Director General of the Indian Coast Guard

The Director General of the Indian Coast Guard (DG ICG) is the head of the Indian Coast Guard. The DG ICG has their office in the Coast Guard Headquarters (CGHQ) in New Delhi. Appointed by the Government of India, the DG ICG reports to the Minister of Defence. The Director General is assisted by four Deputy Directors General, each holding the rank of inspector-general, and other senior officers heading various staff divisions. The Additional Director General of the ICG serves as the second-in-command to the Director General.
The post of Director General of the Indian Coast Guard is held by a three-star rank holder as a position and is not a rank in itself. It is equivalent to Vice Admiral of the Indian Navy, Lieutenant General of the Indian Army and the Air Marshal of the Indian Air Force. The rank of Additional Director General of the Indian Coast Guard is equivalent to that of a Lieutenant General of the Indian Army.
History.
The Indian Coast Guard came into being on 19 August 1978. The new service was to function under the overall command and control of a Director general. Vice Admiral V. A. Kamath, deputed from the Indian Navy, served as the first DG ICG. Appointed on 19 August 1978, he served in the capacity until 31 March 1980. Until 2016, appointees to the DG position were Officers of the Indian Navy deputed to the Coast Guard. 
The current office holder, Krishnaswamy Natarajan, is the second direct entry Coast Guard officer to head the service. While several previous Directors General have come from the Coast Guard stream – such as Rameshwar Singh and P. Paleri – they have all initially been commissioned into the Indian Navy before later being permanently deputed to the Coast Guard service.
Rajendra Singh has the distinction of being the first regular direct entry officer of the Indian Coast Guard to be promoted to the position of ADG and to achieve three-star rank, doing so on 11 January 2013. Besides the distinction of being the first three-star rank officer of the Indian Coast Guard, Rajendra Singh is the first Coast Guard officer to become the Director General.He was appointed as the DG in early 2016, succeeding Vice Admiral Harish Bisht on 1 March 2016.
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