Minister of Defence (India)

Minister of Defence
(Raksha Mantri)

Incumbent
Manohar Parrikar
since 9 November 2014
Ministry of Defence
Style The Honourable
Appointer President on the advice of the Prime Minister
Inaugural holder Baldev Singh
Formation 2 September 1946

The Minister of Defence (or the Defence Minister) 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 first Defence Minister of independent India was Baldev Singh, who served in Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru's cabinet during 1947–52. Manohar Parrikar of the Bharatiya Janata Party is the incumbent Defence Minister.

List of Defence Ministers

№ Name Portrait Term of office Political party
(Alliance)		 Prime Minister
1 Baldev Singh 2 September 1946 1952 Indian National Congress Jawaharlal Nehru
2 Kailash Nath Katju 1955 1957
3 V. K. Krishna Menon 1957 1962
4 Yashwantrao Chavan 1962 1966 Jawaharlal Nehru
Lal Bahadur Shastri
Indira Gandhi
5 Swaran Singh 1966 1970 Indira Gandhi
6 Jagjivan Ram 1970 1974
(5) Swaran Singh 1974 1975
7 Indira Gandhi 1975 1975
8 Bansi Lal 21 December 1975 24 March 1977
(6) Jagjivan Ram 24 March 1977 28 July 1979 Janata Party Morarji Desai
9 Chidambaram Subramaniam 28 July 1979 14 January 1980 Janata Party (Secular) Charan Singh
(7) Indira Gandhi 14 January 1980 1982 Indian National Congress Indira Gandhi
10 R. Venkataraman 1982 1984
11 Shankarrao Chavan 1984 1984 Indira Gandhi
Rajiv Gandhi
12 P. V. Narasimha Rao 1984 1985 Rajiv Gandhi
13 Rajiv Gandhi 1985 1987
14 V. P. Singh 1987 1987
15 K. C. Pant 1987 1989
(14) V. P. Singh 2 December 1989 10 November 1990 Janata Dal
(National Front)		 Himself
16 Chandra Shekhar 10 November 1990 21 June 1991 Samajwadi Janata Party
(National Front)		 Himself
17 Sharad Pawar 21 June 1991 6 March 1993 Indian National Congress P. V. Narasimha Rao
(12) P. V. Narasimha Rao 6 March 1993 16 May 1996
18 Pramod Mahajan 16 May 1996 1 June 1996 Bharatiya Janata Party Atal Bihari Vajpayee
19 Mulayam Singh Yadav 1 June 1996 19 March 1998 Samajwadi Party
(United Front)		 H. D. Deve Gowda
I. K. Gujral
20 George Fernandes 19 March 1998 16 March 2001 Samata Party
(National Democratic Alliance)		 Atal Bihari Vajpayee
21 Jaswant Singh 16 March 2001 21 October 2001 Bharatiya Janata Party
(National Democratic Alliance)
(20) George Fernandes 21 October 2001 22 May 2004 Samata Party
Janata Dal
(National Democratic Alliance)
22 Pranab Mukherjee 22 May 2004 24 October 2006 Indian National Congress
(United Progressive Alliance)		 Manmohan Singh
23 A.K. Antony 24 October 2006 26 May 2014
24 Arun Jaitley 26 May 2014 9 November 2014 Bharatiya Janata Party
(National Democratic Alliance)		 Narendra Modi
25 Manohar Parrikar 9 November 2014 Incumbent

See also

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