Chief of Defence Staff: Role and responsibilities of CDS

Who is Chief of Defence Staff?

The Chief of Defence Staff is meant to be a single-point military advisor to the government on important defense and strategic issues for the Prime Minister and Minister of Defense.

The Chief of Defence Staff will be assigned the work of coordinating long-term planning, training, procurement and logistics of the three army wings.

As we know that the budget of defence sector is going to flat so the stress on resources is increasing year by year. Now it is the need of the hour to increase the coordination among the three army wings by optimising the use of limited resources.

India is a nuclear weapons state, the CDS will also act as the military advisor to the Prime Minister on nuclear issues.

Now It is clear that the tenure of the CDS will be upto 65 years of age and the rank of Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) will be higher than the three army chiefs.

Worth to mention here that all major countries, especially the nuclear-weapon states, have a Chief of Defence Staff (CDS).

Background

Its creation was recommended in 2001 by a Group of Ministers (GoM) that was tasked with studying the Kargil Review Committee (1999) report.

• After the GoM recommendations, in preparation for the post of CDS, the government created the Integrated Defence Staff in 2002, which was to eventually serve as the CDS’s Secretariat.

In 2012, the Naresh Chandra Committee recommended the appointment of a Permanent Chairman of Chiefs of Staff Committee as a midway to eliminate apprehensions over the CDS.

The post of CDS was also recommended by the Lt. General D.B. Shekatkar (retd.) Committee (December 2016).

This follows the announcement made by the Prime Minister on 15th August 2019, in his address to the nation, inter alia, “India should not have a fragmented approach. Our entire military power will have to work in unison and move forward.  All the three (Services) should move simultaneously at the same pace. There should be good coordination and it should be relevant to the hope and aspirations of our people. It should be in line with the changing war and security environment with the world.   After formation of this post (CDS), all the three forces will get effective leadership at the top level.”

Why India Needs Chief of Defence Staff (CDS)

• India should not have a fragmented approach.
• Our entire military power will have to work in unison. All the three (Services) should move simultaneously at the same pace. ·
• Changing nature of war and security environment;
• Government conscious of National Security challenges. ·
• Recognition to military expertise in department’s decision making.
• Breaking Silos: Integration, collaboration, convergence and rationalization.
• Meritocracy: Right person to do right job.

Role and responsibilities of Chief of Defence Staff (CDS)

• Act as the Principal Military Adviser to Raksha Mantri on tri-Services matters. The three Chiefs will continue to advise RM on matters exclusively concerning their respective Services;
• CDS will not exercise any military command, including over the three Service Chiefs;
• CDS will administer tri-services organisations. Their military command, will be with the Chief of the duly notified Service, which has a predominant role in effective functioning of that specific tri-service organization. However, Tri-services agencies/organizations/ commands related to Cyber and Space will be under the command of the CDS.
• Provide integrated inputs of the Services to relevant authorities.
• CDS will be member of Defence Acquisition Council and Defence Planning Committee.
• Bring about jointness in operations, logistics, transport, training, support services, communications, repairs and maintenance, etc. of the three Services within three years of the first CDS assuming office;
• Ensure optimal utilization of infrastructure and rationalize it;
• Enhance the share of indigenous equipment;
• Evaluate plans for ‘Out of Area Contingencies’, as well other contingencies such as Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief;
• Implement Five-Year Defence Capital Acquisition Plan (DCAP), and Two-Year roll-on Annual Acquisition Plans (AAP), as a follow-up of Integrated Capability Development Plan (ICDP);
• Assign inter-Services prioritization to capital acquisition proposals based on the anticipated budget;
• Integrate and rationalise international cooperation plans;
• Prepare strategy papers on military matters for consideration of the competent authority;
• Bring about reforms in the functioning of three Services aimed at augmenting combat capabilities of the Armed Forces. This may, inter-alia; entail rationalization of facilities. Use of indigenous equipment across the whole spectrum. He will identify and end obsolete practices, which may have crept in due to the colonial legacy.
• Build trust and confidence in the rank and file.
• Prepare for Raksha Mantri an empirical and objective Report on annual achievements in jointness during the year

Service Conditions

• The Defence Ministry had recently amended the Army, Air Force, and Navy rules by allowing the Chief of Defence Staff to serve up to a maximum age of 65 years.
• According to the existing rules, an Army Chief has a tenure of three years or up to the retirement age of 62 years, whichever is earlier.
• He will not be eligible to hold any government office after demitting (resigning) as the CDS.

Mandate of CDS

• Need: With the increasing complexity of security challenges in the modern warfare arena, there was a need for an integrated approach towards defence strategy. There are communication issues, budgetary overruns by individual commands, inter-alia which demanded joint working of Army, Navy and Air Force.
• Jointness: CDS will ensure and promote the jointness (functioning together of the three services independently) through joint planning of command operations, logistics, transport, training, communications, repairs and maintenance of the three services within three years of operation. This will ensure close cooperation and collaboration amongst the defence forces.
• Integration: There is a need for inducing integration (putting together the three Services at different levels and placing them under one commander) in different services. However, there is a difference between integration and jointness of command.
• Lack of Resources: CDS as ‘first among equals’ will act as a single point advisor and could be held accountable for his actions and decisions taken. Restructured military commands for optimal utilization of resources will avoid unnecessary duplication and wasteful expenditure.
• Expertise: Being into the services for so long, the expertise and knowledge of CDS to deal with the adverse situations could be appropriately utilized in order to achieve the desired aims, creating an architecture for joint commands.