Defence - Indian Defence

India's defence policy aims at promoting and sustaining durable peace in the sub-continent and equipping the defence forces adequately to safeguard from any aggression.

The Supreme command of the Armed Forces vests in the President of India. The responsibility for national defence, however, rests with the Cabinet. The Defence Minister ( Raksha Mantri ) is responsible to Parliament for all matters concerning defence of the country. Administrative and operational control of the armed forces is exercised by the Ministry of Defence and the three Service Headquarters.

Defence Organisation:

The principal task of the Ministry of Defence is to obtain policy directions of the Government on all defence and security related matters and communicate them for implementation to the Service Headquarters, Inter-Service Organisations, Production Establishments and Research and Development Organisations. It is also required to ensure effective implementation of the Government's policy directions and the execution of approved programmes within the allocated resources.

The Ministry of Defence consists of following four Departments:

• Department of Defence: The Department of Defence deals with Integrated Defence Staff and the three Services and various Inter-Service Organisations. It is also responsible for the Defence Budget, establishment matters, defence policy, matters relating to Parliament, defence cooperation with foreign countries and coordination of all activities.
• Department of Defence Production : The Department of Defence Production 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.
• Department of Defence Research and Development : The Department of Defence Research and Development deals with scientific aspects of military equipment and logistics and the formulation of research, design and development plans for equipment used by the Services.
• Department of Ex-Servicemen Welfare: The Department of Ex-Servicemen Welfare, recently created, is assigned the responsibility of matters relating to Ex-Servicemen including pensioners, Ex-Servicemen Contributory Health Scheme, Directorate General of Resettlement and Kendriya Sainik Board and administration of Pension Regulations relating to the three Services.

The Integrated Headquarters of the Ministry of Defence, viz, the Army Headquarters, the Naval Headquarters and the Air Headquarters function under the Chief of the Army Staff (COAS), Chief of the Naval Staff (CNS) and the Chief of the Air Staff (CAS) respectively.

Defence - Indian Defence