(Express photo by Prem Nath Pandey)With General Bipin Rawat taking over as the first Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) on New Year’s Day, a new structure is being created in the Defence Ministry. The ministry already had four departments: Department of Defence; Department of Defence Production; Department of Defence Research and Development; and Department of Ex-servicemen Welfare. But the service chiefs will be members of the Chiefs of Staff Committee, which will be headed by the CDS. Have the service chiefs lost any of their major powers or tasks to the CDS? None of the powers of the service chiefs, including of advising the government, has been curtailed and transferred to the CDS.

Source: Indian Express January 01, 2020 19:32 UTC