India defence

  • The President of India is the supreme commander of the Indian defence system

  • The whole administrative control of the Armed forces lies in the Ministry of Defence

  • The Defence Minister (Raksha Mantri) is responsible to Parliament for all matters concerning defence of the country.

  • Indian defence system has been divided into three services- 
    1. Army
    2. Navy
    3. Air Force

Organisation

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

The principal functions of the Departments are as follows:-

  • The Department of Defence deals with Integrated Defence Staff (IDS) amd three services and various Inter-Service Organisations. It is also responsible for the Defence Budget, establishment matters, defence policy, matters relating to Parliament, defence cooperation with foreign countries and coordination of all activites.

  • 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 department production units of the Ordance Factory Board and Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs.)

  • The Department of Defence Research and Development is headed by a Secretary, who is also the Scientific Advisor to the Raksha Mantri(Defence Minister). Its function is to advise the Government on scientific aspects of the military equipment and logistics and the formulation of research, design and development plans for equipment used by the Services.

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

Integrated Defence Staff (IDS) was created on October 1, 2001 as a sequel to the decision by the Group of Ministers based on Kargil Committee Report. The staff of HQ IDS is provided from three Services, MEA, DRDO, Armed Forces HQ (AFHQ) Civil Services and DoD. IDS is presently functioning as staff in the advisory mode to the Chairman COSC, and is headed by the Chief of Integrated Defence Staff to Chairman COSC (CISC)

The three Services Headquarters, viz., the Army Headquarters, the Naval Headquarters and the Air Headquarters functions under the Chief of the Army Staff (COAS), the Chief of Naval Staff (CNS) and the Chief of the Air Staff (CAS) respectively. They are assisted by their Principal Staff Officers (PSOs). The Inter-Services Organisations, under the Department of Defence are responsible for carrying out tasks related to common needs of the three Services such as medical care, public relations and personnel managedment of civilian staff in the Defence Headquarters.

A number of Committees dealing with defence related activities assist the Raksha Mantri(Defence Minister). The Chief of Staff Committee isa forum for the Service Chiefs to discuss matters having a bearing on the activities of the Services and to advise the Ministry. The position of Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee devolves on the longest serving Chief of Staff, and consequently rotates amongst the three services.

Finance Division in the Ministry of Defence deals with all matters having a financial implication. This Division is headed by Financial Advisor (Defence Services) and is fully integrated with the Ministry of Defence and performs an advisory rotle.

 

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