Government identifying new Chief of Defence Staff, announcement soon
The process of identifying the Chief of Defence Staff has been initiated and the name will be announced soon, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said on Thursday.
FollowThe process of identifying the Chief of Defence Staff has been initiated and the name will be announced soon, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said on Thursday. The defence minister's remarks came on the sidelines of the Directorate General Defence Estates event in the national capital.
The extraordinary situation has arisen after the untimely demise of the country’s first Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat in a helicopter crash in Tamil Nadu that also claimed the lives of his wife Madhulika Rawat, his defence assistant Brig LS Lidder and 11 others. In a significant development, Indian Army Chief General MM Naravane took over charge as the Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee as an interim arrangement till the time the government announced the name of the Chief of Defence Staff.
Apart from heading the newly-created Department of Military Affairs, the CDS is also the permanent chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee and single-point military advisor to the defence minister. Except for the Department of Military Affairs, Gen Naravane will discharge the duty of chairman CoSC and advisor to the defence minister.
Lt Gen Anil Puri, being the second senior-most official in the DMA is looking after the newly-created department. On August 15, 2019, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had from the ramparts of the Red Fort announced the creation of a post of the CDS that will bring jointness among the three forces, including the Indian Army, the Indian Navy and the Indian Air Force.
In 2019, the DMA become the fifth department in the ministry of defence that formulates policy directions on jointness in procurement, training, posting and staffing for the services through joint planning and integration of their requirements. The other four departments in the ministry are the Department of Defence, the Department of Defence Research and Development, the Department of Defence Production, and the Department of Ex-Servicemen Welfare.
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