NEWS HIGHLIGHTS
Theme : Internal Security
Paper :GS - 3
The Government has appointed former Eastern Army Commander Lt. General Anil Chauhan as the next Chief of Defense Staff (CDS).
The CDS is a high military office that oversees and coordinates the working of the three Services, and offers seamless tri-service views and single-point advice to the Executive.
In the long-term it provides for defense planning and management, including manpower, equipment and strategy, and above all, “joint manship” in operations.
TABLE OF CONTENT
- Context
- Role of CDS
- Need of the CDS
- Issues to be confronted by the new CDS
Context :
The Government has appointed former Eastern Army Commander Lt. General Anil Chauhan as the next Chief of Defense Staff (CDS).
Role of CDS :
- The CDS is a high military office that oversees and coordinates the working of the three Services, and offers seamless tri-service views and single-point advice to the Executive.
- In the long-term it provides for defense planning and management, including manpower, equipment and strategy, and above all, “joint manship” in operations.
- The role of the CDS becomes critical in times of conflict.
- Mandate is to bring convergence in the functioning of the Army, the Navy and the Air force and bolster the country’s overall military prowess.
Need of the CDS :
- Tri-services coordination: The creation of the CDS will eventually lead to the formation of tri-service theatre commands intended to create vertical integration of the three forces.
- Single-point military advisory: The CDS will be a single-point military adviser to the government and synergise long term planning, procurements, training and logistics of the three Services.
- Efforts saving: This is expected to save money by avoiding duplication between the Services, at a time of shrinking capital expenditure within the defence budget.
- Military diplomacy to support conventional diplomacy.
Issues to be confronted by the new CDS :
- Integrated structure: The need to create fresh structures to support integrated training, planning and operations. India-specific requirements need to be addressed.
- Responsibility: In terms of prioritization and building a bridge between a government in a hurry and an organization that is resistant to change, shackled by tradition and plagued by continued turf battles that cannot be wished away.
- Enhancing operational capability: To build operational capability at a pace that will ensure that the military power asymmetry vis-à-vis China remains manageable.
- Articulated strategy: The requirement is in the area of policy, doctrines and strategy. Policies and doctrines are easier to evolve under the cover of clearly articulated national and military strategies. Though the strategic establishment is divided on the pressing need for a National Security Strategy (NSS), the CDS has his task cut out to link the NSS with transformation and expedite its promulgation
- Shedding infructuous colonial legacies: Shedding several infructuous colonial legacies and traditions and fostering a sense of pride in India’s martial traditions that go back to epics such as the Mahabharata and to the Maratha and Chola empires.
- Maintaining balance: Balancing the need to retain the operational capability and the government’s push towards self-reliance in defense manufacturing. Considering that this push demands a paradigm shift in the thinking of India’s defense innovation and manufacturing ecosystem.