Chief Of Defence Staff: Incumbent Army Chief General Bipin Rawat To Be India’s First CDS, Announces Government

Prime Minister Narendra Modi led Cabinet on Monday (30 December) appointed incumbent Army Chief General Bipin Rawat as India’s first Chief of Defence Staff, Economic Times has reported.

The Chief of Defence Staff will head the tri-services and will act as the single point military adviser to the government.

The CDS will also head a new department of the military affairs, said Union Minister Prakash Javadekar in the cabinet briefing. The person will be a four-star officer from one of the three armed forces, he added.

The CDS will act as the Principal Military Adviser to Defence Minister on tri-Services matters. Three Chiefs will continue to advise RM on matters exclusively concerning their respective Services. CDS will not exercise any military command.

The announcement of the creation of the post was first made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his Independence day speech this year.

Soon after PM Modi’s announcement, a high-level committee headed by National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval was constituted to finalise an enabling framework and determine exact responsibilities of the CDS. The committee had reportedly submitted its report to the government around the first week of December.

The information about the panel submitting its report to the government was given by Minister of State (MoS) for Defence Sripad Naik in Rajya Sabha on 2 December.

Naik also informed that the CDS would come under the ambit of the Right to Information (RTI) Act.