TOPIC : DELAY IN THE SELECTION OF THE CHIEF OF DEFENCE STAFF ISSUES AND WAY FORWARD

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THE CONTEXT: In June 2022, the Union government has amended the rules related to the appointment of the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS). The post of the CDS has been vacant since December 8, 2021, when India’s first CDS General Bipin Rawat, died in a helicopter crash. In this article, we will analyse the issues related to the delays in the appointment of the CDS.

THE GENESIS OF THE CDS

1982

• General K .V Krishna Rao advanced the creation of the post of Chief of Defence.

1999

• The Kargil Review Committee (KRC), headed by K. Subrahmanyam, appointed after the Kargil conflict, proposed the creation of the post of CDS.

2001

• The Group of Ministers Task Force that studied the KRC report proposed to the Cabinet Committee on Security that a CDS, a 5-star officer, be created.

2012

• The Naresh Chandra Committee recommended the appointment of a Permanent Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee (COSC) as a midway to allay apprehensions over the CDS.

2016

• The CDS was one of the 99 recommendations made by the Lt General D.B. Shekatkar (retd) Committee.

2019

• The PM announces the decision to create the post of CDS.
• The Union Defense Ministry set up a high-powered committee under National Security Advisor to implement the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) decision to create the post of Chief of Defence Staff and also frame the terms of references for this post.
• Pursuant to the recommendations, a CDS post is created, and a new Department of Military Affairs was established, headed by the CDS

2022

• The rules relating to the CDS appointment changed (Read Ahead).

ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF CDS

DUAL ROLE

• The role of the CDS has been defined as a “dual-hatted” role as the CDS serves as the Permanent Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee and the Secretary of the Department of Military Affairs (DMA) in the Ministry of Defence.

JOINTNESS OF OPERATIONS

• The CDS is also mandated with the role of inducing jointness in the armed forces, theatre commands, carrying out reforms, and the optimal utilisation of infrastructure.

IN CHARGE OF MAKE IN INDIA IN DEFENCE

• The government has also made the CDS in-charge of the ‘Make in India’ in defence programme and has been given the mandate of promoting and ensuring the Aatmanirbhar Bharat scheme in the defence sector.

OTHERS

• Principal Military Advisor to Defence Minister on all tri-services issues
• Administration of the Tri-Service  organizations/agencies/commands
• Member of Defence Acquisition Council chaired by Defence Minister
• Military Advisor to the Nuclear Command Authority.

THE NUCLEAR COMMAND AUTHORITY(NCA)

NCA is the body that authorises the use of nuclear weapons. It has a Political Council headed by the Prime Minister and an Executive Council headed by the National Security Advisor. The decision to use weapons is taken by the Political Council, and Executive Council gives its input. The CDS is a member of this council in an advisory role.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE POST OF CDS FOR NATIONAL SECURITY MANAGEMENT

• JOINT PLANNING –A tri-service chief will help in the preparation integrated and holistic planning of defence policy combining all three wings
• OPTIMAL UTILIZATION OF RESOURCES – Earlier, due to a lack of coordination among the services, many repetitive costs must be incurred in logistics, training etc. The post of CDS would encourage synergy in operations to dispense with such unnecessary burdens in procurement. It would also expedite the defence procurement process.
• STRATEGIC FORCES COMMAND – With India’s “no first use” nuclear strategy, the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) would be in a real quandary if at a critical stage during war, when the adversary has unleashed nuclear weapons, the three Chiefs of Staff express divergent views on the payoffs of using nuclear weapons in a retaliatory strike and the type and nature of the response. In such a situation, the CDS would be able to take a detached view and offer unified advice to the government.
• RESOLUTION OF DISPUTES AMONG SERVICES – The CDS helps in the resolution of conflicts arising among the services with respect to the allocation of resources, regarding the procurement of weapons etc.
• SPECIALIST ADVICE AVAILABLE TO GOVERNMENT – The CDS acts as a one-point contact to the government to assist in making decisions from a militarily cogent perspective
• INNOVATION IN DEFENCE FORCES – The CDS aids in the preparation of amphibious units such as Marines or in other joint inter-services research and development.
• CREATION OF THEATRE COMMANDS – It is also seen as being vital to the creation of “theatre commands”, integrating tri-service assets and personnel.

THE DELAY IN THE APPOINTMENT: AN ANALYSIS

Given the high-profile role and responsibilities are given to the CDS, a delay of almost 8 months in naming the successor of the late CDS is quite worried some. This inordinate delay is inexplicable as India is fighting a two and half-front war especially when a belligerent China is creating problems in India’s backyard. The initial euphoria associated with the creation of the post of PDF seems to have died down for reasons best known to the government. However, this is not a welcome development as a CDS has very significant roles according to its mandate. The CDS is one of the three critical links in India’s national security management, the other two being National Security Strategy and Defence Minister’s Operational Directives. The appointment of CDS was announced as a major reform in defence, but the delay means the government may have an afterthought on the concept of CDS. But whatever be the reasons, the delay takes the defence modernization backwards. Hence, the post should not be kept vacant or if the government feels it is not required, then it needs to be abolished to save defence expenditure, some defence analysts say.

 THE NEW AMENDMENTS RELATED TO THE POST OF CDS

• The government amended the defence rules to empower the Central Government to appoint as Chief of Defence Staff an officer” who is serving as Lieutenant General, Vice Admiral, Air Marshal or General, Admiral, Air Chief Marshal.
• An officer who has retired” from these ranks but has not attained the age of sixty-two years on the date of his appointment is also eligible to be appointed.
• The government may extend the service of the CDS for such a period as it may deem necessary, subject to a maximum age of 65.
• Although this amendment widens the talent pool for CDS, the appointment of a three-star officer `to the post will be a tricky affair as the service chiefs are four-star officers.
• Until now, the eligible rank was not explicitly mentioned with respect to the CDS appointment.

THE TWO OTHER MISSING LINKS IN INDIA’S NATIONAL SECURITY MANAGEMENT

ABSENCE OF A NATIONAL SECURITY STRATEGY

• Unlike many other countries, India does not publish a formally articulated National Security Strategy or National Security Doctrine or a White Paper on National Defence.
• In the absence of a formally stated long-term national security strategy tied to viable operational plans, policy-making tends to be driven by knee-jerk responses to emerging situations and is, hence, mainly reactive.

OPERATIONAL DIRECTIVES OF THE DEFENCE MINISTER

• The three-armed forces are completely reliant on the Raksha Mantri’s Operational Directives for political direction in the event of all-out war or other emergencies. It is the most crucial political directive in terms of operational planning. And it hasn’t been updated in over a decade to account for newer challenges and changing circumstances.

THEATRE COMMAND

•  Theatre command means all three arms of the military would work under a unified command – modelled after the CDS at the central level.
•  Top militaries such as that of the US and China follow this command structure. The US military works under six theatre commands, while China has five theatre commands.
•  Unlike other large and efficient militaries, India does not follow a theatre command structure. It follows a single-service command structure. India has 19 commands – seven of the Indian Army, three of the Indian Navy, seven of the Indian Air Force, one tri-service command at Andaman and Nicobar Islands and the Strategic Forces Command (SFC).
•  Each of these commands reports through separate chains to their respective chiefs, which are not known for best coordination.
•  All three forces have separate Eastern, Western and Southern commands. Army and air force also have Central and South-Western commands. Same name, same regions, different headquarters and at times diverging strategies. This prevents seamless performance in times of conflict or war.

THE WAY FORWARD:

• The government needs to appoint the CDS now that the new rules are in place and any further delay will only lead to unwarranted speculations.
• If the government is rethinking the roles and mandate of the CDS, then a study group needs to be instituted at the earliest with experts.
• The casual handling of the CDS post by the government does not augur well for the defence reforms and defence management. Hence, a change of thinking is required.
• As the only discernible output form, the DMA and the CDS is the Tour of Duty which has created a lot of unrest in the country. This requires better functioning of the department, and it needs to show more outputs to justify its new existence.
• There are many grey areas and overlapping responsibilities between the Department of Defence and DMA, leading to turf war and wastage of resources. This needs to be addressed by the clear demarcation of responsibilities.
• It is high time that India comes out with an NSS, and also it must revise the Operational Directive so as to improve India’s National Security Management.

THE CONCLUSION: The military’s agenda of manpower reduction, integrated, tri-service theatre commands, and equipment modernization must be advanced, and it is imperative that the CDS be appointed. His duties as a consultant to the Nuclear Command Authority, the execution of the Five Year Defence Capital Acquisition Plan, and the Two-Year Roll-On Annual Acquisition Plans are additional CDS obligations that brook no delays.

QUESTIONS TO PONDER

1. Explain the role and responsibilities of the Chief of Defence Staff. Can we say that the undue delay in appointing a new CDS undermines India’s defence preparedness?
2. Despite the immense significance attached to the post CDS, the delay in appointment indicates a lack of seriousness by the government to national security management. Comment.