Minister of Defence
Rakshā Mantrī
Incumbent
Rajnath Singh
since 30 May 2019
Ministry of Defence (India) Ministry of Defence
StyleThe Honourable
Member ofUnion Cabinet
Reports toPrime Minister
AppointerPresident
on the advice of the Prime Minister
Term length5 years
Formation15 August 1947
First holderBaldev Singh
DeputyAjay Bhatt
Minister of State
Websitemod.gov.in

The Minister of Defence (Rakshā Mantrī) is the head of the Ministry of Defence and a high ranking minister of the Government of India. The Defence Minister is one of the most senior offices in the Union Council of Ministers as well as being a high-level minister in the union cabinet. 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.

They are often assisted by a Minister of State for Defence and less-commonly, the lower-ranked Deputy Minister of Defence.

The first defence minister of independent India was Baldev Singh Chokkar, who served in Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru's cabinet during 1947–52. Rajnath Singh is the current defence minister of India.

Interim Government

Portrait Minister
(Birth-Death)
Constituency
Term of office Political party Ministry Prime Minister
From To Period
Baldev Singh
(1902–1961)
MP for Punjab (Constituent Assembly)
2 September 1946 15 August 1947 3 years, 347 days Indian National Congress Nehru I Jawaharlal Nehru

Cabinet Ministers

Key
Assassinated or died in office
# Portrait Minister
(Birth-Death)
Constituency
Term of office Political party Ministry Prime Minister
From To Period
1 Baldev Singh
(1902–1961)
MP for Punjab (Constituent Assembly)
15 August
1947
2 April
1952
4 years, 272 days Indian National Congress Nehru I Jawaharlal Nehru
2 April
1952
13 May
1952
Nehru II
2 N. Gopalaswami Ayyangar
(1882–1953)
MP for Madras (Rajya Sabha)
13 May
1952
10 February
1953[†]
273 days
Jawaharlal Nehru
(1889–1964)
MP for Phulpur

(Prime Minister)
10 February
1953
10 January
1955
1 year, 334 days
3 Kailash Nath Katju
(1887–1968)
MP for Mandsaur
10 January
1955
30 January
1957
2 years, 20 days
Jawaharlal Nehru
(1889–1964)
MP for Phulpur

(Prime Minister)
30 January
1957
17 April
1957
77 days
4 V. K. Krishna Menon
(1896–1974)
MP for Bombay North
17 April
1957
2 April
1962
5 years, 197 days Nehru III
2 April
1962
31 October
1962
Nehru IV
Jawaharlal Nehru
(1889–1964)
MP for Phulpur

(Prime Minister)
31 October
1962
14 November
1962
14 days
5 Yashwantrao Chavan
(1913–1984)
MP for Nashik
14 November
1962
27 May
1964
3 years, 364 days
27 May
1964
9 June
1964
Nanda I Gulzarilal Nanda
(acting)
9 June
1964
11 January
1966
Shastri Lal Bahadur Shastri
11 January
1966
24 January
1966
Nanda II Gulzarilal Nanda
(acting)
24 January
1966
13 November
1966
Indira I Indira Gandhi
6 Swaran Singh
(1907–1994)
MP for Jullundur
13 November
1966
27 June
1970
3 years, 226 days
13 March
1967
27 June
1970
Indira II
7 Jagjivan Ram
(1908–1986)
MP for Sasaram
27 June
1970
15 March
1971
4 years, 105 days Indian National Congress (R)
15 March
1971
10 October
1974
Indira III
(6) Swaran Singh
(1907–1994)
MP for Jullundur
10 October
1974
1 December
1975
1 year, 52 days
Indira Gandhi
(1917–1984)
MP for Rae Bareli

(Prime Minister)
1 December
1975
20 December
1975
19 days
8 Bansi Lal
(1927–2006)
MP for Punjab (Rajya Sabha)
21 December
1975
24 March
1977
1 year, 93 days
(7) Jagjivan Ram
(1908–1986)
MP for Sasaram

(Deputy Prime Minister
from 24 January 1979)
24 March
1977
28 July
1979
2 years, 126 days Janata Party Desai Morarji Desai
9 Chidambaram Subramaniam
(1910–2000)
MP for Palani
28 July
1979
14 January
1980
170 days Indian National Congress (Urs) Charan Singh Charan Singh
Indira Gandhi
(1917–1984)
MP for Medak

(Prime Minister)
14 January
1980
15 January
1982
2 years, 1 day Indian National Congress (I) Indira IV Indira Gandhi
10 Ramaswamy Venkataraman
(1910–2009)
MP for Chennai South
15 January
1982
2 August
1984
2 years, 200 days
11 Shankarrao Chavan
(1920–2004)
MP for Nanded
2 August
1984
31 October
1984
151 days
31 October
1984
31 December
1984
Rajiv I Rajiv Gandhi
12 P. V. Narasimha Rao
(1921–2004)
MP for Ramtek
31 December
1984
25 September
1985
268 days Rajiv II
Rajiv Gandhi
(1944–1991)
MP for Amethi

(Prime Minister)
25 September
1985
24 January
1987
1 year, 121 days
13 V. P. Singh
(1931–2008)
MP for Uttar Pradesh (Rajya Sabha)
24 January
1987
12 April
1987
78 days
14 K. C. Pant
(1931–2012)
MP for New Delhi
12 April
1987
2 December
1989
2 years, 234 days
V. P. Singh
(1931–2008)
MP for Fatehpur

(Prime Minister)
2 December
1989
10 November
1990
343 days Janata Dal V. P. Singh V. P. Singh
Chandra Shekhar
(1927–2007)
MP for Ballia

(Prime Minister)
10 November
1990
21 June
1991
223 days Samajwadi Janata Party (Rashtriya) Chandra Shekhar Chandra Shekhar
P. V. Narasimha Rao
(1921–2004)
Unelected

(Prime Minister)
21 June
1991
26 June
1991
5 days Indian National Congress (I) Rao P. V. Narasimha Rao
15 Sharad Pawar
(born 1940)
MP for Baramati
26 June
1991
6 March
1993
1 year, 253 days
P. V. Narasimha Rao
(1921–2004)
MP for Nandyal

(Prime Minister)
6 March
1993
16 May
1996
3 years, 71 days
16 Pramod Mahajan
(1949–2006)
MP for Mumbai North East
16 May
1996
1 June
1996
16 days Bharatiya Janata Party Vajpayee I Atal Bihari Vajpayee
17 Mulayam Singh Yadav
(1939–2022)
MP for Mainpuri
1 June
1996
21 April
1997
1 year, 290 days Samajwadi Party Deve Gowda H. D. Deve Gowda
21 April
1997
18 March
1998
Gujral Inder Kumar Gujral
18 George Fernandes
(1930–2019)
MP for Nalanda
19 March
1998
13 October
1999
2 years, 101 days Janata Dal (United) Vajpayee II Atal Bihari Vajpayee
13 October
1999
16 March
2001
Vajpayee III
19 Jaswant Singh
(1938–2020)
MP for Rajasthan (Rajya Sabha)
16 March
2001
21 October
2001
219 days Bharatiya Janata Party
(18) George Fernandes
(1930–2019)
MP for Nalanda
21 October
2001
22 May
2004
2 years, 214 days Janata Dal (United)
20 Pranab Mukherjee
(1935–2020)
MP for Jangipur
23 May
2004
26 October
2006
2 years, 156 days Indian National Congress Manmohan I Manmohan Singh
21 A. K. Antony
(born 1940)
MP for Kerala (Rajya Sabha)
26 October
2006
22 May
2009
7 years, 212 days
23 May
2009
26 May
2014
Manmohan II
22 Arun Jaitley
(1952–2019)
MP for Gujarat (Rajya Sabha)
27 May
2014
9 November
2014
166 days Bharatiya Janata Party Modi I Narendra Modi
23 Manohar Parrikar
(1955–2019)
MP for Uttar Pradesh (Rajya Sabha)
9 November
2014
13 March
2017
2 years, 124 days
(22) Arun Jaitley
(1952–2019)
MP for Gujarat (Rajya Sabha)
13 March
2017
3 September
2017
174 days
24 Nirmala Sitharaman
(born 1959)
MP for Karnataka (Rajya Sabha)
3 September
2017
30 May
2019
1 year, 269 days
25 Rajnath Singh
(born 1951)
MP for Lucknow
31 May
2019
Incumbent 4 years, 228 days Modi II

Ministers of State

Portrait Minister
(Birth-Death)
Constituency
Term of office Political party Ministry Prime Minister
From To Period
Bachi Singh Rawat
(1949–2021)
MP for Almora
13 October
1999
22 November
1999
40 days Bharatiya Janata Party Vajpayee III Atal Bihari Vajpayee
Harin Pathak
(born 1947)
MP for Ahmedabad East
13 October
1999
14 November
2000
1 year, 32 days
Krishnam Raju
(1940–2022)
MP for Narasapuram
22 July
2001
1 July
2002
344 days
Harin Pathak
(born 1947)
MP for Ahmedabad East
15 October
2001
29 January
2003
1 year, 106 days
Chaman Lal Gupta
(1934–2021)
MP for Udhampur
1 July
2002
22 May
2004
1 year, 326 days
O. Rajagopal
(born 1929)
MP for Madhya Pradesh (Rajya Sabha)
29 January
2003
22 May
2004
114 days
Bijoy Krishna Handique
(1934–2015)
MP for Jorhat
23 May
2004
29 January
2006
1 year, 251 days Indian National Congress Manmohan I Manmohan Singh
Rao Inderjit Singh
(born 1951)
MP for Mahendragarh
29 January
2006
22 May
2009
3 years, 113 days
M. M. Pallam Raju
(born 1962)
MP for Kakinada
29 January
2006
22 May
2009
6 years, 273 days
28 May
2009
28 October
2012
Manmohan II
Jitin Prasada
(born 1973)
MP for Dhaurahra
28 October
2012
29 October
2012
1 day
Lalchand Kataria
(born 1968)
MP for Jaipur Rural
28 October
2012
31 October
2012
3 days
Jitendra Singh
(born 1971)
MP for Alwar
28 October
2012
26 May
2014
1 year, 180 days
Rao Inderjit Singh
(born 1951)
MP for Gurgaon
27 May
2014
5 July
2016
2 years, 39 days Bharatiya Janata Party Modi I Narendra Modi
Subhash Bhamre
(born 1953)
MP for Dhule
5 July
2016
30 May
2019
2 years, 329 days
Shripad Yesso Naik
(born 1952)
MP for North Goa
31 May
2019
7 July
2021
2 years, 37 days Modi II
Ajay Bhatt
(born 1961)
MP for Nainital–Udhamsingh Nagar
7 July
2021
Incumbent 2 years, 191 days

See also

References

    [1]

    1. "Former Defence Ministers of State". Ministry of Defence GOI. Retrieved 10 May 2023.
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