TEST SERIES 
Date : 09 Dec 2021
Chief of the Defense Staff (CDS)
Tags :India’s first Chief of the Defence Staff (CDS), General Bipin Rawat, and 12 others were killed when an Indian Air Force helicopter carrying them crashed into the Coonoor ghat, Nilgiris, Tamil Nadu.
About CDS:
- The Chief of Defense Staff (CDS) is a four-star general from any of the three services, namely: The Indian Army, the Indian Air Force, and the Indian Navy.
- The appointment of the CDS is done on the basis of merit-cum-seniority of the military officer. His salary is equivalent to that of a service chief.
- The Chief of Defense Staff (CDS) administers the operations of the three forces-the Indian Army, the Indian Air Force, and the Indian Navy.
- The Chief of Defense Staff also plays the role of military advisor on important defense and strategic issues for the Prime Minister and Minister of Defense of India.
- The Chief of Defense Staff (CDS) coordinates long-term planning, training, procurement, and logistics of the three army wings.
- It is said that CDS is a dual-hatted role. This refers to the two hats that the CDS wears-- one hat of the permanent Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee which has the three service chiefs as members (a military role) and the other of the Head of Department of Military Affairs (DMA) in the Ministry of Defence (a government role).
Functions of Chief of Defense Staff (CDS)
The functions and duties of the Chief of Defense Staff (CDS) are as follows:
- To head the Department of Military Affairs in the Ministry of Defense and function as its Secretary.
- Principal Military Advisor to Minister of Defense on all Tri-Service matters.
- Permanent Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee.
- To administer the Tri-Service organizations/agencies/commands.
- To be a member of the Defense Acquisition Council chaired by the Minister of Defense.
- To function as the Military Advisor to the Nuclear Command Authority.
- To integrate operation, logistics, transport, training, support services, communications, repairs, and maintenance, etc. of the three Services.
- To implement Five-Year Defense Capital Acquisition Plan and Two-Year roll-on Annual Acquisition Plans, as a follow to of Integrated Capability Development Plan.
- To assign inter-services prioritization to capital acquisition proposals based on the anticipated budget.
- To bring about reforms in the functioning of three Services to augment combat capabilities of the Armed Forces by reducing wasteful expenditure.
History:
- The proposal for setting up a Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) post has been contemplated around 20 years ago after the Kargil war of 1999 by the K. Subrahmanyam committee but it never moved forward due to the absence of political consensus and apprehensions among services.
- Later in 2012, the Naresh Chandra Committee recommended the appointment of a Permanent Chairman of Chiefs of Staff Committee (COSC), but it too never moved.
- On 15 August 2019, Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his Independence Day speech from the ramparts of Red Fort announced the creation of the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) post.
