General Bipin Rawat set to be named first Chief of Defence Staff (CDS)
- The Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Gen Bipin Rawat is the front-runner to take over as the first Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), the sole adviser to the government on all three services.
- Gen Rawat is to retire on 31 December 2019, three months before he turns 62, the upper age limit for service chiefs.
- By December, the Narendra Modi government is likely to announce the names of the new Chief of Army Staff (COAS), and also the country’s first four-star Chief of Defence Staff (CDS).
- Vice-Chief Lt Gen Manoj Mukund Naravane is the front-runner for COAS.
- The holder of the CDS post would also be the head of all tri-service command and will replace the former post of Chief of Integrated Defence Staff.