Organization of ministry of defence

Organisation of Ministry of Defence Organisational Set-Up and Functions After independence, the Ministry of Defence was created under the charge of a Cabinet Minister and each Service was placed under its own Commander-in-Chief. In 1955, each of the Commanders-in-Chief was redesignated as the Chief of the Army Staff (COAS), the Chief of the Naval Staff (CNS) and the Chief of the Air Staff (CAS).

In November 1962, the 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 (DDP).

In 1980, the Department of Defence Research and Development (DDR&D) was created.

In 2004, the Department of Ex-Servicemen Welfare (DESW) was created.

Department of Military Affairs (DMA) was created in December 2019.

The Defence Secretary functions as head of the Department of Defence and is additionally responsible for co-ordinating the activities of the five Departments in the Ministry.

The Ministry and Its Departments The principal task of the Ministry is to frame policy directions on defence and security related matters and communicate them for implementation to the Services Headquarters, Inter-Service Organisations, Production Establishments and Research & Development Organisations. It is 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 all the Departments are as follows:

  1. The Department of Defence (DoD) :- The Department of Defence is headed by Defence Secretary and is 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.

  2. The Department of Military Affairs (DMA) :- The Department of Military Affairs (DMA) is headed by Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) as Secretary and was created to facilitate optimal utilization of resources and promote jointness among the three Services.

  3. The Department of Defence Production (DDP) :- 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 Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs).

  4. The Department of Defence Research and Development (DDR&D) :- The Department of Defence Research and Development is headed by a Secretary and deals with research and development of defence technologies,systems and equipments as required by the three services of the Armed Forces.

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