Defence Minister of India | Ministry of Defence India

Defence Minister of India | Ministry of Defence India

Flag of the Ministry of Defence of India


The Defence Minister of India is the head of the Ministry of Defence of the Government of India. 

The Defence Minister of India is assisted by a Minister of State for Defence and the lower-ranked Deputy Minister of Defence.

The defence minister of India is the President of the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses. The defence minister additionally serves as Chancellor of the Defence Institute of Advanced Technology and of the National Defence University.

Baldev Singh Chokkar was the first defence minister of independent India. Baldev Singh Chokkar served in Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s cabinet during 1947–52. The current defence minister of India is Rajnath Singh.

List of defence ministers of India –


1. Baldev Singh Chokkar

Term of Office – 15 August 1947 to 13 May 1952
Political Party – Indian National Congress

2. N. Gopalaswami Ayyangar

Term of Office – 13 May 1952 to 10 February 1953
Political Party – Indian National Congress

3. Jawaharlal Nehru


Term of Office – 27 February 1953 to 10 January 1955
Political Party – Indian National Congress

4. Kailash Nath Katju


Term of Office – 10 January 1955 to 30 January 1957
Political Party – Indian National Congress


5. Jawaharlal Nehru

Term of Office – 30 January 1957 to 17 April 1957
Political Party – Indian National Congress

6. V. K. Krishna Menon


Term of Office – 17 April 1957 to 1 November 1962
Political Party – Indian National Congress


7.Jawaharlal Nehru


Term of Office – 1 November 1962 to 21 November 1962
Political Party – Indian National Congress

8.Yashwantrao Chavan

Term of Office – 21 November 1962 to 13 November 1966
Political Party – Indian National Congress


9.Swaran Singh

Term of Office – 13 November 1966 to 27 June 1970
Political Party – Indian National Congress

10. Jagjivan Ram

Term of Office – 27 June 1970 to 10 October 1974
Political Party – Indian National Congress

11. Swaran Singh

Term of Office – 12 October 1974 to 1 December 1975
Political Party – Indian National Congress

13. Indira Gandhi

Term of Office – 1 December 1975 to 21 December 1975
Political Party – Indian National Congress

14. Bansi Lal

Term of Office – 21 December 1975 24 March 1977
Political Party – Indian National Congress

15. Jagjivan Ram


Term of Office – 28 March 1977 to 27 July 1979
Political Party – Janata Party

16. Chidambaram Subramaniam

Term of Office – 30 July 1979 to 14 January 1980
Political Party – Janata Party (Secular)

17. Indira Gandhi


Term of Office – 14 January 1980 to 15 January 1982
Political Party – Indian National Congress

18. R. Venkataraman

Term of Office – 15 August 1982 to 1 August 1984
Political Party – Indian National Congress

19. Shankarrao Chavan


Term of Office – 3 August 1984 to 31 December 1984
Political Party – Indian National Congress


20. P. V. Narasimha Rao


Term of Office – 1 January 1985 to 24 September 1985
Political Party – Indian National Congress

21. Rajiv Gandhi

Term of Office – 25 September 1985 to 24 January 1987
Political Party – Indian National Congress

22. V. P. Singh

Term of Office – 25 January 1987 to 12 April 1987
Political Party – Indian National Congress

23. K. C. Pant


Term of Office – 18 April 1987 to 3 December 1989
Political Party – Indian National Congress

24. V. P. Singh

Term of Office – 6 December 1989 to 10 November 1990
Political Party – Janata Dal (National Front)

25. Chandra Shekhar

Term of Office – 21 November 1990 to 20 June 1991
Political Party – Samajwadi Janata Party (National Front)

26. P. V. Narasimha Rao

Term of Office – 21 June 1991 to 26 June 1991
Political Party – Indian National Congress


27. Sharad Pawar

Term of Office – 26 June 1991 to 5 March 1993
Political Party – Indian National Congress

28. P. V. Narasimha Rao

Term of Office – 6 March 1993 to 16 May 1996
Political Party – Indian National Congress


29. Pramod Mahajan

Term of Office – 16 May 1996 to 1 June 1996
Political Party – Bharatiya Janata Party

30. Mulayam Singh Yadav

Term of Office – 1 June 1996 to 19 March 1998
Political Party – Samajwadi Party (United Front)

31. George Fernandes

Term of Office – 19 March 1998 to 16 March 2001
Political Party – Samata Party (National Democratic Alliance)

32. Jaswant Singh


Term of Office – 16 March 2001 to 21 October 2001
Political Party – Bharatiya Janata Party (National Democratic Alliance)
 
33. George Fernandes

Term of Office – 21 October 2001 to 22 May 2004
Political Party – Janata Dal (United) (National Democratic Alliance)

34. Pranab Mukherjee

Term of Office – 22 May 2004 to 24 October 2006
Political Party – Indian National Congress (United Progressive Alliance)

32. A. K. Antony

Term of Office – 26 October 2006 to 26 May 2014
Political Party – Indian National Congress (United Progressive Alliance)

35. Arun Jaitley

Term of Office – 26 May 2014 to 9 November 2014 Bharatiya 
Political Party – Janata Party (National Democratic Alliance)

36. Manohar Parrikar

Term of Office – 9 November 2014 to 13 March 2017
Political Party – Bharatiya Janata Party (National Democratic Alliance)

37. Arun Jaitley

Term of Office – 13 March 2017 to 3 September 2017
Political Party – Bharatiya Janata Party (National Democratic Alliance)

38. Nirmala Sitharaman

Term of Office – 3 September 2017 to 31 May 2019
Political Party – Bharatiya Janata Party (National Democratic Alliance)

39. Rajnath Singh

Term of Office – 31 May 2019 to Incumbent
Political Party – Bharatiya Janata Party (National Democratic Alliance)

Ministry of Defence (India)

Style – The Honourable
Member of – Union Cabinet
Reports to – Prime Minister & Parliament of India
Appointer – President, on the advice of the Prime Minister
Term length –       5 years
Formation – 2 September 1946
First holder – Baldev Singh Chokkar
Deputy – Shripad Yesso Naik

The Ministry of Defence is associated with managing and co-ordinating all the functions and agencies of the government which are directly related to the national security and the Indian armed forces. 

The Ministry of Defence has the largest budget of the federal departments of India. 

ABOUT THE MINISTRY

Introduction

The Government of India is responsible for ensuring the defence of India and every part thereof. The Supreme Command of the Armed Forces vests in the President. The responsibility for national defence rests with the Cabinet.

This is discharged through the Ministry of Defence, which provides the policy framework and wherewithal to the Armed Forces to discharge their responsibilities in the context of the defence of the country. The Raksha Mantri (Defence Minister) is the head of the Ministry of Defence.

The principal task of the Defence Ministry is to obtain policy directions of the Government on all defence and security related matters and communicate them for implementation to the Services Headquarters, Inter-Services Organisations, Production Establishments and Research and Development Organisations. 

It is also required to ensure effective implementation of the Government’s policy directions and the execution of approved programmes within the allocated resources. 

Ministry of Defence comprises of five Departments viz. Department of Defence (DOD), Department of Military Affairs (DMA), Department of Defence Production (DDP), Department of Defence Research & Development (DDR&D) and Department of Ex-Servicemen Welfare. There is also a Finance Division headed by a Secretary.


Historical Background

A Military Department was created in the Supreme Government of the East India Company at Kolkata into the year 1776, having the main function to sift and record orders relating to the Army issued by various Departments of the Govt of East India Co. 

The Military Department initially functioned as a branch of the Public Department and maintained a list of Army personnel.

With the Charter Act of 1833, the Secretariat of the Government of East India Company was reorganised into four Departments, including a Military Department, each headed by a Secretary to the Government. 

The Army in the Presidencies of Bengal, Bombay & Madras functioned as respective Presidency Army till April 1895, when the Presidency Armies were unified into a single Indian Army. 

For administrative convenience, it was divided into four Commands viz. Punjab (including the North West Frontier), Bengal, Madras (including Burma) and Bombay (including Sind, Quetta and Aden).

The supreme authority over the Indian Army vested in the Governor General-in-Council, subject to the Control of the Crown, which was exercised by the Secretary of State for India. 

Two Members in the Council were responsible for military affairs, one of whom was the Military Member, who supervised all administrative and financial matters, while the other was the Commander-in-Chief who was responsible for all operational matters. 

The Military Department was abolished in March 1906 and it was replaced by two separate Departments, the Army Department and the Military Supply Department. 

In April 1909, the Military Supply Department was abolished and its functions were taken over by the Army Department. 

The Army Department was redesignated as the Defence Department in January, 1938. The Department of Defence became the Ministry of Defence under a Cabinet Minister in August, 1947.

Organisational Set-Up And Functions

After independence, Ministry of Defence was created under the charge of a Cabinet Minister, and, each Service was placed under its own Commander-in-Chief. In 1955, the Commanders-in-Chief were renamed as the Chief of the Army Staff, the Chief of the Naval Staff and the Chief of the Air Staff. 

In November 1962, a Department of Defence Production was set up to deal with research, development and production of defence equipment. In November 1965, the Department of Defence Supplies was created for planning and execution of schemes for import substitution of defence requirements. 

These two Departments were later merged to form the Department of Defence Production and Supplies. In 2004, the name of Department of Defence Production and Supplies was changed to Department of Defence Production. 

In 1980, the Department of Defence Research and Development was created. In 2004, the Department of Ex-Servicemen Welfare was created. 

The Department of Military Affairs with Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) as its ex-officio Secretary was created in December, 2019 to facilitate optimal utilization of resources and promote jointness among the three Services.

The Defence Secretary functions as head of the Department of Defence and is additionally responsible for co-ordinating the activities of the five Departments in the Ministry.

Departments


The principal task of the Ministry is to frame policy directions on defence and security related matters and communicate them for implementation to the Services Headquarters, Inter-Service Organisations, Production Establishments and Research & Development Organisations. 

It is required to ensure effective implementation of the Government’s policy directions and the execution of approved programmes within the allocated resources.


The principal functions of all the Departments are as follows:


1. The Department of Defence 

The Department of Defence is mandated with Defence of India including defence policy. It deals with Inter-Services Organizations, Defence Accounts Department, Coast Guard, National Cadet Corps, Border Roads Organisation, Institute for Defence Studies and Analysis, National Defence College etc. 

It is responsible for the Defence Budget, defence lands and cantonments, matters relating to Parliament, and defence cooperation with foreign countries.

2. The Department of Defence Production

The Department of Defence Production is headed by a Secretary and deals with matters pertaining to defence production, indigenisation of imported stores, equipment and spares, planning and control of departmental production units of the Ordnance Factory Board and Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs).

3. The Department of Defence Research and Development 

The Department of Defence Research and Development is headed by a Secretary. Its function is to advise the Government on scientific aspects of military equipment and logistics and the formulation of research, design and development plans for equipment required by the Services.

4. The Department of Ex-Servicemen Welfare 

The Department of Ex-Servicemen Welfare is headed by a Secretary and deals with all resettlement, welfare and pensionary matters of Ex-Servicemen.


5. The Department of Military Affairs 

This Department deals with the Armed Forces of the Union namely, Army, Navy and Air Force; Integrated Headquarters of the Ministry of Defence; the Territorial Army; Works relating to the three services etc. The Department promotes jointness among the three Services.

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