PM Modi-led CCS to decide on Chief Of Defence Staff (CDS); NSA-panel report in: Sources

In a significant development, sources on Wednesday said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Cabinet Committee on Security will soon take a call in appointing the first Chief of Defence Staff for the armed forces. As per sources, the NSA-led committee has submitted its report in this regard to the Cabinet Committee on Security and the PM-led panel will soon take a call and announce the appointment of the CDS.

As per recommendations of the committee, sources added that the CDS would be given age limit of 64 years which is two years more than the age limit of services chiefs. An implementation committee under National Security Advisor Ajit Doval had held meetings to decide on the structure and responsibilities of the CDS. 

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PM Modi announced appointment of CDS

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 72nd Independence Day, announced from the ramparts of the Red Fort, that the country will have a chief of defence staff (CDS) as head of the tri-services. Making the key announcement, PM said that the CDS will ensure synergy among the three services and provide effective leadership to them. “Our government has decided to have a Chief of Defence Staff – CDS,” PM Modi had said.

A high-level committee set up to examine the gaps in the country’s security system in the wake of the Kargil War in 1999 had called for appointment of a Chief of Defence Staff as a single-point military adviser to the Defence Minister. A group of ministers analysing required reforms in the national security system had also favoured appointing a chief of defence staff. In 2012, the Naresh Chandra Task Force had recommended creating the post of a permanent chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee. The CoSC comprises chiefs of the Army, Navy and the Air Force and the senior-most among them acts as its chairman as per existing norm.

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