’Will tackle all challenges’: General Anil Chauhan takes charge as Chief of Defence Staff

Mangalore Today News Network

New Delhi, Sep 30, 2022: General Anil Chauhan on Friday, who took charge as India’s new Chief of Defence Staff, said the tri-services will tackle all the challenges and difficulties together.

 

CDS General Anil Chauhan, a former Eastern Army Commander, took charge as the country’s senior-most military commander over nine months after the first Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Bipin Rawat, died in a chopper crash in Tamil Nadu.

 

Delhi | I’m proud to be assuming the responsibility of the highest rank in the Indian Armed Forces. I will try to fulfill the expectations from the three defence forces as the Chief of Defence Staff. We will tackle all challenges & difficulties together: CDS General Anil Chauhan pic.twitter.com/QDkPijylxy

— ANI (@ANI) September 30, 2022

 

"I will try to fulfil the expectations of the three services. We will tackle all challenges and difficulties together," said General Chauhan, who has been tasked with a mandate to implement the ambitious theaterisation plan that seeks to ensure tri-service synergy and prepare the military for future security challenges.

As per the theaterisation plan, each of the theatre commands will have units of the Army, the Navy, and the Air Force, and all of them will work as a single entity looking after security challenges in a specified geographical territory under an operational commander.

CDS Chauhan had retired from service on May 31 of last year, when he was serving as the Eastern Army Commander. After his retirement, he served as the military adviser to the National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS), headed by National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval.

Before assuming charge of the CDS, General Chauhan paid tributes to India’s fallen soldiers at the National War Memorial in the India Gate complex.

He was also accorded a tri-service guard of honour on the lawns of the South Block in the Raisina Hills.

Born on May 18, 1961, General Chauhan was commissioned into the 11 Gorkha Rifles of the Indian Army in 1981. Known as an expert on China, his appointment to the top post comes amid the lingering border row between Indian and Chinese troops in eastern Ladakh.

He was the Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) of the Army during the Balakot air strikes in 2019, when Indian airplanes pounded a Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist training camp deep inside Pakistan.

General Chauhan is the first retired three-star officer to return to service in four-star rank.

Courtesy: India Today