Why in news?
The Cabinet has recently approved the creation of the post of chief of defence staff (CDS).
What is the rationale?
- The move was envisaged after the Kargil war in 1999.
- Various authorities recommended the need for creating a post for a single command centre in matters of warfare and nuclear weaponry.
- The government’s approval comes essentially after two reports in this regard:
- the Kargil Review Committee, Report of Task Force on National Security (Naresh Chandra Committee Report)
- the Committee of Experts on Enhancing Capability and Rebalancing Defence Expenditure (General Shekatkar Committee Report)
- These reports chalked out a strategy for higher defence management.
- In 2017, intelligence and security officials had said that the absence of a CDS was hampering India’s combat capabilities.
- A single chain of command was imperative to strengthen India’s collective defence might.
- However, there is a fear in the minds of the three services (Army, Navy and Air Force) of how the move would impact their role and functioning.
- There must have been a parallel thought in the bureaucracy too as to how such a shift would affect them.
What will CDS’s role be?
- The ministry of defence (MoD) is likely to make the appointment soon.
- The CDS will head the Department of Military Affairs (DMA).
- The officer to be appointed as chief of defence staff will be a four-star general, as Secretary, DMA.
- The CDS will act as the principal military adviser to the defence minister on all tri-services matters.
What are the key functions?
- The post of Chief of Defence Staff could bring about unison among the armed forces.
- The job calls for total transformation of traditional military mindset.
- The CDS has to restructure the military commands into appropriate theatre or joint commands.
- A critical prerequisite for this is ‘jointness’, a term that envisions the various arms of the armed forces working in unison towards a goal.
- This is a challenging task as since Independence, the armed forces have been working separately, with no concept of jointness.
What is the significance?
- The Americans are preparing to move out of Afghanistan, India’s neighbourhood.
- Within India, the dilution of Article 370 has caused much unrest.
- Given this security environment, the key changes in defence management gain significance.
Source: Livemint, The Hindu
