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Services will jointly deal with security challenges
General Anil Chauhan retired as the Eastern Army commander on May 31, 2021, and was the military adviser to the National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS) before being appointed to the top job
General Anil Chauhan, who took over as Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) on Friday, said that the three services will jointly deal with the security challenges that India faces, and that he will try his best to live up to their expectations and fulfil the hopes of the nation.
“I am proud to be assuming the responsibility of the highest rank in the armed forces. I will try to fulfil the expectations of all three defence forces, the government, and the country’s people as the Chief of Defence Staff. We will tackle all challenges and difficulties together,” he said. Chauhan took over the top appointment more than nine months after the death in a helicopter crash of the country’s first CDS, General Bipin Rawat.
He will also serve as the principal military advisor to the defence minister, head the department of military affairs as secretary, and serve as permanent chairman of the chiefs of staff committee (COSC), the defence ministry said in a statement.
Chauhan retired as the Eastern Army commander on May 31, 2021, and was the military adviser to the National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS) before being appointed to the top job.
Chauhan will spearhead the theaterisation drive to best utilise the military’s resources for future wars and operations.
He laid a wreath at the National War Memorial to pay homage to India’s fallen braves, and later inspected a tri-service guard of honour at South Block in the presence of Indian Air Force chief Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari, army chief General Manoj Pande and navy vice chief Vice Admiral SN Ghormade (navy chief Admiral R Hari Kumar is not in the country – he is on an pre-scheduled official visit to Australia and New Zealand from September 26 to October 1).
Chauhan later called on defence minister Rajnath Singh.
His appointment as CDS has drawn considerable interest as it is the first time a three-star officer has been brought back from retirement to hold a four-star rank (the Cabinet approved the creation of the post of CDS in the rank of a four-star general in December 2019).
That became possible only after the government amended the Army, Air Force and Navy rules in early June to broaden the pool of officers from which the CDS was to be selected -- it made retired three-star officers from the three services among those eligible for the top post.
“The new CDS will have to pick of the threads of General Rawat’s work. He will have to bring everyone on board before proceeding further,” said former navy chief Admiral Arun Prakash (retd).
Chauhan is 61. The new rules announced by the government in June laid down that the service of CDS can be extended to 65 years of age. If that be the case, he will work with six service chiefs to power the theaterisation drive.
The drive slowed down after Rawat’s death on December 8, 2021, and the government now expects Chauhan to provide impetus to the long-awaited military reform.
Chauhan was commissioned into the army in 1981. The three chiefs, Pande, Chaudhari and Hari Kumar, were commissioned into their respective services later – the first two in December 1982 and the latter in January 1983.
The current theaterisation model to enhance tri-service synergy seeks to set up four integrated commands - two land-centric theatres, an air defence command and a maritime theatre command.
Chauhan will have to address the IAF’s concerns about the current theaterisation model, as previously reported. These concerns have raised questions about the viability of the model and indicate that inter-service differences have still not been reconciled.
BOX
CDS’s key responsibilities:
Speeding up the theaterisation drive to best utilise the resources of the three services for future wars and operations
Modernisation of the three services through indigenous weapons and systems
Overseeing matters related to India’s neighbouring countries including border disputes, incidents
Development of infrastructure in forward areas
Monitoring developments in the Indian Ocean region, Afghanistan, West Asia and South-east Asia
Overseeing issues related to the army’s restructuring, IAF’s operational matters, overseas deployment of warships
