Lt Gen Anil Chauhan (Retd) To Assume Charge As New CDS Today. Know Challenges Ahead

Gen Anil Chauhan (retd) retired from the service in May last year when he was serving as the eastern Army Commander. He is set to assume the role of India’s new Chief of Defence Staff (CDS).

Lt Gen Chauhan held the position of the DGMO during the Balakot airstrikes in 2019 | File Photo: PTI

New Delhi: Lt Gen Anil Chauhan (retd) is set to assume the ‘dual-hatted’ role of India’s new Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) on Friday.  A former eastern Army commander and director general of military operations (DGMO) has been appointed as CDS on Wednesday after almost nine months since the post fell vacant following the death of Gen Bipin Rawat.

CDS serves as the Permanent Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee and the Secretary of the Department of Military Affairs (DMA) in the Ministry of Defence. Gen Chauhan (retd) retired from the service in May last year when he was serving as the eastern Army Commander.

Who’s Lt Gen Anil Chauhan?

Born on May 18, 1961, Lt Gen Anil Chauhan joined the Army and got commissioned into the 11 Gorkha Rifles in 1981.

In a career spanning nearly 40 years, Lt Gen Chauhan had held several command, staff, and instrumental appointments and had extensive experience in counter-insurgency operations in Jammu & Kashmir and North-East India.

An alumnus of the National Defence Academy, Khadakwasla, and Indian Military Academy, Dehradun, Gen Chauhan commanded an Infantry Division in the critical Baramulla sector in the Northern Command as Maj General.

Later as Lt General, he also commanded a corps in the Northeast and subsequently went to become the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Eastern Command from September 2019 and held the charge until his retirement from the service in May 2021.

Lt Gen Chauhan held the position of the DGMO during the Balakot airstrikes in 2019 when Indian airplanes attacked a Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist training camp deep inside Pakistan in response to the Pulwama terror strike.

He will assume the rank of the four-star General once he takes charge as India's second Chief of Defence Staff. He will be the first retired three-star officer to return to service in four-star rank.

What Will Be His Responsibilities?

He will replace India’s first CDS General Bipin Rawat who died in a helicopter crash in Tamil Nadu on December 2021.

The much-awaited work on implementation of the ambitious theaterisation of the three services to bring jointness and rule out the redundancy of resources is expected to begin.

The new CDS will also oversee the ambitious Aatmanirbharta shift of the forces - a crucial indigenisation process, now seen all the more crucial because of the Russian misadventures in Ukraine.

It will be interesting to watch how he takes steps to fulfill his mandate of 'Indianisation' of the forces by shedding colonial baggage. For an organisation deeply serious about its customs and traditions, this oft-forgotten charter of the CDS may become the most contentious.

Operationally, the Chinese challenge looms large on the Northern Borders. The CDS will be a crucial stakeholder in formulating the long-term national strategy for the same. Lt Gen Chauhan, a former Eastern Army Commander, is well-known for his deep knowledge about the  Northern Borders and Tibet.

The appointment of Gen Chauhan as CDS came through after Narendra Modi's government amended the armed forces laws' earlier this year to make three-star serving and retired officers eligible for the post of CDS.

(With Agency Inputs)