Unconvincing arguments: When bureaucracy tried to prevent creation of CDS

Now that the formal announcement has been made, the full story can be told of all the ways the bureaucracy tried to prevent the creation of the office of the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) and the Department of Military Affairs (DMA); and how the Prime Minister weighed in.

The outgoing Chief of Army Staff Gen. Bipin Rawat was to have become the CDS. He was to retire on December 31. The CDS was cleared by the Cabinet Committee on Security on December 24. Top bureaucrats kept advising the PM to rethink the proposal because of the “disquiet” in the bureaucracy.