New Delhi: As part of restructuring of the Indian Army, decks have been cleared for the crucial post of Deputy Chief of Army Staff (DCOAS) for the 1.3 million-strong force.

As part of this, the entire Rashtriya Rifles (RR) directorate has been shifted from New Delhi to the Northern Command in Kashmir.

The need for the new post of Deputy Chief of Army Staff (Strategy) or DCOAS (S) was acutely felt during the 73-day troop confrontation between India and China at Doklam near the Sikkim-Bhutan-Tibet tri-junction in June-August 2017, which saw the two rival armies move additional infantry battalions, tanks, artillery and missile units towards the border.

The DCOAS (S) will have the directors-general of military intelligence (DGMIs), director general operational logistics (DGOL), director general perspective planning (DGPP) and director general information warfare (DGIW) under him at the Army Headquarters. “As of now, an ad hoc committee is constituted to handle operations, plans, logistics during a crisis like Doklam.

There is no unity in structure and chain of command among different verticals. In the future, the five DGs will jointly brief the DCOAS (S) during any major crisis,” sources said.