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Puri takes over as India`s new chief of integrated defense staff

IRNA

New Delhi, Oct 21, IRNA -- A naval officer, Raman Puri, Monday took 
over as India`s Chief of the Integrated Defence Staff (CIDS). 
According to the Hindu, a New Delhi-based English daily, the CIDS 
is half-a-step towards a unified military command at the top level. 
The original intention was to appoint a Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), 
a five-star general who being superior to all the three service chiefs
(four-star generals) was to serve as the single point adviser to the 
Government on all military matters and thereby iron out the 
"disjointedness" and hints of inter-services rivalry observed during 
the Kargil conflict. 
However, the Government put off the appointment of a CDS and 
restricted itself to creating the post of his deputy or the Vice-Chief
of Defense Staff (VCDS). The first VCDS was Pankaj Joshi, an Army 
officer, and the post was renamed as CIDS. 
Vice-Admiral Puri becomes the second CIDS after Lt Gen Joshi. The 
appointment of a naval officer now is intended to symbolize the 
integrated tri-service character of the office of Integrated Defense 
Staff (IDS). 
Other major posts in the IDS are distributed among all the three 
services. The logo integrating the respective logos of the Army, 
Air Force and the Navy is also symbolic of the move towards 
integration at the higher defense level. The two-year-old IDS now 
handles perspective planning and has prepared long and medium term 
modernization plans for all the three services. 
As a first step towards bringing down the barriers among the 
services, the IDS also prepared a report suggesting integration and 
better utilization of all training institutes now in the domain of 
different services. 
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End