Creation of Chief of Defence Staff: Reasons sound like coming from KG children

04 Aug 2009 8ak: Defence Minister Antony says that the delay in a decision on appointing a Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) is that the political parties who were asked their opinion on the issue have not replied for the last 3 years. The issue was first suggested in 2001. Pragmatic has a few points on why a CDS is not required for India. Read the article here.

Rediff article here looks at the resistance from within the armed forces, the challenges in creating the jointness, the benefits and ends with a note that Antony may not have what it takes to be able to implement this.

According to the PIB, the Chiefs of Staff Committee (COSC) is the main coordinating body between the Services. The Headquarters Integrated Defence Staff (HQIDS), functioning under the COSC acts as the nodal organization to promote jointness among the services.