Ministry of Defence (India)

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Ministry of Defence
रक्षा मंत्रालय
रक्षा मंत्रालय
Emblem of India.svg
Indian Ministry of Defence-1.jpg
South Block building, housing the Cabinet Secretariat
Agency overview
Formed 1776
Jurisdiction IndiaRepublic of India
Headquarters Cabinet Secretariat
Raisina Hill, New Delhi
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Annual budget ₹2.24 lakh crore (US$33 billion) (2014)[1]
₹2.47 lakh crore (US$37 billion) (2015)[2]
Agency executive
Child agencies
  • Department of Defence
  • Department of Defence Production
  • Defence Finance
  • Department of Defence Research and Development
  • Department of Ex-Servicemen Welfare
  • Indian Armed Forces
  • Inter-Services Organisations
Website mod.nic.in

The Ministry of Defence (Hindi: रक्षा मंत्रालय, Raksha Mantralay) (abbreviated as M.o.D.) is charged with co-ordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government relating directly to national security and the Indian armed forces and has the largest budget of the federal departments of India. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces of the country. The Ministry of Defence provides policy framework and resources to the Armed Forces to discharge their responsibility in the context of the defence of the country. The Armed Forces (including Indian Army, Indian Air Force, Indian Navy) and Indian Coast Guard under the the Defence Ministry are primarily responsible for ensuring the territorial integrity of the nation.

History

Origin

A Military Department was created by the Supreme Government of the British East India Company at Kolkata in the year 1776.[3] Its main function was to co-ordinate and record orders, relating to the Army, issued by various Departments of the Government of the East India Company. The Military Department initially functioned as a branch of the Public Department and maintained a list of Army personnel.[3]

With the Charter Act of 1833 the Secretariat of the Government of the East India Company was re-organised into four Departments, each headed by a Secretary to the Government.[3] The Armies in the Presidencies of Bengal, Bombay & Madras functioned as the respective Presidency Armies until April 1895, when the Presidency Armies were unified into a single Indian Army. For administrative convenience, it was divided into four Commands; Punjab (including the North West Frontier), Bengal (including Burma), Madras and Bombay (including Sind, Quetta and Aden).[3]

The supreme authority over the Indian Army was 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 was the Military Member, who supervised all administrative and financial matters. The other was the Commander-in-Chief who was responsible for all operational matters.[3] The Military Department was abolished in March 1906 and 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.[3]

Post Independence Changes

The functions of MOD which in 1947 was mainly logistic support to the Armed Forces, has undergone far reaching changes. In November 1962, following the 1962 war, 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 requirements for defence purposes. These two Departments were later merged to form the Department of Defence Production and Supplies. In 1980, the Department of Defence Research and Development was created. In January 2004, the Department of Defence Production and Supplies was renamed the Department of Defence Production. A Scientific Adviser to the Defence Minister was appointed to advise on scientific aspects of military equipment and the research and design of Defence forces equipment. The Department of Ex-Servicemen Welfare was created in 2004.

Role

The responsibility for national defence, according to official web site of the ministry, "rests with the Cabinet, which 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 Defence Ministry is responsible for "obtaining policy directions of the Government on all defence and security related matters" and communicating these directions to "Services Headquarters, Inter-Services Organisations, Production Establishments and Research and Development Organisations". The M.o.D. works closely with the National Security Council, Ministry of External Affairs and the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Ministers

M.o.D. is headed by the Union Cabinet Minister for Defence, who is supported by one Minister of State. In comparison, in the UK, for a far smaller defence force, there are four ministers, including a minister exclusively for Defence Personnel, Welfare and Veterans. In India, as a result, there is far lesser political interface between the Armed Forces and elected official, in comparison with other major democracies. A fall out of limited interface between the political leadership and the armed Forces officers is that bureaucrats in MOD have, especially in the last decade, come to exercise far greater power over the armed forces headquarters than in other democracies, like the the UK or the US. For instance the political oversight for veteran and welfare in India is entirely left to a civil service bureaucrat, unlike in the UK,and US, where this function is discharged by an elected official usually with military background, and in the case of the US by a cabinet level official.[4]

Minister Rank Portfolio
Manohar Parrikar, MP(BJP) Minister of Defence (India) Overall responsibility for MOD
Rao Inderjit Singh, MP(BJP) Minister of State ( Rajya Raksha Mantri) Charter of duties includes secondary logistic and administrative functions

Defence Civilians

Defence Secretary and other senior officials

The Ministers are supported by a number of civilian, scientific and professional military advisors. The Defence Secretary as head of the Department of Defence is the senior most civil servant and is responsible for co-ordinating the activities of the four Departments in the Ministry. His/Her role is to ensure that the M.o.D. operates effectively as a department of the government.[3][4]

  • Defence Secretary — G Mohan Kumar.
  • Chief Scientific Advisor and Director General DRDO — G.Satheesh Reddy:[5]

Civil Services under MOD

The MOD is cadre controlling authority of several Civil Services including Indian Defence Accounts Service; Indian Defence Estates Service; Indian Ordnance Factories Service (IOFS); Indian Defence Service of Engineers (MES); Defence Aeronautical Quality Assurance Service ; Defence Quality Assurance Service; Defence Research & Development Service (DRDS);[6] Indian Ordnance Factories Health Service (CDMO Cadre); Border Roads Engineering Service (E&M Cadre); Indian Naval Armament Service; and Armed Forces Headquarters Civil Services.[7]

Finance Division

The Finance Division of the Ministry of Defence is headed by the Secretary Defence (Finance). He/she exercises financial control over proposals involving expenditure from the Defence Budget and is responsible for the internal audit and accounting of defence expenditure. In the latter tasks, he is assisted by the Controller General of Defence Accounts (CGDA).

Chiefs of the Tri-Services

In 1955, the title of Commander-in-Chief was abolished and the three Service Chiefs were designated as the Chief of the Army Staff, the Chief of the Naval Staff and the Chief of the Air Staff. The heads of the three services of Indian Armed Forces are:

Organisation

Departments

The Ministry of Defence consists of four Departments; Department of Defence, Department of Defence Production, Department of Defence Research & Development, and Department of Ex-Servicemen Welfare. The Defence Secretary functions as head of the Department of Defence and is additionally responsible for coordinating the activities of the four Departments in the Ministry.

The principal functions of all the Departments are as follows:

  • The Department of Defence deals with the Integrated Defence Staff (IDS), the three Services and various Inter-Service Organisations. It is also responsible for the Defence Budget, establishment matters, defence policy, matters relating to the Parliament, defence co-operation with foreign countries and co-ordination of all activities.
  • 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 Factories Board and for Defence Public Sector Undertakings (HAL, BEL, BEML, BDL, MDL, GSL, GRSE, Midhani).

Inter-Services Organisations[8]

  • Military Engineer Services
  • Armed Forces Medical Services
  • Directorate General Resettlement
  • National Defence College
  • Directorate General Defence Estates
  • Directorate of Public Relations
  • Canteen Stores Department
  • Army Purchase Organisation
  • Services Sports Control Board
  • National Cadet Corps
  • National Defence Academy
  • Directorate General Quality Assurance
  • Armed Forces Films and Photo Division
  • Armed Forces Medical College
  • History Division, Ministry of Defence
  • College of Defence Management
  • Defence Services Staff College
  • Ministry of Defence Library
  • Border Roads Development Board/ Border Roads Organisation

Integrated Defence Staff (IDS)

To ensure a high degree of synergy between the Armed forces, the Government has set up the Integrated Defence Staff, headed by the Chief of Integrated Staff as the Chairman. It was created on 1 October 2001 based on the recommendations of the Group of Ministers which was set up in 2000 (post Kargil) to review India's defence management. It acts as the point organisation for integration of policy, doctrine, war fighting and procurement by employing best management practices.

Chiefs of Staff Committee(COSC)

'Chiefs of Staff are the authority for advising the Defence Minister and normally through him the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs on all military matters which require ministerial consideration'. The IDS is 'the principal arm and Secretariat to the Chiefs of Staff Committee'[9][10]

Composition

The COSC is composed of: (a) Chief of the Army Staff (COAS); (b) Chief of the Naval Staff (CNS);(c) Chief of the Air Staff (CAS); and (d) Chief of Integrated Defence Staff (non-voting member).The Scientific Adviser to the Minister of Defence is invited to attend when ever needed.

The member longest on the Committee is the Chairman.[9]

See also

References

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  6. ↑ http://drdo.gov.in/drdo/English/index.jsp?pg=job_sc.jsp
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  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ http://ids.nic.in/welcome.html

External links


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