Lt Gen Anil Chauhan (retd) will be the new Chief of Defence Staff of India. He will replace late Gen Bipin Rawat, who attained martyrdom in a helicopter crash while he was on his duties in Dec 2021.

Lt Gen Chauhan will also function as Secretary to the Govt of India, Department of Military Affairs with effect from taking charge. In a career spanning over nearly 40 years, Lt Gen Anil Chauhan had held several command, staff, and instrumental appointments and had extensive experience in counter-insurgency operations in Jammu & Kashmir and North-East India.

Lt Gen Chauhan (retd), a PVSM, UYSM, AVSM, SM, VSM had his last posting as General Officer Commanding (GOC) -in-Chief of the Easter Command. According to a press communique issued by the Union Ministry of Defence, Lt Gen Anil Chauhan, who was born on 18th May 1961 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 Maj General, the officer had commanded an Infantry Division in the critical Baramula sector in the Northern Command. Later as Lt General, he commanded a corps in the North East and subsequently went 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

Like Late Gen Bipin Rawat, Lt Gen Chauhan also belongs to Uttarakhand.