Lt Gen Anil Chauhan Appointed As Next Chief Of Defence Staff (New CDS)

Lt Gen Anil Chauhan Appointed As Next Chief Of Defence Staff

Former Eastern Army Commander Lt. General Anil Chauhan (Retd) has been appointed as the next Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) by the government on the 28th of September 2022. Along with that, he will function as Secretary Department of Military Affairs. The post had been vacant for almost 10 months since the untimely death of the country’s first CDS General Bipin Rawat in a helicopter crash in December 2021.

New CDS of India 2022

In June 2022, the government amended Service laws of the Army, Navy and Air Force to allow any serving or retired three-star officer under the age of 62 to be eligible for the post of CDS, the country’s top military post. General Chauhan, now the CDS, is under 62 years. He retired at the age of 60 as the Eastern Army Commander in May 2021. The Chiefs of the three forces anyway retire at 62 years of age.

“The Government has decided to appoint Lt. Gen. Anil Chauhan (Retired) as the next Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) who shall also function as Secretary to Government of India, Department of Military Affairs with effect from the date of his assumption of charge but it did not mention his tenure. Rather, it said he will be CDS and Secretary DMA “until further orders”. the Defence Ministry said in an official statement.

Lt Gen Chauhan was born on may 18, 1961 in the state of Uttarakhand. He was commissioned into the 6th battalion of 11 Gorkha Rifles Regiment in 1981. In a career of nearly 40 years, Lt. Gen. Anil Chauhan had held various command, staff and instrumental appointments with the serving experience of many glorious years in counter-insurgency operations in Jammu and Kashmir and North-East India. Post retirement, Lt. Gen. Chauhan became the Military Advisor in the National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS).He has also served as a United Nations mission to Angola.

In June, 2022 the Government amended allowing retired Service Chiefs and three-star rank officers eligible for consideration to post. However, with an age limit, imposed that the retired officer should not have attained 62 years on the date of appointment, retired Service Chiefs are largely ruled out especially so for the present consideration.

In December 2019, the Government created the post of CDS who would also function as the Principal Military Adviser to the Defence Minister and Permanent Chairman Chiefs of Staff Committee (COSC). Along with that, the DMA was also created as the fifth department in the Ministry of Defence (MoD) with the CDS functioning as its Secretary. The CDS is responsible for joint planning for procurement, training and staffing for the services. He is tasked with facilitation of restructuring of military commands for optimal utilisation of resources by bringing about joint efforts in operations through establishment of theatre commands and promotes use of indigenous equipment by the services.