New Delhi: It has been barely 10 days since the unfortunate incident that led to the loss of lives including that of General Bipin Rawat, Chief of Defence Staff (CDS). Many views seem to be emerging on who should be his worthy successor and how should the government go about its sacred duty.
There is no doubt that the CDS had three hats - as Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee (CoSC), single point advisor to the government on Joint and Triservices issues and Secretary, Department of Military Affairs (DMA). Each one of them is equally important.
It is more important to remember that the CDS will be the central figure who could provide direction and set the pace of military reforms, especially Jointmanship, Theatre Commands and integration of resources. The post should ideally be filled in by the most deserving candidate who has the desire to carry forward with the reforms initiated thus far and must have complete knowledge of how the system functions or operates so as to achieve time bound results.
While the process to find General Rawat’s successor as CDS is laid down in the government letter, the selection will be made from among the serving personnel of Army, Navy or Air Force only. So any speculation or media inputs that retired personnel are eligible is out of context.
Each service is required to forward a list of two candidates based upon seniority and suitability to provide a wider choice to the government. The rules permit serving Lt Gen equivalent to be eligible, to provide an opportunity for deep selection. It would be the government’s call.
The selection of the CDS will be approved by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC), which is now composed of only two members — the PM and the Home Minister, wider discussions may however be considered by the political leadership. The government will promulgate the selection of a suitable officer whose tenure will be two years. He will be equal in rank and protocol to the Service Chiefs.
General Naravane, the Army Chief, is the longest serving Chief and is the senior most serving military officer. On the other hand, he has never done a joint tenure and has very superficial knowledge of the other two services. He also does not share the vision of theatrisation propounded by Gen Rawat. He has good knowledge of the land border situation with China and has been exposed to the political leadership on a regular basis.
Lt Gen Mohanty or Gen YK Joshi belonging to the same course could both be in the list as well. Gen Joshi has been at the frontline as CinC Northern Army Command and is considered very knowledgeable of the China situation. He has also served three tenures in Delhi. The government could benefit from his elevation and knowledge. He has no experience in Tri Services or Joint appointments. Similar things also apply to Lt Gen Mohanty also and he has no joint experience. He is the current Vice Chief of the Army
Admiral Hari Kumar, who took over on 30 November should certainly be in the list. He has been the CinC of Western Naval Command and more importantly has been CISC at the crucial time of setting up of the CDS organization. He has been closely associated with all the discussions at the political and bureaucratic level. He was also a member of COSC as CISC and had participated in all discussions on Roadmap for Jointmanship and Theatre Commands. In fact, the majority of the work was done during his tenure as CISC. He also has supervised the growth of Cyber Space and AFSOD.
The second candidate from the Navy would be Vice Admiral AB Singh, the current CinC Western Naval Command. He has a very deep understanding of the functioning of other services as he has the unique distinction of having done many joint tenures at senior levels. He was the Deputy CinC of the Strategic Forces Command for over two years. Later he was very closely involved along with the CISC in the setting up of the DMA and deliberations on Theatre Command while he was the DCIDS (DOT) and later was responsible for Cyber Space and AFSOD as DCIDS (OPS) at HQIDS.
Air Chief Marshal Chaudhari, the current Air Chief would be also suitable because of his exposure as CinC Western Air Command, VCAS and now as the CAS. Except for a DS tenure in DSSC he has no Tri-Services experience at senior ranks. More importantly the Air Force has been opposed to the very idea of the theatre commands and therefore, any new model that he may propose may reset the timelines of theatre command beyond what may be desirable.
Air Marshal Amit Dev, the current CinC of Western Air Command has done both East and West Air Command tenures. He has also been in the tri-service command of SFC for almost 2 years. He has been the AOP and DG Air Ops at Air HQ. Exposure and experience wise he may be better suited. Understandably he was also a close candidate in the selection for CAS earlier this year. Notwithstanding he may also suffer from the theatre command bias of the Air Force.
In terms of the process followed, the Defence Ministry has to initiate the file and provide a panel of six. The announcement of the next CDS by the political leadership among the above candidates will clearly bring out if merit and qualifications are the main criteria and the government is willing to undertake deep selection or seniority will be the sole arbitrator
We are confident that the political leadership will address these and many more issues in the selection of the next CDS. Whatever decision is taken, it will bring with it some additional churn and a new set of dynamics in the top level leadership. May the best man for India be selected.
