Department of Military Affairs gets Formal Structure

NEW DELHI: After the announcement of the post of the country’s first Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) and appointment of General Bipin Rawat to the critical position, the Government on Friday approved a formal structure of the newly-created Department of Military Affairs which Rawat is going to head.

The Department of Military Affairs will be two joint secretaries, 13 deputy secretaries and 22 under secretaries who will assist the Chief of Defence Staff to carry out his responsibilities.

Rawat will push the three services to truly integrate in planning, procurements, logistics, doctrines and training. The CDS provides single-point military advice to the government as well as function as the military advisor to the Prime Minister-led Nuclear Command Authority.

Though the three service chiefs will retain full operational control over their forces, the CDS will clearly be the “first among equals” in the hierarchy.

At present, India has as many as 17 single-service commands, with each force reluctant to give up its command. India has only one joint command that is the Andaman and Nicobar Command till now. The Department of Military Affairs will be the fifth department in the Ministry of Defence. The existing ones are the Department of Defence, the Department of Defence Production, the Department of Defence Research and Development and the Department of Ex-Servicemen Welfare.

The Department of Military Affairs deals with the armed forces, the integrated headquarters of the Ministry of Defence, comprising the Army, Naval and Air and defence staff headquarters and the Territorial Army.

After taking charge as CDS, General Rawat’s first directive to his tri-service integrated defence staff (IDS) was to prepare a plan for the creation of an Air Defence Command (ADC) and common logistics support pools for the armed forces.

The proposal for the ADC should be prepared by June 30, said General Rawat, while also setting out the priorities for execution of synergy among the armed forces in different arenas in a time-bound manner by December 31. (IANS)

Also Read: India won’t copy western system of joint theatre command: CDS Bipin Rawat

Also Watch: Jorhat Journalists wear black badges to protest against attack on fellow journalist Kankan Sarma