One minute read. Written by a grade 6 student

The Indian government has approved the creation of the post called – The Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), who will be the highest-ranked officer of India’s armed forces. This is new for India, as till now there are individual chiefs – of the army, navy and air force, but not one who can command all three.

Why is this needed?

After the Kargil war in 1999 (which India fought with Pakistan) many experts suggested that there was a need for creating a post for a single command centre in matters of warfare and nuclear weaponry. This suggestion was finally approved by the government and, as recommended by the Kargil Review Committee, the CDS will be the single-point military adviser to the government.

The post will bring about a cohesion (joint-ness) between the three Armed Forces. The CDS will act as the Principal Military Adviser to Defence Minister on tri-Services matters and will also advise on nuclear matters in the situation of war. However, tenure of Chief of Defence Staff has not yet declared.

Who will be India’s first Chief of Defence Staff?

The CDS needs to be a four-star army officer – Four-star officers are often the most senior commanders in the armed services (all three service chiefs are four-star officers). General Bipin Rawat (who was the Chief of Army Staff) will be the first CDS.

Which other countries have a CDS?

This post exists many countries, like America, China, United Kingdom and Japan. However, they have different names for this post like – Supreme Commander, Commander-in-Chief, Chief of Staff, etc.