Four-star General likely to handle Army, IAF & Navy issues

By Rajat Pandit, 

File photo: Cadets commissioned as Officers in Indian army during the passing out parade at the Officers Training Academy in on Saturday.20 march 2010.

 NEW DELHI: India seems to be moving towards getting another four-star general to handle all tri-Service issues in what will primarily be a staff appointment. The Army, IAF and Navy chiefs, the existing four-star generals, will be left operationally-independent to run their own services. 

Defence ministry sources on Tuesday said the proposal to create the new post of a permanent chairman of the chiefs of staff committee (CoSC) was at "an advanced stage of planning" now. The post, of course, would have to be ultimately approved by the Union Cabinet since "the issues involved are very complex", they added. 

The proposed post of the permanent chairman of CoSC, which currently comprises the three chiefs, would be the "first among equals" for resolving all inter-service doctrinal, planning, procurement and operational issues. 

The main focus will be on integrated planning and inter-Service prioritization of procurements to systematically build the country's military capabilities in a holistic manner. At present, the three Services bitterly squabble for the limited defence budget, with each naturally trying to get the most for itself. In the process, the country often does not get the biggest bang for its buck. 

Defence minister Manohar Parrikar in March had held that the existing system — the senior-most of the three chiefs acts as the ex officio CoSC chairman till he retires — reduced the post to being "virtually a figurehead" with no real integration. He had also declared his intention to evolve a "mechanism" to resolve the problem, as was then reported by TOI. 

The move to create the new post with a fixed tenure, in effect, is the NDA government's unfinished agenda from its last term in office under Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The L K Advani-led group of ministers' report on reforming the national security system in 2001 had stressed the need for a chief of defence staff (CDS) to provide single-point military advice to the government and manage the country's nuclear arsenal, among other things. 

Several GoM recommendations were then implemented, including some tri-Service structures under an integrated defence staff (IDS) led by a three-star general. But the then NDA government had developed cold feet over creating the all-important CDS post due to political-bureaucratic resistance for appointing an "all powerful general" as well as turf wars within the three services. 

The permanent CoSC chairman, in turn, is a watered-down version of the CDS post recommended by the Naresh Chandra Taskforce in 2012. This was, incidentally, accepted by the three Services in 2013. Many experts, however, say what is really needed is a five-star CDS with the requisite power and authority to lead the armed forces. 

Interestingly, in the US, the chairman of joint chiefs of staff is the highest-ranking military officer and principal military advisor to the American President. But the chiefs of the unified combatant commands, who handle different geographical parts of the globe, also report directly to political leadership.

Source  TNN | 22 Jul, 2015