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List of Defence Minister of India

Defence Minister of India:- The Defence Minister is the head of the Ministry of Defence of the Indian Government. They are often supported by  Minister of State for Defence and less-commonly, the lower-ranked Deputy Minister of Defence. The defense minister is also the President of the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses and served as a Chancellor of the Defence Institute of Advanced Technology and the National Defence University.

The first defense minister of independent India was Baldev Singh Chokkar, who served in as a Defence Minister in Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s cabinet. Rajnath Singh is the current defense minister of India in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Cabinet. Students If you preparing for any competitive exams then you must aware that static Gk plays a very important role in the exam, In this article, we are discussing the List of Defence Minister of India so that you can solve questions related to this term in exams.

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List of List of Defence Minister of India 
S. No Name

Term of Office starting Date

Term of Office Ending date

1 Baldev Singh Chokkar 15 August 1947 13 May 1952
2 N. Gopalaswami Ayyangar 13 May 1952 10 February 1953
3 Jawaharlal Nehru 27 February 1953 10 January 1955
4 Kailash Nath Katju 10 January 1955 30 January 1957
5 Jawaharlal Nehru 30 January 1957 17 April 1957
6 V. K. Krishna Menon 17 April 1957 1 November 1962
7 Jawaharlal Nehru 1 November 1962 21 November 1962
8 Yashwantrao Chavan 21 November 1962 13 November 1966
9 Swaran Singh 13 November 1966 27 June 1970
10 Jagjivan Ram 27 June 1970 10 October 1974
12 Swaran Singh 10 October 1974 1 December 1975
13 Indira Gandhi 1 December 1975 21 December 1975
14 Bansi Lal 21 December 1975 24 March 1977
15 Jagjivan Ram 28 March 1977 27 July 1979
16 Chidambaram Subramaniam 30 July 1979 14 January 1980
17 Indira Gandhi 14 January 1980 15 January 1982
18 R. Venkataraman 15 August 1982 1 August 1984
19 Shankarrao Chavan 3 August 1984 31 December 1984
20 P. V. Narasimha Rao 1 January 1985 24 September 1985
21 Rajiv Gandhi 25 September 1985 24 January 1987
22 V. P. Singh 25 January 1987 12 April 1987
23 K. C. Pant 18 April 1987 3 December 1989
24 V. P. Singh 6 December 1989 10 November 1990
25 Chandra Shekhar 21 November 1990 20 June 1991
26 P. V. Narasimha Rao 21 June 1991 26 June 1991
27 Sharad Pawar 26 June 1991 5 March 1993
28 P. V. Nasimha Rao 6 March 1993 16 May 1996
29 Pramod Mahajan 16 May 1996 1 June 1996
30 Mulayam Singh Yadav 1 June 1996 19 March 1998
31 George Fernandes 19 March 1998 16 March 2001
32 Jaswant Singh 16 March 2001 21 October 2001
33 George Fernandes 21 October 2001 22 May 2004
34 Pranab Mukherjee 22 May 2004 24 October 2006
35 A. K. Antony 26 October 2006 26 May 2014
36 Arun Jaitley 26 May 2014 9 November 2014
37 Manohar Parrikar 9 November 2014 13 March 2017
38 Arun Jaitley 13 March 2017 3 September 2017
39 Nirmala Sitharaman 3 September 2017 31 May 2019
40 Rajnath Singh 31 May 2019 Incumbent

Role of Defence Minister

The main role of the Defence Ministry is to get policy management of the Government on all Defence and security related subjects and commune them for execution to the Services Headquarters, Inter-Departments, Production formation, and Research and Development departments. It is also required to ensure effective execution of the Government’s policy directions and the implementation of approved programs within the allotted resources.

The duty for national Defence stands with the Cabinet, which is carried out through the Ministry of Defence, which provides the policy structure to the Armed Forces to carry out their duties for the Defence of the country.

Departments of Ministry of Defence

Ministry of Defence has five Departments, These departments are required to the Ministry of Defence to make sure the effective execution of the Government’s policy directions.

The functions of all the Departments are as follows:

1. The Department of Defence:- The Department of Defence is mandated with the Defence of India including Defence policy. This Department manages the Inter-Services Organizations, Defence Accounts Department, Coast Guard, National Cadet Corps, Border Roads Departments, Institute for Defence Studies and Analysis, National Defence College, etc. It manages 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 handles matters concerning Defence production, indigenization of imported stores, equipment and spares, planning, and control of departmental production units of the Factory Board and Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs).

3. The Department of Defence Research and Development:- The Department of Defence Research and Development’s role is to counsel the Government on scientific aspects of military equipment and logistics and the Planning 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 lead by a Secretary and It deals with all resettlement, welfare, and pensionary matters of Ex-Servicemen.

5. The Department of Military Affairs This Department deals with the Military Forces of the Union like Army, Navy, and Air Force; combined Headquarters of the Ministry of Defence; the Territorial Army; Works relating to the three services, etc. The Department encourages cooperativeness among the three Services.

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