Inaugural holder Baldev Singh | Formation 2 September 1946 | |
Appointer President on the advice of the Prime Minister | ||
The Minister of Defence is the head of the Ministry of Defence of the Government of India. He is often assisted by a Minister of State for Defence and less-commonly, the lower-ranked Deputy Minister of Defence. 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.
The first defence minister of independent India was Baldev Singh, who served in Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru's cabinet during 1947–52.
References
Minister of Defence (India) Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA