Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has given his approval to a series of decisions regarding the re-organisation of the Indian Army Headquarters. This approval will now promote major transformations in the administration of the Indian Army.
Raksha Mantri Shri @rajnathsingh has approved number of decisions regarding re-organisation of Army Headquarters.
The approval has been given based on a detailed internal study conducted by the Army Headquarters. The details will follow in a short while from now. @adgpi
— रक्षा मंत्री कार्यालय/ RMO India (@DefenceMinIndia) August 21, 2019
According to the Ministry of defence officials, these measures are part of four studies being undertaken by the Army for force restructuring and transformation.
The Indian Armed forces are the second-largest military force in the world in terms of size. Moreover, the Indian Armed Forces are considered to be the world’s fifth-most powerful military and have the world’s fourth-largest defence budget.
Though the Indian Army essentially remains a force largely organised, equipped and trained to fight wars, the current decisions have been taken to better prepare the forces to take on the security challenges of the future.
To meet the needs and challenges of the future our Army needs to continuously upgrade and replace its ageing inventory of weapons and equipment while also restructuring and right-sizing in a transformational way.
Keeping this in view, the Raksha Mantri office in a series of Tweets listed the various decision taken in regards to the re-organisation of Army headquarters.
- A separate Vigilance Cell under COAS with Tri-Services representation has been planned. Until now, the vigilance function for the COAS is through multiple agencies and there is no single point interface.
- An independent vigilance cell will be made functional under COAS. Accordingly, ADG (Vigilance) will be placed directly under the COAS for this purpose. It will have three Colonel-level officers (one each from the Indian Army, Indian Air Force, and Indian Navy).
- An umbrella organisation under VCOAS for enhanced focus on human rights issues, to give high priority to the observance of human rights convention and values, it has been decided to set up a special Human Rights Section headed by ADG (Maj. Gen rank officer) directly under the VCOAS.
- It will be the nodal point to examine any Human Rights violation reports. To enhance transparency and ensure that best of investigative expertise is available to the section, a Police officer of SSP/SP rank will be taken on deputation.
- Re-location of 206 Army Officers from AHQ to Formations/Units of the Field Army – A total of 206 officers will be optimized from AHQ and these officers will be made available additionally to Formations/Units of the Field Army.
Similarly, understanding the need to modernise the Indian armed forces, PM Modi had on Independence Day announced the creation of a Chief of Defence Staff, the senior-most military officer. The Chief of Defence Staff will act as a single place defence advisor to the central government. The officer will be the head of the three services – the Army, Air Force and Navy, and it is reported that CDS will be a five-star military officer. The service chiefs are four-star officers.
At present, India is the only major country which does not have a chief of defence staff. The modalities of the creation of this post will be completed in the next 2-3 months. According to speculations in media, current Chief of Army Staff General Bipin Rawat could be appointed as the first Chief of Defence Staff of India.
