The elevation of retired General officer Shri Anil Chauhan because of country’s second Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), over nine months after the previous incumbent death in an exceedingly helicopter crash, is extraordinary in several ways.
General Chauhan is that the first retired three-star officer ever to return to active duty as a four-star CDS; and as Chairman Chiefs of Staff Committee (CoSC) he are primus inter pares, or first amongst equals to the three other service chiefs; or briefly, their superior, also during a first-ever instance of its kind. However, there have been some similarities between General Chauhan and his predecessor General Bipin Rawat who died in an Indian Air Force (IAF) helicopter crash in state in December 2021.
Both were from Uttarakhand and both were commissioned in the same unit: 11 Gurkhas. General Chauhan’s elevation, after superannuating 16 months earlier in May 2021 because the Eastern Army Commander, to the country’s topmost post, was enabled by the government’s June 7 notification. This fiat had rendered all serving and retired three-star officers, aged 62 years or below, from either of the three services, eligible to become the CDS for 3 years, or possibly even more.
This directive emerged after the govt opted against promoting either of the three service chiefs because the CDS. And though barren of operational authority, for now, General Chauhan will be Secretary of the newly created Department of Military Affairs or DMA, tasked with managing and operationally re-orienting India’s militia and furthering civil-military ties. He also will be consultant to the defence minister and to the tri-service Nuclear Command Authority and member of the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) that oversees materiel procurements. Alongside, General Chauhan are a part of the Defence Planning Committee liable for defining India’s military and security policies, and tasked with vindicating other multi-service responsibilities, including ‘joint-ness’, prioritising procurements, modernising the forces and effecting fiscal discipline, amongst other associated duties.
He assisted in his duties by the Integrated Defence Staff or IDS – a foothold that came into being in October 2001 because the secretariat of the long run CDS who, within the kind of General Rawat, assumed office 19 years later. The IDS is headed in rotation by a three-star officer from one amongst the three services. Earlier this month The Wire, quoting unnamed military officers had reported that considering the delay in appointing a CDS, the govt. had ‘quietly’ opted to try and do away with the position altogether. In light of recent developments this is often not at all the case.
It now emerges that the June 7 order expanding the potential talent resource pool for a possible CDS had General Chauhan, then officer to the National SC Secretariat (NSCN) in New Delhi, in mind right along. But the nearly three-month-and-a-half delay in confirming his appointment, despite his easy availability, was reportedly because of ‘ hectic internal discussions’ between senior ministers and security officials over General Chauhan’s elevation. Gen Chauhan has worked closely as NSA Ajit Doval’s advisor. it's unclear whether the three service chiefs were involved in any way in these discussions, much less if they consented to being side-stepped, as promoting a retired officer above them in authority was unique and would be effected for the primary time.
A cross-section of service veterans, serving officers and defence analysts said it had been ‘likely’ they were ‘in the loop’, because the government, for its part, too, was aware that the prospect of promoting a retired three-star officer as CDS had no precedent. Besides, the latter realised that such an eventuality would be a ‘difficult proposition’ for the hierarchy-conscious top serving military brass, to ‘truly accept’ which they needed ‘convincing’ of the government’s plans.
The flimsy logic, however, that was reportedly resorted to by the govt. was that General Chauhan, though retired, was senior in commission chiefs and hence eligible to be their superior. But many veterans don't rule out the chance of such an outcome triggering ‘resentments’ that might manifest themselves in an exceedingly myriad adversarial ways within the CDS’s day-to-day functioning, after he assumes office. The timing of General Chauhan’s appointment also raises questions, because the over nine-month gap overlapped with the continuing military standoff with the Chinese along the disputed Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Eastern Ladakh. It also coincided with growing concerns over the availability of materiel, spares and components for the predominantly Russian defence equipment in commission with the Indian defence force, following sanctions on Moscow for executing war in Ukraine.
Other pressing military issues, necessitating the CDS’s oversight, had also exacerbated – like propagating Atma-nirbharta, or self-sufficiency in indigenising the manufacture of defence equipment to cut back imports, and managing the contentious Agnipath scheme of recruiting Agniveers or personnel below officer rank into the military. This latter policy had provoked countrywide protests and widespread arson in eastern and northern India, additionally to making a possible political and diplomatic rift with Nepal over the intake of its hardy Gurkha troops with whom General Chauhan had earlier served.
Many officers within the ‘fauji langar’, or military bush telegraph, speculated that the announcement of General Chauhan as CDS had been prompted sooner than the upcoming four-day DefExpo 2022 in Gandhinagar, beginning October 18. One senior veteran-turned-analyst said that since the DefExpo was the primary major international military-orientated event in recent years, the govt. was keen on presenting a ‘comprehensive’ picture of India’s military to numerous foreign delegates, expected to participate within the show. “Not having a CDS presented an ‘embarrassing gap’ within the country’s military, which the govt was keen to avoid” surmised the veteran, declining to be named.
General Chauhan also must bridge the ‘confidence gap’ within the post of CDS that the nine-month long gap in his appointment had spawned. “This hiatus indicated that the Govt of India wasn't overly wanting to have a CDS, as were the services and also the bureaucracy within the Ministry of Defence (MoD),” said a two-star Indian Navy (IN) officer.
In Conclusion: General Chauhan will must work overtime to strengthen his credentials and overcome these handicaps, he added requesting anonymity.
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