Ajay Banerjee

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, December 30 

Army Chief Gen Bipin Rawat was on Monday appointed the country’s first Chief of Defence Staff whose mandate will be to bring in convergence in functioning of the Army, the Navy and the Indian Air Force.

According to a government order, Gen Rawat has been appointed CDS with effect from December 31.

He has been given an extension in service till the period he is serving as CDS.

Two days ago, the government amended service rules of the forces to allow the CDS to serve till 65 years of age.

Service chiefs serve till 62 or have a three-year tenure. General Rawat completes his three years tenure as Army chief tomorrow and he will turn 62 next year.

For the general, picked up as the first CDS of the country, ‘integrating’ the forces will be the prime task.

The general, whose father was senior officer, hails from Uttarakhand.

He was commissioned into the 5/11 Gorkha Rifles in 1978 when passed out from the Indian Military Academy in Dehradun. He was the ‘sword of honour’ of his batch, meaning the best performing cadet.

In February 2015, when posted as Commander of the 3 Corps at Dimapur, he was lucky enough to survive a helicopter crash.

In December 2016, he was picked up as Army chief superseding two senior-most Commanders of that time, Eastern Army Commander Lt Gen Parveen Bakshi and Southern-Army Commander Lt Gen PM Hariz.

Before December 2016, an Army commander was superseded was when General AS Vaidya was appointed Army chief in July 1983.

It was during General Rawat’s tenure as Army chief, that India and China were locked in stand-off at Doklam in 2017.

It was the second longest standoff between the Armies of the two countries along the un-demarcated Line of Actual Control (LAC).

An important lesson was repeated that militarily it’s important to stand ground against China.

On its part, the Indian side had dug in its heels in the military stand-off at Doklam. It was reminiscent of a similar event at Sumdrong Chu (October 1986 to May 1987) in north-western part of Arunachal Pradesh.

General Rawat, had just eight years of service in 1986 and as young major watched the moves of General K Sundarji who  launched ‘Operation Falcon’ and moved a brigade, some 3000 men, north of Tawang using IAF helicopters

General Rawat has vast experience in high-altitude warfare and counter-insurgency operations.

He commanded an Infantry battalion at Kibithoo along the Line of Actual Control in the eastern-most corner of Arunachal Pradesh.