What is the role of Chief of Defence Staff?

Rawat will be the single-point military adviser to the prime minister and defence minister on key strategic issues

Former Army Gen Bipin Rawat was appointed as the Chief of Defence Staff by the Cabinet Committee of Securities on December 31. He will be the single-point military adviser to the prime minister and defence minister on key strategic issues, as suggested by the Kargil Review Committee in 1999, which was approved by the committee last week.

Rawat, who retired from the post of Army General and handed the reigns to his successor Gen Manoj Naravane on December 31, was the frontrunner to the position. The CDS is said to be first among equals among service with a higher list of protocols.

According to officials, the main task of the CDS will be to ensure 'jointmanship' among the three services. This will include powers to work on setting up a few theatre commands as well as allocating military assets among the services to merge their operations.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced in his Independence Day speech that the country will have a CDS as head of the tri-services. Days after the announcement, an Implementation Committee headed by National Security Advisor Ajit Doval was appointed to finalise an enabling framework and determine the exact responsibilities for the CDS.

Prakash Javadekar had said earlier at a media briefing last week that the Chief of Defence Staff, who would also head the department of military affairs, will be a four-star general and his salary will be equivalent to that of service chiefs. He also announced that the cabinet then approved the creation of the post of chief of defence staff. "The department will be created under the Defence Ministry and the CDS will function as its secretary. His salary will be equivalent to that of service chiefs," he added.

At present, the three services coordinate their work under the framework of the Integrated Defence Staff (IDS), which will be subsumed into the new structure after the appointment of the CDS. In 2012, the Naresh Chandra Taskforce had recommended creating the post of a permanent chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee.

(With inputs from PTI)

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