NEW DELHI: India urgently needs a General No.1 or a chief of defence staff (CDS) as well as concrete long-term strategic planning. Lame excuses by the government or the defence ministry (MoD) in these critical matters will simply not do any longer.

This, in essence, is the judgment of the parliamentary standing committee on defence, in its latest reports tabled in Lok Sabha on Wednesday, which tear into the government for taking perfunctory steps on such issues. Defence Minister A K Antony announced on Wednesday in the Rajya Sabha that the government would create institution of Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) only after consultation with all political parties. In a written reply Antony stated, “ The Defence Minister has written to leaders of various national level parties for their views on this issue (creation of institution of CDS). Government will take a decision after completion of consultations.

In a series of articles, TOI has highlighted the need for a CDS to usher in meaningful reforms in the higher defence establishment, as also that both the NDA and UPA governments have used the ruse of the `need to consult various political parties' to keep the post in cold storage.

Both the Kargil Review Committee and the subsequent GoM report in 2001 on reforming the national security system had stressed the need for a CDS to provide single-point military advice to the government and manage the country's nuclear arsenal.

The post, over the three Service chiefs, will also bring `jointness' or synergy among Army, Navy and IAF — which often pull in different directions — by resolving inter-Service doctrinal, planning, procurement and operational issues.

The committee found it shocking the government was yet to make `concerted efforts' on the CDS post even after eight years. "The committee fails to understand the lack of political consensus on such an important issue concerning the nation's security," it said.

Holding that the `efficacy' of the CDS system had been proved in 67 countries, including US, UK, Germany and France, it rejected defence minister A K Antony's contention of having initiated the process to consult various national political parties in March 2006.

"Merely writing letters, even from the level of the defence minister, is not sufficient," it said. Instead, there is an `urgent need' to engage top political leaders, in and out of Parliament, and take `effective steps' to `expeditiously' set up the CDS institution.

The utter lack of long-term strategic planning to build military capabilities in a systematic manner in tune with the country's growing geopolitical aspirations also came in for a lot of hammering.

Criticising MoD's `callous and lackadaisical attitude', the committee said `a fresh' LTIPP (long-term integrated perspective plan) for 2012-2027 was now being evolved on the basis of the `recast' 11th five-year defence plan (2007-2012), which itself was yet to get final clearance.

The committee also blasted MoD for failing to:
* Create a federal central intelligence agency for better coordination among different central, state and military intelligence agencies
* Post service officers as joint/additional secretaries in MoD to involve the armed forces in national security management and apex decision making processes
* Set up a high-powered expert committee to reorganise, reform and restructure armed forces
* Establish the Indian National Defence University
* Plug staff shortages in the tri-Service Andaman and Nicobar Command

Source:
Times Of India