8

The post of Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) remains vacant after the death of India's first CDS, General Bipin Rawat, in December 2021.

The post was advertised to be extremely crucial when it was created. However, the government doesn't seem to be eager to appoint the next CDS. Why is this?

Improve this question
6
  • 1
    Maybe because there is a tussle among the chiefs of Army,Air Force,and Navy as the CDS is the head of all the three departments..
    – user42728
    Commented May 18, 2022 at 13:15
  • @RamanujanXXV Can you provide any reference atleast?
    – ShivCK
    Commented May 18, 2022 at 16:41
  • The position was created with the aim of improving coordination, tri-service effectiveness and overall integration of the combat capabilities of the Indian armed forces
    – user42728
    Commented May 19, 2022 at 3:52
  • en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chief_of_Defence_Staff_(India)
    – user42728
    Commented May 19, 2022 at 3:53
  • 1
    Ohk, unfortunately I don't have any reference ,maybe because such things (disputes between two branches of military ) rarely make it to the news.that's why I had written Maybe in first comment.
    – user42728
    Commented May 19, 2022 at 6:59

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
1

However, the government doesn't seem to be eager to appoint the next CDS. Why is this?

Because of two reasons:

  1. It was a political decision to create a new post and to appoint Gen. Bipin Rawat as the CDS. This was because of Gen Bipin's loyalty to the party BJP.
  2. Gen. Bipin Rawat undertook an anti-corruption and reform drive in the army. The army didn't like it.

The post was advertised to be extremely crucial when it was created.

Political decisions are advertised hard so a populist government can buy popular support.

Improve this answer
5
  • the above answer indicates that the current government used the post of CDS for pushing its own political agenda through the armed forces by appointing the person close to the ideology of their party, even then why the government is not making effort to appoint a similar person? What is the point of keeping the topmost designation of armed forces empty?
    – Anshul Sahni
    Commented Aug 9, 2022 at 12:41
  • 1
    @AnshulSahni, why is the government not making an effort to appoint a similar person? --- who knows! Probably, they are not finding one at the moment? ... ... What is the point of keeping the topmost designation of armed forces empty? --- that was an artificial and redundant position in the first place.
    – user366312
    Commented Aug 9, 2022 at 13:23
  • Why do you think it's a redundant post, I thought that post was required since long in our defence structure but would like to know your opinion what other post is similar to CDS in the current system?
    – Anshul Sahni
    Commented Aug 9, 2022 at 13:26
  • @AnshulSahni, This politics.SE doesn't encourage giving out opinions. Therefore, I would pass.
    – user366312
    Commented Aug 9, 2022 at 13:27
  • Agreed to you completely, no offense but I feel that your answer is opionated though you mentioned links of news reports but you none of them contains the reason specified by the government rather you linked speculative reports as the reason of the topic
    – Anshul Sahni
    Commented Aug 9, 2022 at 14:53
0

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/01402390.2016.1196357

It is important to recognize that jointness is not an unmitigated good. It can, for instance, inhibit military innovation. Gholz and Sopolsky’s study of the US defence industry argues that jointness has led to the situation where the services have no ‘incentive to experiment with new approaches.’17 Other studies support the notion that inter-services rivalry is good for military innovation. 18 Another criticism against jointness is that unifying the services creates problems for civilian control. Peter Feaver observed that a more unified military maybe ‘better able to resist assertions of civilian control.’19 As explained later, concerns about civilian control have been at the heart of reluctance in India to appoint a Chief of Defence Staff who would be the embodiment of joint planning, training and operations,

It's the concerns about civilian control that explains India's reluctance to appoint a CDS.

What explains this reluctance to impose jointness? Civilian hesitation towards appointing a CDS is due to a fear that this may weaken civilian control and upset the supposedly ‘delicate’ civil-military balance. This senti- ment has animated the Indian political class from the 1960s – when the CDS was first proposed by Mountbatten – to this day.

India believes that CDS would weaken civilian control over the military and upset the delicate balance between the civil part and the military part of the government.

Improve this answer

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .