During his tenure as the Indian Army Chief, a couple of studies related to the review of officers and JCOs and ORs were carried out

The Rules of Business for the newly created Department of Military Affairs (DMA) headed by the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) have been approved by the Ministry of Defence (MoD).

The Rules of Business which have been got a stamp of approval by the defence minister Rajnath Singh is expected to be notified as a gazette soon. “Under the DMA which is headed by the newly appointed Chief of Defence Staff Gen Bipin Rawat will be a full house. There will two Joint Secretaries, 13 Deputy Secretaries, 25 Under Secretaries and 22 Section officers in the new DMA” said a source.

The Training Policy, all training setups including the National Defence Academy (NDA), the Indian Military Academy (IMA), the Officers Training Academy (OTA) and the Defence Services Staff College (DSSC) would also be under the CDS. The cadre management of the Junior Commissioned Officers (JCO) and other ranks will be looked after by the new CDS.

Also, as part of the government’s `Neighbourhood First Policy’ – military diplomacy with the countries in the neighbourhood will be managed by Rawat.

During his tenure as the Indian Army Chief, a couple of studies related to the review of officers and JCOs and ORs were carried out. And are now awaiting the approvals from the government before being implemented.

As has been reported earlier, on December 30, the DMA was created after the government’s announcement and the CDS as a Secretary in the MoD. The DMA which is the fifth department in the MoD has been mandated to promote jointness in procurement.

It is also expected to take care of the training and staffing for the Services. This will be done through both joint planning and through the integration of the requirements of the forces.

It is also going to be involved in the restructure Military Commands. This will help in the optimal utilisation of resources as it will bring in jointness in operations. And this will be through the establishment of joint/theatre commands, using indigenous equipment.

The three services are now under the ambit of the DMA along with the Territorial Army. Also, all works relating to the three Services and except capital acquisitions all other procurement exclusive to the services will be made.