RIP Gen Bipin Rawat: India’s first CDS who initiated one of the most crucial reforms in defence

General Bipin Rawat who survived a helicopter crash six years ago, died in a second crash on Wednesday.

On Wednesday Gen Rawat, his wife Madhulika and several of his staff officials were flying in a IAF Mi17v5 chopper to Wellington when the chopper crashed killing 13 of the 14 individuals on the spot. Gen Rawat and his wife are among those who were killed in the crash.

The ever smiling soldier who escaped unscathed from a Cheetah crash in Nagaland in 2015, would always be remembered as India’s first Chief of Defence Staff who initiated one of the most crucial reforms in higher defence in independent India.

Taking over as the CDS on January 1 last year, he began the process of integrating the existing commands of the army, air force and navy to create theatre commands for better operational needs and more streamlined purchase of expensive military hardware.

Read | CDS Gen Bipin Rawat: A distinguished Armyman

Instead of 17 commands distributed between the Indian Army (7), Indian Navy (3) and Indian Air Force (7), Gen Rawat planned to have a unified command each for eastern and western fronts besides keeping the existing northern command for its strategic importance due to its proximity to Pakistan and China.

In addition, other components of the theatre command plan is to have an integrated command for the navy, an air defence command for the air force and a combined training command.

But it's a task easier said than done with the IAF openly expressing their reservations about such a plan and there are fierce critics inside the military.

But Gen Rawat, who enjoyed a special rapport with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval was doggedly pursuing it as the first unified command by the Indian Navy is likely to materialize by the middle of 2022. His untimely death creates uncertainty on the creation of threatre commands.

Commissioned in the fifth battalion of the 11 Gorkha Rifles in December 1978, Gen Rawat served as the Chief of Army Staff since January 1, 2017. Hailing from Pauri-Garhwal in Uttarakhand, Gen Rawat comes from a fauzi family as his father Laxman Singh Rawat was a Lieutenant General in the Army and commanded 10 Corps.

Gen Rawat commanded an infantry battalion, along the Line of Actual Control in the eastern sector; a Rashtriya Rifles sector and an infantry division in the Kashmir valley; a Corps in the eastern theater and the Southern Command before being appointed as the Vice Chief in August, 2016.

The Indian Army launched its surgical strike when Gen Rawat was the Vice Chief and in charge of the operations in the Army. After playing a key role in planning the cross-border raid, Gen Rawat always made it clear that his men would not hesitate to use force at the border, even though India wanted peace and tranquility at the borders.

As the Army Chief, he initiated several reforms in the Indian Army including revamping of the grievance redress system inside the army and doing away with the age-old sahayak (soldiers employed as personal aids of the officers) system in the army.

But his appointment as the Army Chief was not free from controversy, as the Modi government ignored the seniority claims of then Eastern Army Commander Lt Gen Praveen Bakshi and Southern Army Commander Lt Gen P M Hariz while picking up Gen Rawat as the Chief of the Army Staff.

Known for his friendly and jovial nature, Gen Rawat has studied media and communication and was a favourite among the journalists. He is survived by two daughters.

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