CDS and DMA (English version) Rakshak News 16 Jan 2020
http://www.rakshaknews.com/vishesh/cds-appointment-is-revolutionizing-defense-sector
CDS and DMA (English version) Rakshak News 16 Jan 2020
At the end of December last year, the government announced that General Bipin Rawat would be the first Chief of Defence Staff (CDS). It also announced the creation of the Department of Military Affairs (DMA) within the Ministry of Defence (MoD), which would be headed by him. The DMA would have a mix of serving military officers and bureaucrats. Presently, three major general rank officers, one from each service have been announced to be a part of the DMA. They would possibly head departments dealing solely with military matters of the services. There has been no further information on additional staff, which would logically be in the pipeline.
Simultaneously, the MoD issued a press release stating, ‘there will two Joint Secretaries, 13 Deputy Secretaries, 25 Under Secretaries and 22 Section officers in the new DMA.’ This implied that the DMA would have two departments headed by the bureaucrats and three by serving officers. The impression being conveyed, based on the input released by the MoD, is that the DMA would be dominated by the bureaucracy and the armed forces relegated to the background.
The MoD also released the charter for the CDS. Apart from handling all military matters involving the three services, the DMA would have other responsibilities. These would include all major training institutions including all initial officer training academies and the Defence Services Staff College. It would not handle service specific institutes. It will also handle the cadre management of JCOs and below in all the services. In addition, would be military diplomacy with neighbouring countries. In brief the CDS would handle training and staffing for the services and neighbouring countries.
On the command front, the CDS would command the Andaman and Nicobar Command, Cyber and Space agencies. He would administer all other joint commands and be the military advisor to the Nuclear Command Agency, member of the defence planning council, defence planning committee and the defence acquisition council.
The CDS would also be responsible for all works relating to the three services except capital acquisitions. Thus, management of infrastructure would be his responsibility. The DMA will also promote jointness in planning and procurement and restructuring of the armed forces into joint commands.
In addition, the CDS would head the HQ Integrated Defence Staff (IDS) as also be the permanent Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee. In this role he would be backed by HQ IDS. This itself would indicate that the DMA has a wide charter and hence would require multiple departments within it, each headed by either a serving or civilian officer.
The DMA would be the first such department within the MoD to possess a mix of civilian and military officers. Its success would lie in its organization structure created to extract the best from each service. Once the final list of postings to the DMA are released, would the true structure come to the fore.
The creation of the DMA and the appointment of a CDS is a revolutionary change in higher management of defence. His multiple roles require departments tuned to function accordingly. Creating only military or civilian departments would defeat the very purpose of raising such an organization. A mixed MoD is an international norm and should be adopted. The final organizational structure would flow with time and hence critics need to be patient while the same is finally approved.
India has to a large extent adopted the UK model of higher defence management, where the defence minister has two advisors, the CDS and the equivalent to the defence secretary. The major difference which continues to exist is that responsibility for national defence, in India, continues to rest on the shoulder of the defence secretary, rather than the CDS. This may change with time.
In addition, General Bipin Rawat, who has been nominated to head the department has been the COAS and is senior to the current service chiefs. His selection to head this department has flowed from the trust which the polity has in him. This trust and experience give him the power to push forth the agenda which has been laid out for him and ensure that the nation benefits from such an organization, rather than becoming one more spoke in the wheel of the MoD. For the critics, it is time to step back and await the detailed organization structure of the DMA. In addition, there is a need to give this organization time to settle down and prove its utility to national security.
About the Author
Maj Gen Harsha Kakkar
Retired Major General Indian Army