CDS: Unsettled questions

New eligibility conditions are surprising

Since the unfortunate death of the first chief of defence staff (CDS), General Bipin Rawat, in a helicopter crash last December, India’s strategic community has waited expectantly for the appointment, or at least naming, of his successor. While that wait continues, the government announced this week the eligibility conditions it would expect its tri-service chief to meet. Few have failed to perceive the noticeable difference between the CDS the government wanted in 2019 and what it seems to want today. It is disconcerting that the government has modified the eligibility criteria for appointment as CDS so early in the life