The announcement on a Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) last year and the appointment of Gen. Bipin Rawat as the first CDS has been one of the key policy decisions made by the Narendra Modi government in its second term. In the aftermath of an emphatic election victory in May 2019, Mr. Modi pushed the needle on a long-pending reform for the establishment of a CDS, which was recommended by the Kargil Review Committee in 2001. The CDS will be “first among equals” in that he will consult and solicit the views of the services, but the final judgment will be the CDS’s alone and he will be the principal military adviser to the Defence Minister.

The role here will be confined to the acquisition matters exclusive to each service and won’t extend to the procurement of big-ticket items such as warships or fighter aircraft, which will remain under firm control of the Department of Defence (DoD). The CDS will be the single-point military adviser to the Defence Minister on matters involving all three services and the service chiefs will be obliged to confine their counsel to issues pertaining to their respective services. The CDS is also vested with the authority to provide directives to the three chiefs.

A chief as well as an adviser

Additionally, the CDS will lead the Department of Military Affairs (DoMA) dealing with the three services. Gen. Rawat will enjoy the rank of Secretary within the DoD and his powers will be confined to only the revenue budget. However, he is vested with the authority in prioritising inter-service procurement decisions as Permanent Chairman-Chiefs of Staff Committee. While the CDS does not enjoy any command authority, in his capacity as DoMA, he will wield control over issues governing promotions, travel, appointment to key posts, and overseas assignments. Consequently, the CDS will enjoy a substantial amount of influence. He will also perform an advisory role in the Nuclear Command Authority (NCA). Above all, his core function will be to foster greater operational synergy between the three service branches of the Indian military and keep inter-service frictions to a minimum. Fundamentally, the CDS will perform two roles, as the single point military advisor to the Defence Minister and as head of the DoMA.

With his inauguration as India’s first CDS last year, Gen. Rawat has hit the ground running with some important announcements. He has sought the establishment of an Air Defence Command (ADC) by directing the Integrated Defence Staff (IDS) to develop a proposal by June 30. An integrated ADC will enable nationwide coverage, prevent fratricide in the event of war and sustain jointmanship in air defence operations. In addition, Gen. Rawat has declared his intention to synergise logistics support, particularly in areas where two or more services are co-located.

Three main challenges

Gen. Rawat faces three main challenges. First, there are concerns over matters relating to service parochialism, though there have been no initial indications in this regard. If he privileges support for the Army, his parent service, he is likely to put himself on a collision course with the Naval and Air Force chiefs. A corollary is that as an infantry officer, he may become susceptible to bias in matters concerning procurement decisions or personnel issues focused on the infantry. The latter outcome could vitiate his capacity to address the needs of the armour and artillery corps. Any parochialism could potentially derail the primary objective of creating the CDS — promoting synergy and shaping acquisition priorities both within and between the services. Indeed, one of the tasks the CDS is to avoid wasteful expenditure and duplication of equipment in the inventories of the services.

But, the CDS’s role is not simply about tri-service cooperation, it is equally about fostering better cooperation between the MoD bureaucracy and the services and ensuring that projected and planned acquisitions of the services do not exceed capital allocations. A secondary challenge stems from the sheer levels of manpower in the Indian Army, which is the service that consumes the lion’s share of the defence budget. As it is a manpower-intensive fighting force, pruning the number of personnel in the Army will remain perhaps the most vexed challenge for possibly the entirety of Gen. Rawat’s tenure. This will demand innovation, given the fact that infantry-based operations geared for counterinsurgency warfare, which a large part of the Army is dedicated to undertaking, are manpower intensive.

There are no instant remedies, but one pointer is towards greater investment in Artificial Intelligence (AI) over the long term, a process that has already begun, but will require a dedicated push from the CDS over the course of his tenure. The application of AI technology is likely to lend itself to tanks and artillery systems, as is visibly evident from the vigorous pursuit of AI by China’s People’s Liberation Army.

The final challenge facing the CDS will be the extent to which he can encourage the services to support indigenisation. Cost saving is not simply about reducing manpower in the Army, it is equally about getting all the services, particularly the capital-intensive services, to rally behind a committed enterprise to support the native Research and Development for production and eventual deployment of weapons systems, which when procured from abroad drive a massive hole in the budget.

Harsh V. Pant is Director of Research at Observer Research Foundation, Delhi where Kartik Bommakanti is an Associate Fellow

Chandigarh : The Army Air Defence Corps celebrated its 27th raising day at Chandimandir on Friday.

The occasion was marked by wreath-laying ceremony at Veer Smriti, where Major General RS Thakur of the Army Air Defence Corps,Western Command, along with serving officers, JCOs and jawans paid tributes.

Although it was first raised in 1939, the Army Air Defence became an autonomous corps only on January 10, 1994.

Lieutenant General RP Singh, general commanding officer -in-chief, Western Command, extended his greetings to all ranks, their families and veterans of the Corps. He commended the professionalism displayed by the Army Air Defence personnel in discharge of their duties and always living up to their motto of ‘Akashe Shatrun Jahi’ (Kill the enemy in sky). htc

In a much-awaited judgment, the Supreme Court (SC) has finally ruled on the constitutionality of the restrictions in place in Jammu and Kashmir since August. The court’s order is laudable in principle. It has made it clear that freedom of speech through the Internet and the freedom to practise any profession, which depends on the Internet, encompasses the freedom to access the Internet — and this makes it a fundamental right (by extension). This builds on a Kerala High Court judgment that declared the right to Internet a fundamental right. This is particularly important since India has now seen the longest Internet blackout in any democracy in the world. The court has also asked the Centre to produce orders — which it was unwilling to do — justifying the use of Section 144 and other restrictions, and said these are subject to judicial review. It has added that these restrictions on rights cannot be indefinite. It has called for the immediate resumption of essential services such as hospitals, government websites and banking. And it has asked the competent authority to review other restrictions within seven days.

This will elicit a sigh of relief from residents of the Valley as well as strengthen the fundamental architecture of civil liberties in India by laying out a strong precedence in jurisprudence about what the executive can do, and cannot do, even as it seeks to strengthen security. With its order, the apex court has opened the door for restoration of normalcy in Kashmir. At a larger level, the ruling sets precedents that make the Internet shutdown process more transparent, ensures that there can’t be indefinite shutdowns, and actually specifies a time-frame for a review (seven days).

But there are two concerns which merit attention. The first is timing. The apex court has taken over five months to lay out these principles. Civil liberties must be of the highest priority, and this reflects a certain degree of abdication of responsibility, for through this period, Indian citizens have had to live with curtailed rights. The SC’s judgment also does not provide immediate relief. It leaves the door open for the executive to argue that these orders are justified on security grounds, and for another, perhaps prolonged, legal process for the full resumption of rights. The SC should have built on its own principles to provide for immediate restoration of rights. But the good news is that by opening the door for liberty, it has strengthened democracy.

HT Correspondent

letters@hindustantimes.com

NEW DELHI : The newly-created department of military affairs, headed by the chief of defence staff (CDS), will be staffed with two joint secretaries, 13 deputy secretaries and 25 under secretaries, a government official said on condition of anonymity, adding that the officers would be a mix of civilians and uniformed personnel.

The new department, under CDS General Bipin Rawat, is an addition to the four existing verticals in the defence ministry: the departments of defence, defence production, defence research and development, and ex-service welfare. As CDS, Rawat is the principal military adviser to the defence minister on all matters related to the tri-services.

He took over as the country’s first CDS on December 31.

In his first official directive after taking over as CDS, Rawat last week asked top officials of Headquarters Integrated Defence Staff to prepare a proposal to create an Air Defence command to enhance military synergy and optimally utilise the resources of the armed forces. Rawat has set a June 30 deadline for the proposal to be submitted.

In the last few days, he held series of meetings with important functionaries of the defence ministry and the three services exploring ways to bring in inter-service synergy and jointness in a time bound manner.

The government expects the CDS to bring about jointness among the three services within three years.

He is expected to prepare an annual report for the defence minister on achievements in improving jointness.

One of the key objectives behind so-called jointmanship is the setting up of joint or theatre commands for the best use of military resources to fight future battles. While the army and the navy have been open to the idea, the Indian Air Force has concerns about theaterisation.

The new department will also work towards promoting the use of indigenous equipment by the services at a time when the armed forces are heavily dependent on imported military hardware.

“The creation of the new posts is a step towards achieving the ultimate goal of bringing in tri-services synergy. The department needs to have officers who understand cross-service issues and are well versed in government procedures,” said Lieutenant General Satish Dua (retd), a leading expert on issues related to the tri-services.

HT Correspondent

letterschd@hindustantimes.com

Chandigarh : Punjab Police on Friday seized two highly sophisticated China-made drones, and arrested an army jawan and two smugglers having links with Pakistan-backed narco-terror module. The drones were being used to smuggle weapons and drugs from across the border, police said.

The police have also seized drone batteries, custom-made drone containers, two walkie-talkie sets, ₹6.22 lakh in cash (believed to be proceeds of drugs) and the magazine of an INSAS rifle from the accused.

According to DGP Dinkar Gupta, those arrested have been identified as Dharminder Singh of Dhanoa Khurd village in Amritsar, army Naik Rahul Chauhan of Pooja Vihar in Ambala Cantonment in Haryana, and Balkar Singh of Kalas village in Amritsar.

Dharminder was arrested from a Hardo Rattan village on the Indo-Pak border, while Balkar was brought on Production warrant on Thursday from Amritsar jail where he is lodged in a drug case. Chauhan was reportedly involved in procuring and supplying drones and training to smugglers. He is said to be the kingpin of the racket.

The DGP said the drones, capable of travelling 2-3 kms on either side of the border were reportedly being launched from the Indian side to fly into Pakistan to pick up payloads of narcotics. He said two members of this module were still absconding and investigations were underway to find out the accused other links.

“Preliminary investigations confirmed that Chauhan was directly involved in operating drone sorties across the border for picking up heroin as well as weapons from Pakistan with the help of his associates in India and Pakistan. He and his accomplices were in direct contact with Pakistani smugglers on encrypted messaging platforms. Latest plan was to send one of the walkie talkie sets across the border to Pakistan to facilitate two-way communication,” said the DGP.

In September last year, police had busted Pakistan-supported Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF) module that was dropping arms and ammunitions in border areas using drones.

The members have revealed that they were involved in cross-border smuggling of drugs and weapons over drones over the past few months. The first drone (Quadcopter) was recovered from an abandoned government dispensary building in Modhe village in Amritsar, hidden by Dharminder and his associates. The second drone was recovered from a house in Karnal on the disclosures of Chauhan. The house belongs to a friend of Chauhan.

Gupta said the police had launched a covert operation to ensure close monitoring and checking of the border areas in view of the recent influx of weapons and drugs from across the border through drones as well as other means.