Context

• The Government has recently appointed former Eastern Army Commander Lt. General Anil Chauhan as the next Chief of Defense Staff (CDS) ending a nine-month-long vacancy
• The CDS post has been vacant since the death of the country’s first CDS Gen. Bipin Rawat in a helicopter crash in December 2021.

About new CDS Anil Chauhan

• Regiment: Lt Gen Chauhan (retd) is from the 11 Gorkha Rifles, the same regiment of Gen Rawat.
  • He is the first retired three-star officer to return to service in four-star rank
• Military advisor: He has been serving as the military adviser in the National Security Council Secretariat, after his retirement as the Eastern Army Commander in 2021.

About Chief of Defense Staff (CDS)

• Eligibility: Recently, the Government amended Service Rules of the Army, Navy and Air Force allowing retired Service Chiefs and three star rank officers eligible for consideration to the country’s top military post.
  • However, the condition was imposed on age limit that the retired officer should not have attained 62 years on the date of appointment.
  • He is not eligible to hold any government office after demitting (resigning) as the CDS.
• Recommendation: Creation of the post of Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) was recommended by the Kargil Review Committee after the end of the Kargil War.
  • The Naresh Chandra task force (2012) and the Lieutenant General B. Shekatkar Committee (2016) had also recommended the post of CDS
• Designations: The CDS is a four-star General/Officer who acts as the Principal Military Advisor to the Defence Minister on all tri-services (Army, Navy and Indian Air Force) matters.
  • CDS acts as the permanent Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee (CSC) which will also have three service chiefs as members.
  • He also heads the newly created Department of Military Affairs (DMA) in the Ministry of Defense.
  • The CDS is also bestowed the rank of Secretary within the DoD (Department of Defense)
• Mandate: The broad mandate of the CDS includes bringing about “jointness” in “operations, logistics, transport, training, support services, communications, repairs and maintenance of the three Services.
  • He is also mandated to foster better cooperation between the Ministry of Defense bureaucracy and the Armed services.
• Functions: The CDS is vested with critical functions as follows:
  • Fostering greater operational synergy between the three service branches of the Indian military
  • Keeping inter-service frictions to a minimum
  • The CDS is also vested with the authority to provide directives to the three chiefs
  • He will also perform an advisory role in the Nuclear Command Authority (NCA)
  • Maintain synergy between Armed forces and Government to accelerate the process of decision-making.

Major task ahead

• Actualising theatre commands: An integrated theatre command envisages a unified command of the three Services, under a single commander, for geographical theatres (areas) that are of strategic and security concern.
  • Earlier CDS General Rawat was pushing forward this ambitious plan to reorganize armed forces and bring in synergy and efficiency.
  • This task now falls on the new CDS to build consensus, act as link between the three services and take the reorganisation process forward.
• Bold decision making: The three services have expressed concerns about how theaterisation might dilute the role of the service chiefs and the integration has thus been stuck due to differences between them.
  • However, In case of disagreement and hesitance amid smooth transition management in the structural changes, new CDS should not shy away from taking strong decisions.
• Indigenization push: The war in Ukraine has added urgency on the need to indigenise critical military technologies and systems and reduce dependence on imports.
  • It remains to be seen how Russia’s war in Ukraine affects India’s procurement, what diversification India might bring in its hardware purchases, and role of new CDS in all this.
  • Also new CDS would experience this year’s defence expo, to be held in Gandhinagar, for the first time as an India-only affair.
• Rationalize defense expenditure: A crucial function of CDS will be “prioritising” the capital acquisition proposals of individual services and ensure that the “defence rupee” is spent judiciously on warfare-capabilities considered vital for national military power.
• Readying for NextGen warfare: Cyber warfare coupled with information warfare is going to be an omnipresent disruptor amongst adversaries. The new CDS will thus face critical challenge to synergise the efforts of three services and coordinate with agencies at apex level dealing with cyber security management.
• Manpower reform : The new CDS role as Secretary, Department of Military Affairs, will also demand attention for issues of manpower reform.
  • For instance, earlier CDS had proposed to increase retirement age of officers and jawans from technical branches to retain highly skilled manpower in technical branches.
• Dealing with multi-domain warfare: The multi-domain warfare entails countering an adversary capable in all domains [air, land, maritime, space, and cyberspace] in both competition and armed conflict.
  • The future wars will also have applicability of many elements like diplomacy, economy, intelligence, cyberspace, energy, environment, water etc., thus synergizing the military power through CDS with other instruments of power is crucial.
• New world order strategy: Owing to reconfiguration of groupings and alliances consequent to Ukraine war, single point military advice will be critical in deciding India’s stand in each case.

Way forward

• To become a regional power, it is imperative to reduce import dependence for security needs. It can be furthered by attaining Aatmanirbharta in Suraksha (Self-reliance in Security) by following steps:
• Incentivising the entry of private sector in defense industry: For instance, priority to procurement of capital items from domestic sources under Defence Acquisition Procedure (DAP)-2020.
  • In order to promote indigenous design and development of defence equipment ‘Buy Indian i.e. IDDM (Indigenously Designed, Developed and Manufactured) category has been accorded top most priority for procurement of capital equipment.
• Hand-holding the defense industry by respective services to develop indigenous weapons and equipment: For example, Launch of an indigenization portal namely SRIJAN to facilitate indigenisation by Indian Industry including MSMEs.
• Boosting infrastructure: Like establishment of two Defence Industrial Corridors (one each in Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu), Opening up of Defence R&D for industry etc.