Minister of Defence (India)

Minister of Defence
*Rakshā Mantri*
Minister of Defence; Rakshā Mantri
	Emblem of India
	Flag of India
	Incumbent; Rajnath Singh; since 31 May 2019
	Ministry of Defence
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	15 August 1947
First holder	Baldev Singh
Deputy	Ajay Bhatt ; Minister of State
Website	mod.gov.in

The Minister of Defence (Rakshā Mantri) is the head of the Ministry of Defence and a high ranking minister of the Government of India. The Defence Minister is one of the most senior offices in the Union Council of Ministers as well as being a high-level minister in the union cabinet. The defence minister additionally serves as President of the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, and as Chancellor of the Defence Institute of Advanced Technology and of the National Defence University.

They are often assisted by a Minister of State for Defence and less-commonly, the lower-ranked Deputy Minister of Defence.

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

List of Defence Ministers

No.	Portrait	Name (born-died)	Term of office			Political party (Alliance)	Ministry	Ref.
No.	Portrait	Name (born-died)	Took office	Left office	Time in office	Political party (Alliance)	Ministry	Ref.
1		Baldev Singh (1902–1961)	15 August 1947	13 May 1952	4 years, 272 days	Indian National Congress	Nehru I–II	^[1]
2		N. Gopalaswami Ayyangar (1882–1953)	13 May 1952	10 February 1953	273 days		Nehru II	^[1]
3		Jawaharlal Nehru (1889–1964)	10 February 1953	10 January 1955	1 year, 334 days		Nehru II	^[1]
4		Kailash Nath Katju (1887–1968)	10 January 1955	30 January 1957	2 years, 20 days		Nehru II	^[1]
(3)		Jawaharlal Nehru (1889–1964)	30 January 1957	17 April 1957	2 years, 97 days		Nehru II–III	^[1]
5		V. K. Krishna Menon (1896–1974)	17 April 1957	31 October 1962	5 years, 197 days		Nehru III–IV	^[1]
(3)		Jawaharlal Nehru (1889–1964)	31 October 1962	14 November 1962	14 days		Nehru IV	^[1]
6		Yashwantrao Chavan (1913–1984)	14 November 1962	13 November 1966	3 years, 364 days		Nehru IV Nanda I Shastri Nanda II Gandhi I	^[1]
7		Swaran Singh (1907–1994)	13 November 1966	27 June 1970	3 years, 226 days		I. Gandhi I	^[1]
8		Jagjivan Ram (1908–1986)	27 June 1970	10 October 1974	4 years, 105 days		I. Gandhi I–II	^[1]
(7)		Swaran Singh (1907–1994)	10 October 1974	1 December 1975	1 year, 52 days		I. Gandhi II	^[1]
9		Indira Gandhi (1917–1984)	1 December 1975	20 December 1975	19 days		I. Gandhi II	^[1]
10		Bansi Lal (1927–2006)	21 December 1975	24 March 1977	1 year, 94 days		I. Gandhi II	^[1]
(8)		Jagjivan Ram (1908–1986)	24 March 1977	28 July 1979	2 years, 126 days	Janata Party	Desai	^[1]
11		Chidambaram Subramaniam (1910–2000)	28 July 1979	14 January 1980	170 days	Indian National Congress (Urs)	C. Singh	^[1]
(9)		Indira Gandhi (1917–1984)	14 January 1980	15 January 1982	2 years, 1 day	Indian National Congress	I. Gandhi III	^[1]
12		Ramaswamy Venkataraman (1910–2009)	15 January 1982	2 August 1984	2 years, 200 days		I. Gandhi III	^[1]
13		Shankarrao Chavan (1920–2004)	2 August 1984	31 December 1984	151 days		I. Gandhi III R. Gandhi	^[1]
14	File:Pumapaparti.N.rao.jpg	P. V. Narasimha Rao (1921–2004)	1 January 1985	25 September 1985	267 days		R. Gandhi	^[1]
15		Rajiv Gandhi (1944–1991)	25 September 1985	24 January 1987	269 days		R. Gandhi	^[1]
16		Vishwanath Pratap Singh (1930–2008)	24 January 1987	12 April 1987	78 days		R. Gandhi	^[1]
17		K. C. Pant (1931–2012)	13 April 1987	1 December 1989	2 years, 232 days		R. Gandhi	^[1]
(16)		Vishwanath Pratap Singh (1930–2008)	2 December 1989	10 November 1990	343 days	Janata Dal (National Front)	V. Singh	^[1]
18		Chandra Shekhar (1927–2007)	10 November 1990	21 June 1991	223 days	Samajwadi Janata Party	Shekhar	^[1]
(14)	File:Pumapaparti.N.rao.jpg	P. V. Narasimha Rao (1921–2004)	21 June 1991	26 June 1991	5 days	Indian National Congress	Rao	^[1]
19		Sharad Pawar (born 1940)	26 June 1991	6 March 1993	1 year, 253 days		Rao	^[1]
(14)	File:Pumapaparti.N.rao.jpg	P. V. Narasimha Rao (1921–2004)	6 March 1993	16 May 1996	3 years, 71 days		Rao	^[1]
20	File:Pramod Mahajan.jpg	Pramod Mahajan (1949–2006)	16 May 1996	1 June 1996	16 days	Bharatiya Janata Party	Vajpayee I	^[1]
21		Mulayam Singh Yadav (born 1939)	1 June 1996	19 March 1998	1 year, 291 days	Samajwadi Party	Gowda Gujral	^[1]
22		George Fernandes (1930–2019)	19 March 1998	16 March 2001	2 years, 362 days	Samata Party	Vajpayee II–III	^[1]
23		Jaswant Singh (1938–2020)	16 March 2001	21 October 2001	219 days	Bharatiya Janata Party	Vajpayee III	^[1]
(22)		George Fernandes (1930–2019)	21 October 2001	22 May 2004	2 years, 214 days	Janata Dal (United)	Vajpayee III	^[1]
24		Pranab Mukherjee (1935–2020)	22 May 2004	26 October 2006	2 years, 157 days	Indian National Congress	M. Singh I	^[1]
25		A. K. Antony (born 1940)	26 October 2006	26 May 2014	7 years, 212 days	Indian National Congress	M. Singh I–II	^[1]
26		Arun Jaitley (1952–2019)	26 May 2014	9 November 2014	167 days	Bharatiya Janata Party	Modi I	^[1]
27		Manohar Parrikar (1955–2019)	9 November 2014	13 March 2017	2 years, 124 days		Modi I	^[1]
(26)		Arun Jaitley (1952–2019)	13 March 2017	3 September 2017	174 days		Modi I	^[1]
28		Nirmala Sitharaman (born 1959)	3 September 2017	30 May 2019	1 year, 269 days		Modi I	^[1]
29		Rajnath Singh (born 1951)	30 May 2019	Incumbent	5 years, 357 days		Modi II	^[2]

List of Ministers of State

Minister of State in the Ministry of Tourism
Minister of state	Political party	Term		Days
Rao Inderjit Singh	Bharatiya Janata Party	26 May 2014	5 July 2016	771 days
Subhash Bhamre		5 July 2016	30 May 2019	1059 days
Shripad Naik		30 May 2019	7 July 2021	2185 days
Ajay Bhatt		7 July 2021	Incumbent	1416 days

References

↑ ^1.00 ^1.01 ^1.02 ^1.03 ^1.04 ^1.05 ^1.06 ^1.07 ^1.08 ^1.09 ^1.10 ^1.11 ^1.12 ^1.13 ^1.14 ^1.15 ^1.16 ^1.17 ^1.18 ^1.19 ^1.20 ^1.21 ^1.22 ^1.23 ^1.24 ^1.25 ^1.26 ^1.27 ^1.28 ^1.29 ^1.30 ^1.31 ^1.32 ^1.33 ^1.34 ^1.35 ^1.36 ^1.37 "Ministry of Defence, List of Defence Ministers of India". Elections.in. Retrieved 13 February 2019.
↑ "Rajnath Singh to be the new Defence Minister, Naik to be MoS". The Economic Times. 31 May 2019.

[elections-in-1] 1.00 ^1.01 ^1.02 ^1.03 ^1.04 ^1.05 ^1.06 ^1.07 ^1.08 ^1.09 ^1.10 ^1.11 ^1.12 ^1.13 ^1.14 ^1.15 ^1.16 ^1.17 ^1.18 ^1.19 ^1.20 ^1.21 ^1.22 ^1.23 ^1.24 ^1.25 ^1.26 ^1.27 ^1.28 ^1.29 ^1.30 ^1.31 ^1.32 ^1.33 ^1.34 ^1.35 ^1.36 ^1.37 "Ministry of Defence, List of Defence Ministers of India". Elections.in. Retrieved 13 February 2019.

[2] "Rajnath Singh to be the new Defence Minister, Naik to be MoS". The Economic Times. 31 May 2019.

[1]

[2]

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List of Defence Ministers

List of Ministers of State

See also

References