Minister of Defence (India)

Minister of Defence (Raksha Mantri)
Emblem of India
Incumbent Manohar Parrikar since 09 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
Baldev Singh	File:Baldev Singh.png 121x121px	2 September 1946	1952	Indian National Congress		Jawaharlal Nehru
Kailash Nath Katju		1955	1957
V. K. Krishna Menon	129x129px	1957	1962
Yashwantrao Chavan		1962	1966			Jawaharlal Nehru Lal Bahadur Shastri Indira Gandhi
Sardar Swaran Singh		1966	1970			Indira Gandhi
Jagjivan Ram		1970	1974
Sardar Swaran Singh		1974	1975
Indira Gandhi		1975	1975
Bansi Lal		21 December 1975	24 March 1977
Jagjivan Ram		24 March 1977	28 July 1979	Janata Party		Morarji Desai
Chidambaram Subramaniam		28 July 1979	14 January 1980	Janata Party (Secular)		Charan Singh
Indira Gandhi		14 January 1980	1982	Indian National Congress		Indira Gandhi
R. Venkataraman		1982	1984
Shankarrao Chavan		1984	1984			Indira Gandhi Rajiv Gandhi
P. V. Narasimha Rao		1984	1985			Rajiv Gandhi
Rajiv Gandhi		1985	1987
V. P. Singh		1987	1987
K. C. Pant		1987	1989
V. P. Singh		2 December 1989	10 November 1990	Janata Dal (National Front)		Himself
Chandra Shekhar		10 November 1990	21 June 1991	Samajwadi Janata Party (National Front)		Himself
Sharad Pawar		21 June 1991	6 March 1993	Indian National Congress		P. V. Narasimha Rao
P. V. Narasimha Rao		6 March 1993	16 May 1996
Pramod Mahajan		16 May 1996	1 June 1996	Bharatiya Janata Party		Atal Bihari Vajpayee
Mulayam Singh Yadav		1 June 1996	19 March 1998	Samajwadi Party (United Front)		H. D. Deve Gowda I. K. Gujral
George Fernandes		19 March 1998	2001	Samata Party (National Democratic Alliance)		Atal Bihari Vajpayee
Jaswant Singh		2001	2001	Bharatiya Janata Party (National Democratic Alliance)
George Fernandes		2001	22 May 2004	Samata Party Janata Dal (United) (National Democratic Alliance)
Pranab Mukherjee		22 May 2004	24 October 2006	Indian National Congress (United Progressive Alliance)		Manmohan Singh
A.K. Antony		24 October 2006	26 May 2014
Arun Jaitley		26 May 2014	9 November 2014	Bharatiya Janata Party (National Democratic Alliance)		Narendra Modi
Manohar Parrikar		9 November 2014	Incumbent

See also

• Ministry of Defence (India)
• Defence minister