CDS General Rawat was on a Mission to Modernize Army

BY RED STAFF

In the unfortunate demise of General Bipin Rawat in a helicopter crash in Coonoor, Tamil Nadu, India has lost a great soldier who emerged as the country’s most senior general as its first Chief of Defense Staff and presiding over the most important transformation of the nation’s defense architecture.

General Rawat began his career as an officer in the Gurkhas and commanded the 5/11 Gorkha Rifles, the battalion commanded by his father, Lt General LS Rawat also.

General Rawat, who was Army chief until December 2019, completing his full three-year tenure as Army Chief, he instituted several internal reforms and became famous for his aggressive approach.

In his Independence Day speech in 2019, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the appointment of the CDS. General Rawat was promoted to the newly created office of the CDS, a highly experienced officer who had served in both the Northern and Eastern Commands. He also headed the Southern Command. He was involved in counter-insurgency operations in both Jammu and Kashmir and the Northeast, and his battalion was among those posted along the Line of Actual Control in Arunachal Pradesh during the 1987 conflict with the People’s Liberation Army at Sumdorong Chu.

General Rawat’s tenure as army chief coincided with India’s political leadership adopting a more powerful policy against Pakistan. The standoff with China in Doklam on the LAC also happened under his supervision.

Experts believe that reforming the army is not an easy task. As CDS, General Rawat assumed the responsibility assigned to him to plan the modernization of the army and make it an efficient fighting force and performed with great enthusiasm, as he wanted to do it from the heart.