New Delhi: IAF Chief Air Chief Marshal PV
Naik on Tuesday said there was no need for creating the post of a
Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) in the "next five to 10 years" as
India does not need such a five star-rank officer.
The IAF chief said the country also did not have the
requisite technology to have such an officer in place, he said
in his last press conference as the IAF chief.
"CDS in the present form is not acceptable to me and I
don`t think that for the next five to 10 years, CDS is not
required because our operations are likely to be confined to
our shores and we are not going thousands of kilometres away
like the US does where you need a theater commander to control
operations," he said.
In 2001, a high-powered Group of Ministers (GoM) report
on reforming the national security system strongly recommended
a CDS to act as single-point military adviser to government
and administer the strategic forces.
Noting that a national debate was required before
arriving on any decision, Naik said, "I don`t wish to have the
CDS in present format as additional appendix."
"If at all we have to have a CDS, first of all we have
to decide through a national debate. Secondly, we should have
single point of military contact to the Raksha Mantri (Defence
Minister)," he said.
PTI
