Lt General Anil Chauhan is India’s new CDS

New Delhi, Sep 28: The central government on Wednesday appointed Lt General Anil Chauhan (Retired) as the next Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), nine months after Bipin Rawat's demise. He shall also function as the Secretary to the Government of India, Department of Military Affairs.

A CDS becomes important to speed up the theaterisation drive which would boost the synergy among the Indian Armed Forces.

"In a career spanning over nearly 40 years, Lt Gen Anil Chauhan had held several command, staff and instrumental appointments and had extensive experience in counter-insurgency operations in Jammu and Kashmir and North-East India," said a statement from the defence ministry.

The job of the CDS was to ensure that defence diplomacy is implemented. The task ahead for the new CDS would be to speed up the military reforms and also chalk out the way forward in the wake of several developments including the Ukraine war.

The Department of Military Affairs (DMA) is headed by the CDS and handles matters including theaterisation and other reforms. The CDS is the permanent chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee (COSC) headed by the DMA. He is also the single point military advisor to the defence minister.

In addition to this border disputes, overseeing issues relating to India's neighbours, monitoring developments in the Indian Ocean Region, West Asia, Afghanistan and South East Asia also come under the purview of the DMA headed by the CDS.

General Rawat, India's first Chief of Defence Staff was killed in December in an illfated plane crash in Tamil Nadu. The only survivor, an Air Force Group Captain, succumed to his injuries later.