Minister of Defence Rakshā Mantrī
Emblem of India
Flag of India
Incumbent Rajnath Singh since 30 May 2019
Ministry of Defence
Style	The Honourable
Member of	Union Cabinet
Reports to	Prime Minister
Appointer	President on the advice of the Prime Minister
Term length	5 years
Formation	15 August 1947
First holder	Baldev Singh
Deputy	Ajay Bhatt Minister of State
Website	mod.gov.in

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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

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ministers of Defence of India.

• Ministry of Defence (India)
• Defence ministers

References

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