Lt Gen Anil Chauhan (Retd) appointed as new CDS, India's top military officer

The Central government has appointed Lt Gen (Retired) Anil Chauhan as the new Chief of Defence Staff (CDS). He will succeed General Bipin Rawat, who died in December last year. The Defence ministry has said that the retired Lt General will also be Secretary to Government of India, Department of Military Affairs.

Lt Gen Anil Chauhan was commissioned into the 11 Gorkha Rifles of the Indian Army in 1981. He is an alumnus of the National Defence Academy, Khadakwasla and Indian Military Academy, Dehradun. In the rank of Major General, the officer had commanded an Infantry Division in the critical Baramulla sector in the Northern Command. 

Later as Lt General, he commanded a corps in the North East and subsequently went on to become the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Eastern Command from September 2019 and held the charge until his retirement from the service in May 2021.

The officer superannuated from the Indian Army on May 31, 2021. Even after his retirement from the Army, he continued to contribute to national security and strategic matters. "For his distinguished and illustrious service in the Army, Lt General Anil Chauhan (Retired) was awarded the Param Vishisht Seva Medal, Uttam Yudh Seva Medal, Ati Vishisht Seva Medal, Sena Medal and Vishisht Seva Medal," the ministry said.

Bipin Rawat was appointed as the first CDS on January 1, 2020 to bring convergence in the functioning of the three defence forces and bolster India’s military prowess. General Rawat and 13 others died in an IAF chopper crash in Tamil Nadu’s Coonoor in December, 2021. He was on his way to Defence Staff College in Wellington from the IAF base in Sulur near Coimbatore at the time of the accident. He was also conferred the Padma Vibushan posthumously earlier this year.  

Also read: BREAKING: Lt Gen (retd) Anil Chauhan appointed new CDS, to succeed General Bipin Rawat

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