Minister of Defence (India)
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Minister of Defence Rakshā Mantrī | |
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Style | The Honourable |
Member of | Union Cabinet |
Reports to | Prime Minister |
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 |
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This article is part of a series on the politics and government of India |
The Minister of Defence (Rakshā Mantrī) 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[edit]
# | Portrait | Name | Term of office | Prime Minister | Party | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | ![]() |
Baldev Singh | 15 August 1947 | 13 May 1952 | 4 years, 272 days | Jawaharlal Nehru | Indian National Congress | |
2 | ![]() |
N. Gopalaswami Ayyangar | 13 May 1952 | 10 February 1953 | 273 days | |||
3 | ![]() |
Jawaharlal Nehru Prime Minister |
10 February 1953 | 10 January 1955 | 1 year, 334 days | |||
4 | ![]() |
Kailash Nath Katju | 10 January 1955 | 30 January 1957 | 2 years, 20 days | |||
(3) | ![]() |
Jawaharlal Nehru Prime Minister |
30 January 1957 | 17 April 1957 | 97 days | |||
5 | ![]() |
V. K. Krishna Menon | 17 April 1957 | 31 October 1962 | 5 years, 197 days | |||
(3) | ![]() |
Jawaharlal Nehru Prime Minister |
31 October 1962 | 14 November 1962 | 14 days | |||
6 | ![]() |
Yashwantrao Chavan | 14 November 1962 | 13 November 1966 | 3 years, 364 days | Nehru Shastri Indira Gandhi | ||
7 | File:Sardar Swaran Singh.jpg | Swaran Singh | 13 November 1966 | 27 June 1970 | 3 years, 226 days | Indira Gandhi | ||
8 | ![]() |
Jagjivan Ram | 27 June 1970 | 10 October 1974 | 4 years, 105 days | |||
(7) | File:Sardar Swaran Singh.jpg | Swaran Singh | 10 October 1974 | 1 December 1975 | 1 year, 52 days | |||
9 | ![]() |
Indira Gandhi Prime Minister |
1 December 1975 | 20 December 1975 | 19 days | |||
10 | File:Bansi Lal.jpg | Bansi Lal | 21 December 1975 | 24 March 1977 | 1 year, 94 days | |||
(8) | ![]() |
Jagjivan Ram | 24 March 1977 | 28 July 1979 | 2 years, 126 days | Morarji Desai | Janata Party | |
11 | ![]() |
Chidambaram Subramaniam | 28 July 1979 | 14 January 1980 | 170 days | Charan Singh | Indian National Congress (U) | |
(9) | ![]() |
Indira Gandhi Prime Minister |
14 January 1980 | 15 January 1982 | 2 years, 1 day | Indira Gandhi | Indian National Congress | |
12 | ![]() |
R Venkataraman | 15 January 1982 | 2 August 1984 | 2 years, 200 days | |||
13 | ![]() |
Shankarrao Chavan | 2 August 1984 | 31 December 1984 | 151 days | Indira Gandhi Rajiv Gandhi | ||
14 | ![]() |
P. V. Narasimha Rao | 1 January 1985 | 25 September 1985 | 267 days | Rajiv Gandhi | ||
15 | ![]() |
Rajiv Gandhi Prime Minister |
25 September 1985 | 24 January 1987 | 269 days | |||
16 | ![]() |
V. P. Singh | 24 January 1987 | 12 April 1987 | 78 days | |||
17 | ![]() |
K. C. Pant | 13 April 1987 | 1 December 1989 | 2 years, 232 days | |||
(16) | ![]() |
V. P. SinghPrime Minister | 2 December 1989 | 10 November 1990 | 343 days | V. P. Singh | Janata Dal | |
18 | ![]() |
Chandra ShekharPrime Minister | 10 November 1990 | 21 June 1991 | 223 days | Chandra Shekhar | Samajwadi Janata Party (Rashtriya) | |
(14) | ![]() |
P. V. Narasimha Rao Prime Minister |
21 June 1991 | 26 June 1991 | 5 days | P. V. Narasimha Rao | Indian National Congress | |
19 | ![]() |
Sharad Pawar | 26 June 1991 | 6 March 1993 | 1 year, 253 days | |||
(14) | ![]() |
P. V. Narasimha Rao Prime Minister |
6 March 1993 | 16 May 1996 | 3 years, 71 days | |||
20 | Pramod Mahajan | 16 May 1996 | 1 June 1996 | 16 days | Atal Bihari Vajpayee | Bharatiya Janata Party | ||
21 | ![]() |
Mulayam Singh Yadav | 1 June 1996 | 19 March 1998 | 1 year, 291 days | Deve Gowda I. K. Gujral |
Samajwadi Party | |
22 | ![]() |
George Fernandes | 19 March 1998 | 16 March 2001 | 2 years, 362 days | Atal Bihari Vajpayee | Samata Party | |
23 | ![]() |
Jaswant Singh | 16 March 2001 | 21 October 2001 | 219 days | Bharatiya Janata Party | ||
(22) | ![]() |
George Fernandes | 21 October 2001 | 22 May 2004 | 2 years, 214 days | Janata Dal (United) | ||
24 | ![]() |
Pranab Mukherjee | 22 May 2004 | 26 October 2006 | 2 years, 157 days | Manmohan Singh | Indian National Congress | |
25 | ![]() |
A. K. Antony | 26 October 2006 | 26 May 2014 | 7 years, 212 days | |||
26 | ![]() |
Arun Jaitley | 26 May 2014 | 9 November 2014 | 167 days | Narendra Modi | Bharatiya Janata Party | |
27 | ![]() |
Manohar Parrikar | 9 November 2014 | 13 March 2017 | 2 years, 124 days | |||
(26) | ![]() |
Arun Jaitley | 13 March 2017 | 3 September 2017 | 174 days | |||
28 | ![]() |
Nirmala Sitharaman | 3 September 2017 | 30 May 2019 | 1 year, 269 days | |||
29 | ![]() |
Rajnath Singh | 30 May 2019 | Incumbent | 5 years, 277 days |
List of Ministers of State[edit]
Minister of state | Portrait | Political party | Term | Years | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
M. M. Pallam Raju | ![]() |
Indian National Congress | 29 January 2006 | 22 May 2009 | 3 years, 113 days | |
28 May 2009 | 28 October 2012 | 3 years, 153 days | ||||
Rao Inderjit Singh | ![]() |
Bharatiya Janata Party | 26 May 2014 | 5 July 2016 | 2 years, 40 days | |
Subhash Bhamre | ![]() |
5 July 2016 | 30 May 2019 | 2 years, 329 days | ||
Shripad Naik | 30 May 2019 | 7 July 2021 | 5 years, 277 days | |||
Ajay Bhatt | 7 July 2021 | Incumbent | 3 years, 239 days |
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ↑ "Former Defence Ministers of State". Ministry of Defence GOI. Retrieved 10 May 2023.