Amid the ongoing tension at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) for the last nine months, Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat on Sunday concluded a two-day visit to forward areas near the LAC in Arunachal Pradesh. The tour marked one year of his tenure as the newly created post of the CDS.
During his extensive visit to remote forwards posts and airbases in the eastern sector, he reviewed operational preparedness of the armed forces. They are deployed in adequate numbers since the stand-offs with China started in May.
More than one lakh troops from India and China are facing each other at the 1,700 km long LAC in Ladakh. Not willing to take any chances, India has ramped its military efforts all along the 400 km long LAC stretching from Ladakh in the west to Arunachal Pradesh in the east. The two countries have held several rounds of military and diplomatic levels parleys to break the logjam at the border but have failed.
On the second day of his visit, Rawat interacted with the Army and Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) personnel deployed along the Subansiri valley in Arunachal Pradesh.
The CDS lauded soldiers for adopting innovative surveillance measures for locally developed technology. He also lauded the defence preparedness of the personnel to face any challenge. Official said here on Sunday, Rawat said he was satisfied by the high morale and motivation of all ranks.
On Saturday, the CDS visited forward air bases in the eastern sector besides the forward posts in Dibang valley and Lohit sector. All these posts in the forward are air-maintained.
Complimenting the soldiers for their readiness, Rawat said only the Indian soldiers could remain vigilant under such challenging situations. They were also willing to go beyond the call of duty to safeguard the borders, the CDS said.
The post of the CDS came into being exactly one year back with Rawat as the senior most general among the three Services chiefs assuming the new responsibility. He is the single-point adviser on military affairs to the political leadership. The CDS is also responsible for achieving synergy among the Army, IAF and Navy for operational effectiveness and proper utilisation of the resources.
The CDS is also tasked with ushering in reforms in the military to enable the armed forces to fight modern day warfare in an effective manner. Moreover, he has to ensure that the allocated budget is utilised by the forces for fast modernisation and maintain the tempo of operational readiness.