Army Chief Gen Bikram Singh to be appointed
chairman of Chiefs of Staff Committee in Jan, say sources
Indications emanating from military brass and the Ministry of Defence (MoD) suggest that Army Chief General Bikram Singh will be appointed
the permanent chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee (COSC) next month.
Simultaneously, Lieutenant General (Lt Gen) Anil Chait, heading the Integrated
Defence Staff (IDS), will succeed Gen Bikram Singh as the Army Chief.
A permanent chairman, COSC will be a four-star general like the
chiefs of the Army, Navy and Air Force, but would wield less power than a
five-star Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) that a Group of Ministers (GoM) had
proposed in 2001. But the appointment would implement a key recommendation of
last year's Naresh Chandra task force on improving national security.
There is already a chairman, COSC, who is an ex-officio, the
senior most of the three service chiefs. He is a sinecure without real power,
as he is preoccupied with running his service, and also lacks adequate staff
and establishment. A permanent chairman, COSC, backed by an effective
headquarters and with the time to focus on tri-service matters, would be better
poised to coordinate between the Army, Navy and Air Force.
With the strategic community and serving and retired military
brass unanimously backing the proposal, it is being seen as a win-win for a government
that has faced allegations of being soft on national security.
The MoD did not respond to a request for comments.
The key to appoint a permanent chairman, COSC, has been a new
consensus between the Army, Navy and Air Force. At the Combined Commanders'
Conference on November 22, Air Chief Marshal N A K Browne announced in front of
the Prime Minister that all three services had agreed on the need for a
permanent chairman, COSC as an interim measure towards appointing a CDS.
In his speech, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh signalled
concurrence. "We require urgent and tangible progress in establishing the
right structures for higher defence management," he said . If the services
were in agreement, "I can assure you of the most careful consideration of
your recommendations by the political leadership," Singh added.
In fact, the ball was already set in motion by then. In October,
COSC chairman Air Chief Marshal Browne had initiated a formal proposal for a
permanent chairman.
Browne is unlikely to benefit from the proposal since he will
retire on December 31 and is unlikely to be given an extension. Instead, Army
Chief Gen Bikram Singh, the senior-most service chief and ex-officio chairman
COSC, would take over as permanent chairman COSC when the Cabinet clears the
appointment, probably in January 2014.
Lt Gen
Anil Chait is likely to succeed Gen Bikram Singh as Army chief, who would be
the senior-most eligible general in the Army with effect from 2014. Gen Chait
would, in fact, be senior even to the newly-appointed Air Force chief, Air
Chief Marshal Arup Raha.
This
chain of appointments would upend the apple cart of Lt Gen Dalbir Singh,
currently heading the eastern command in Kolkata, who is currently poised to
succeed Gen Bikram Singh as chief next year.
The
need for a tri-service commander has been institutionally articulated since
1999, when the Kargil Committee Report, noting the difficulties in
inter-service coordination during the Kargil conflict, recommended the
appointment of a CDS.
In 2001, a GoM endorsed the Kargil Review Committee's recommendation
for a CDS. The government said it would consult with "various political
parties" before appointing a CDS. But, many years since then, the Air
Force blocked the proposal, fearing the Army and Navy CDSs would erode the
IAF's influence and turf.
The IAF
had been scarred by the experience of 1976-77, when the maritime reconnaissance
role and aircraft were transferred to the Navy. This apprehension was
reinforced in 1986 when a range of light helicopters were transferred to the
newly-established Army Aviation Corps.
As an
interim measure, an Integrated Defence Staff (IDS) was set up for tri-service
coordination, with a three-star officer in command of some 300 officers.
by the kind courtesy of Business-Standard:
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