Appointment Of Chief Of Defence Staff Will Be Made Soon: Rajnath Singh

Mumbai: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday said that the ‘appointment of Chief of Defence Staff will be made soon.’ This comes six months after General Bipin Rawat, India’s first Chief of Defence Staff, died in a helicopter crash in December 2021.

“The appointment of the CDS will be made soon. The process for it is underway,” the Defence Minister said today during a media briefing here on the rollout of the ‘Agnipath’ recruitment scheme for the armed forces.

Now the government has amended service rules of the armed forces, making all serving and recently retired three-star officers — Lt General, Air Marshal and Vice Admiral — under the age of 62 eligible for the post of CDS, according to notification of the government.

The CDS is the senior-most uniformed officer in the rank, the first in the rank – the only four-star officer in the country to become a CDS is the head of the Indian Army, Indian Navy and Indian Air Force. The post has been lying vacant since December 8 last year after the death of the country’s first CDS late General Bipin Rawat in an air crash.

The appointment of the CDS by the Narendra Modi government within six months of coming back to power in 2019 has been hailed as one of the biggest reforms in the country’s top military infrastructure.

The CDS was appointed as the secretary of the Department of Military Affairs which currently serves under an additional secretary-rank lieutenant general.

The government in its data highlighted that the CDS will be in charge of the Make in India in Defense program and has been given the mandate to promote and ensure the Atmanirbhar Bharat scheme in the defence sector.

The CDS is also the single point of contact for the government for providing military advice and is the most senior bureaucrat in the Defense Ministry with four major departments.

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