CHIEF OF DEFENCE STAFF

 

For: Preliminary & Mains

Topics covered:

• Creation of Chief of Defence Staff – Its powers, Functions and duties.
• Need of CDS
• Growing threats from neighbours
• Chairman of Chiefs of Staff Committee (COSC)

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News Flash

Prime Minister announced the creation of a chief of defence staff (CDS) as head of the tri-service (Army, Navy and Air Force), on the occasion of 73rd independence day.

• CDS will ensure synergy among the three services and provide effective leadership to them.
• Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) will be above the three Service Chiefs.

 

What

• The Chief of Defence Staff will be a single-point military adviser to the government.
• CDS will synergise long term planning, procurements, training and logistics of the three Services.
• The creation of a CDS was one of the key recommendations of the Kargil review committee on higher military reforms after the 1999 conflict.

 

Chairman of Chiefs of Staff Committee (COSC)

• In 2012, the Naresh Chandra Committee recommended the appointment of a Permanent Chairman of Chiefs of Staff Committee (COSC) as a midway to allay apprehensions over the CDS.
• Currently, the seniormost of the three Chiefs functions as the Chairman of the COSC.
• The CoSC only serve as Primus inter pares to the other Chiefs of Staff, he does not wield any power. The Chairman is assisted by the Integrated Defence Staff.

 

Need for Chief of Defence Staff

• It is necessary to have a highly professional body which render single-point military advice to government on matters of national security.
• The intention behind creating CDS was to “reconcile possible differences” in service-specific opinions to enable the government to arrive at considered military decisions.
• The institution of a CDS is best justified by the importance of strategising for a robust and cost-efficient national defence policy.
• CDS would play in fostering inter-services jointness in terms of budgeting, equipment purchases, training, joint doctrines and planning of military operations-an imperative of modern warfare.

 

Growing threats

• The threat matrix for India has changed since 1947. Along with the northern and western borders, the Indian Ocean region is fast metamorphosing into a major arena of friction, with increasing forays by the Chinese Navy and building up of regional navies with help from China.
• Also, the threat of war stills exists in the subcontinent under the nuclear overhang.
• With threat perceptions heightened in the neighbourhood, it is unfortunate that the mighty ‘armed forces’ are engaged in squabbles.
• The recently released ‘Joint military doctrine of the Indian armed forces 2017’ made the right noise on “jointness” and “integration”, but much work is needed on the ground to achieve what has been enunciated.

 

Source: The Hindu

 

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