A New CDS Is Urgently Needed

Gen Rawat set the ball rolling but much work remains to make India future-combat ready

- Rajat.Pandit

There has been an inordinate delay in appointing the country’s next chief of defence staff after General Bipin Rawat died in a helicopter crash almost five months ago. A successor is urgently needed to be the prime driver behind the most far-reaching restructuring of the 1.5-million-strong armed forces set in motion since Independence.

Ensure integrated war-fighting machinery

The primary task of the next CDS will be to work towards building a lean, mean, integrated warfighting machine within budgetary constraints. The annual defence budget, currently pegged at around $75 billion, is unlikely to see a dramatic hike due to competing demands from other sectors in a developing country like India.

Gen Rawat laid the groundwork for setting up four integrated commands, with the assets and manpower of the army, navy and IAF under a single operational commander in each theatre. They are the maritime theatre command, air defence command and two land-based commands for Pakistan and China.

But his untimely death has slowed down the process. The new CDS will have to push for their creation in a time-bound manner to ensure India eventually gets a greater combat punch in a more cost-effective manner. Major objections raised by IAF, which contends it will be operationally unwise to divide its “limited air assets” among different theatres, will have to be amicably resolved without a bitter turf war.