On 24 December 2019, the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi formally approved the post of Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), thus heralding perhaps the most important reform in India’s post independence military history. This follows the 15 August 2019 announcement by the Prime Minister in his address to the nation, that the Indian Armed Forces would have a Chief of Defence Staff, as there was need for synergy in the application of force, in line with the changing war and security environment with the world. The Prime Minister also stated that after the formation of this post, all the three Services would get effective leadership at the apex level.
The need for a CDS had long been felt by the military, but political and bureaucratic resistance had stymied these reforms. There was a possibility of a CDS being appointed post India's victory in the Liberation War in 1971, but that proposal was scuttled by a recalcitrant bureaucracy. Almost three decades later, in 1999, India was surprised when Pakistani troops infiltrated across the Line of Control and occupied Indian territory on the Kargil heights in the first quarter of 1999. After a long and bloody war, the enemy was forced to withdraw from the occupied areas, but the fact that India was surprised called for introspection. On termination of the conflict, the government of India set up the Kargil Review Committee (KRC) on 29 July 1999 which was mandated “to examine the sequence of events and make recommendations for the future”. Following the KRC report, a Group of Ministers (GoM) was set up by the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) on 17 April 2000 to consider the recommendations of the KRC. The GoM recommended the creation of the post of CDS, and now, nearly two decades after receiving the recommendations of the GoM, the proposal has finally fructified.
The post of Chief of Defence Staff has been created in the rank of a four star General with salary and perquisites equivalent to a Service Chief. General Bipin Rawat has been appointed as the first CDS and he assumed office on 1 January 2020, after handing over the reins of the Indian army to General Naravane. The CDS will be wearing three hats simultaneously. He will head the Department of Military Affairs (DMA), which will be created within the Ministry of Defence and function as its Secretary. As the CDS, he will also be the Permanent Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee and third, he will act as the Principal Military Adviser to the Raksha Mantri on all matters pertaining to the three Services. The three Chiefs will however continue to advise the Raksha Mantri on matters exclusively concerning their respective Services. As of now, the CDS will not exercise any military command, including over the three Service Chiefs.
The Department of Military Affairs headed by CDS will look after all matters pertaining to the Armed forces, the Territorial Army, and works and procurements exclusive to the Services except capital acquisitions. The CDS is also mandated to promote jointness in procurement, training and staffing for the Services and will facilitate the restructuring of Military Commands for optimal utilisation of resources.
As the Permanent Chairman of Chiefs of Staff Committee, the CDS will administer tri-services organisations which will be under his command. He will be member of Defence Acquisition Council chaired by Raksha Mantri and Defence Planning Committee chaired by NSA, will function as the Military Adviser to the Nuclear Command Authority and will bring about jointness in operation, logistics, transport, training, support services, communications, repairs and maintenance, etc of the three Services, within three years.
With the creation of the post of CDS, a fundamental shift has occurred in the existing civil-military relationship by making the military central to defence related and military related decision making. The creation of a Department of Military Affairs headed by the CDS makes sense as a great deal of duplication can be avoided and processes streamlined in procurements for the forces and in the execution of works. There will be a better appreciation of the requirements as there will be professional military leadership to guide the process, which hitherto was carried out by civilians who had no ground experience and little knowledge of the subject. The Department of Military Affairs (DMA) headed by the CDS will deal with issues that relate exclusively to military matters, while the Department of Defence (DoD) will deal with the larger issues pertaining to the defence of the country. Much greater role clarity is however needed, as perforce, the role of the Defence Secretary will now get diluted.
It is the job of the CDS to facilitate the restructuring of Military Commands for optimal utilisation of resources by bringing about jointness in operations, including through establishment of joint/theatre commands. As of now, the CDS has not got any operational role. But this state will have to change in future, once the theatre commands are formed, as the only person who can command such a force is the CDS. There would be a requirement to factor this into account once the theatres are integrated. How this will pan out remains to be seen.
If integrated theatres are formed, a likely scenario could be the formation of four Theatre Commands. One theatre could be on India’s Western land border, dealing with Pakistan and partially with China (where the Union Territory of Ladakh borders Tibet and Xinjiang). The second theatre could be on India’s land border with Tibet in Arunachal Pradesh. This would also look after India’s security interests in Nepal, Myanmar and Bangladesh. The third theatre could be on the maritime front, which would include both India’s Eastern and Western sea coasts as also all the Island territories. And the fourth theatre could be an overarching one, covering the air and space above India and would include the cyber domain. These theatres, if formed as suggested here, would have to be commanded by a four star ranked officer. The job of the CDS would then be overall security coordination, and would merit an upgrade to five star rank.
An important part of the responsibilities of the CDS is his role as the Military Adviser to the Nuclear Command Authority. While nuclear war is but a distant and very unlikely possibility, its occurrence will have devastating consequences. The control over the nuclear button will always be with the Prime Minister and its execution a political decision, but the fact that we now have a CDS to advise the political authority on the consequences and implications of the use of nuclear force ensures the exercise of strategic oversight over the Strategic Forces Command. This indeed is a welcome forward step and will contribute to strategic stability.
A major challenge, which may require political intervention would pertain to the division of responsibility between the CDS and the defence secretary. There would be overlaps, but if the defence of the nation is the real priority of the government, the post of the defence secretary would have to be done away with. It is laughable that even now, the role of the Defence of India has been assigned to the defence secretary. This is a carryover from the British Raj, but the Secretary of Defence at that time was a political appointee akin to the Defence Minister and not a mere babu!
There has been some unfounded criticism of making the CDS the secretary to the DMA. But without getting those powers, the CDS would have been challenged to fulfil the roles envisaged. Now, the CDS is empowered and structurally positioned to be the prime mover to significantly improve military effectiveness. More will be required as time goes by and experience is gained. This will be resisted by the babus. But with the Modi government, there is hope that for the first time since independence, national interests will take centre precedence over other issues. Most importantly, we can now expect the CDS to be the bridge between the political leadership and the military.
For India Strategic
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