The Key Priorities For Country's First CDS Bipin Rawat

Army Chief General 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.

- Abhishek Bhalla

General Rawat was named the Chief of Defence Staff just a day before he was to retire from service after completing a full three-year term as the Chief of Army Staff. Gen Rawat will be able to serve as CDS for a period of up to three years after the government amended the rules extending the age of retirement to 65 years.

The Chief of Defence Staff is mandated to set up the first joint command within three years comprising Army, Navy and the Air Force in addition to the two existing ones. A high-level committee set up to examine the gaps in the country's security system in the wake of the Kargil conflict in 1999 had called for appointment of a CDS as a single-point military adviser to the defence minister.