More than four months after the death of late General Bipin Rawat, it is emerging that the government may consider both serving and retired military officers for the post. General Bipin Rawat was the first chief of defence staff of India and lost his life in an air crash in Tamil Nadu.
Top government sources told India Today that the government is also going to make an announcement regarding the next army chief this week. “Both serving and retired officers may be considered for the appointment to the post of chief of defence staff,” top sources told.
The officers may be from the rank of both lieutenant general-equivalent or service chiefs-equivalent, they said.
The office of the Chief of Defence Staff was one of the biggest military structure reforms and has resulted in more coordination in working between the government and the defence forces.
The defence forces in the country earlier used to go through civilian bureaucracy to get their modernisation projects, promotions etc cleared, but ever since the Department of Military Affairs was formed, all these functions have come under the military domain. The task of creating consensus on military issues among the three services has also been given to the CDS.
The CDS is also now responsible for the creation of new age war fighting structures like the theatre commands as well as indigenising the weaponry of the armed forces. The first CDS also coordinated with the three services and the DRDO to develop and issue the first negative import list which barred eight items from being imported from foreign vendors.
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