New Delhi:
Speculation has intensified over the appointment of the next Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) of the Indian armed forces. According to information received from sources, the central government is considering the names of both serving and retired Indian Army officers.
The post of CDS is vacant for the last four months. Actually, this post has been vacant since the death of the country’s first CDS General Bipin Rawat in an air crash on December 8.
The government is brainstorming on the next CDS. Sources said the panel of officers to be considered for appointment as the next CDS could include both serving and retired officers. For the appointment of new CDS, the government is looking for bright officers. These include the names of serving and retired officers, whose names can be considered by the government.
Meanwhile, the government has announced that Lt General Manoj Pandey will be the new chief of the Indian Army. Lt General Manoj Pandey will replace the current Indian Army chief General MM Naravane.
Lt General Manoj Pandey will be the first engineer to become the Indian Army chief. He is scheduled to succeed General Manoj Mukund Naravane, who due to retire this month on April 30.
Lt General Pandey, who hails from Nagpur, will be the first officer from an engineering background to be given the command of the Indian Army. Till now, only officersfrom the infantry, armored divisions and the artillery have become chiefs in the Indian Army.
Significantly, the appointment of the CDS by the central government within six months of returning to power in 2019 was lauded as the biggest reform in the country’s apex military structure. With the CDS office and the theater command to be created, brought under it, it has the potential to become the most powerful military office in the country to which all combat units will report directly.
The CDS was appointed as Secretary, Department of Military Affairs, which currently works under the rank of Additional Secretary, Lieutenant General. The CDS is also the head of the Integrated Defense Staff, which is currently headed by a three-star officer of the Air Force.
On December 8 last year, due to bad weather in Tamil Nadu, the Mi-17 helicopter of the Indian Air Force (IAF) became a victim of the accident. A total of 14 people were aboard this helicopter, including CDS Bipin Rawat and his wife Madhulika Rawat. All the occupants of the helicopter lost their lives in the accident that took place in the Coonoor forest between the Nilgiris and Tamil Nadu.
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