Organisation of Ministry of Defence

Organisation of Ministry of Defence was done after its formation post-independence. It was placed under the charge of a Cabinet Minister and each Service was placed under its own Commander-in-Chief. In November 1962, 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 defence requirements. These two Departments were later merged to form the Department of Defence Production and Supplies. In 2004, the name of Department of Defence Production and Supplies was changed to Department of Defence Production. In 1980, the Department of Defence Research and Development was created. In 2004, the Department of Ex-Servicemen Welfare was created. The Defence Minister (Raksha Mantri) is the head of the Ministry of Defence .The Defence Secretary functions as head of the Department of Defence and is additionally responsible for co-ordinating the activities of the four Departments in the Ministry.

A special feature of this Ministry is that policy decisions on defence matters are taken by a network of committees. The supreme responsibility for national defence rests with the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs. At the secretariat level also are found a number of committees whose task is to ensure coordination of action quickly and efficiently. The Defence Minister is assisted by two committees, namely, the Defence Minister`s Committee and the Defence Minister`s (Production and Supply) Committee.

The principal areas of jurisdiction of the different Departments are as follows:

Department of Defence
The Department of Defence deals with the Integrated Defence Staff (IDS) and three Services and various Inter-Service Organisations. It is also responsible for the Defence Budget, establishment matters, defence policy, matters relating to Parliament, defence co-operation with foreign countries and co-ordination of all defence related activities.

Department of Defence Production
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 Factory Board and Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs).

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

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

Thus discussed is the organisation of the Ministry of Defence of the Government of India.