Way Forward
- Chief of Defense Staff (CDS) is vital in the presence of military scenarios to coordinate between tri forces and effectively implement military operations .