Monday, 9 November 2015

SSB SPECIAL: UNDERSTANDING THE MINISTRY OF DEFENCE

SOME PARTS HAVE BEEN COPIED FROM AANUAL REPORTS OF MOD:

After Independence, Ministry of Defence was created under the charge of a Cabinet Minister and each Service was placed under its own Commander-in-Chief. In 1955, the Commanders-in-Chief were renamed as the Chief of the Army Staff, the Chief of the Naval Staff and the Chief of the Air Staff. In November 1962, the Department of Defence Production was set up to deal with research, development and production of defence equipment. In November, 1965, the Department of Defence Supplies was created for planning and execution of schemes for import substitution of defence requirements. These two Departments were later merged to form the Department of Defence Production and Supplies. In 2004, the name of Department of Defence Production and Supplies was changed to Department of Defence Production. In 1980, the Department of Defence Research and Development was created. In 2004, the Department of ExServicemen Welfare was set up. The Defence Secretary functions as head of the Department of Defence and is additionally responsible for co-ordinating the activities of the four Departments in the Ministry
The principal task of the Ministry is to frame policy directions on defence andsecurity related matters and communicate them for implementation to the Services Headquarters, Inter-Service Organisations, Production Establishments and Research & Development Organisations. It is required to ensure effective implementation of the Government’s policy directions and the execution of approved programmes within the allocated resources.
The principal functions of the Departments are as follows: (i) The Department of Defence deals with the Integrated Defence Staff (IDS) and three Services and various Inter Service Organisations. It is also responsible for the Defence Budget, establishment matters, defence policy, matters relating to Parliament, defence co-operation with foreign countries and co-ordination of all defence related activities. (ii) The Department of Defence Production is headed by a Secretary and deals with matters pertaining to defence production, indigenisation of imported stores, equipment and spares, planning and control of departmental production units of the Ordnance Factory Board and Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs). (iii) The Department of Defence Research and Development is headed by a Secretary, who is the Scientific Adviser to the Raksha Mantri. Its function is to advise the Government on scientificaspects of military equipment and logistics and the formulation of research, design and development plans for equipment required by the Services. (iv) The Department of Ex-Servicemen Welfare is headed by a Secretary and deals with all resettlement, welfare and pensionary matters of Ex-Servicemen.
HQ IDS was raised on October 1, 2001 based on the recommendations of Group of Ministers on the Kargil Review Committee (KRC) report. The HQ was raised under the overall Command and Control of Chairman Chiefs of Staff Committee (COSC) to foster jointness and synergy amongst the three Services. Since its inception, this HQ has achieved several milestones in joint and integrated planning, coordination of intelligence, joint conduct of Human Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) operations through Defence Crisis Management Group (DCMG) and prioritising/ streamlining procurements.
HQ IDS has been constantly reviewing the joint training at nascent, intermediatory and higher levels to foster greater jointness amongst the Services. At the nascent level, to address the shortage of officers in the Armed Forces, the capacity of National Defence Academy (NDA) has been enhanced from 1800 to 1920. In-principle approval of RM has also been granted to further increase the capacity of the Academy to 2400, which will be addressed by raising of 5th Battalion at NDA. HQ IDS conducted training for officials of MoD, Mongolia and officers of Mongolian Armed Forces in IT Security. As a follow up to the training conducted in year 2013, on request from Mongolia, an advanced level training programme on IT Security was conducted during the current year.
Finance Division in the Ministry of Defence deals with all matters having a financial implication. This Division is headed by Secretary (Defence Finance)/ Financial Advisor (Defence Services) and is fully integrated with the Ministry. It performs an advisory role. The Ministry of Defence enjoys enhanced delegated financial powers tofacilitate quicker decision making. These powers are exercised with the concurrence of the Finance Division. With a view to ensuring transparency in exercise of these powers in respect of defence procurement matters and compliance with the laid down policy guidelines, the Defence Procurement Procedure and Defence Procurement Manual are updated from time to time.
Department of Defence Production (DDP) was set up in November 1962 with the objective of developing a comprehensive production infrastructure to produce the weapons/ systems/ platforms/ equipments required for defence. Over the years, the Department has established wide ranging production facilities for various defence equipments through the Ordnance Factories and Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs). The products manufactured include arms and ammunition, tanks, armoured vehicles, heavy vehicles, fighter aircraft and helicopters, warships, submarines, missiles, ammunition, electronic equipment, earth moving equipment, special alloys and special purpose steels.
The organizations under the Department of Defence Production are as follows: • Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) • Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) • Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) • Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL) • BEML Limited (BEML) • Mishra Dhatu Nigam Limited (MIDHANI) • Mazagon Dock Limited (MDL) • Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers Limited (GRSE) • Goa Shipyard Limited (GSL) • Hindustan Shipyard Limited (HSL) • Directorate General of Quality Assurance (DGQA) Directorate General of Aeronautical Quality Assurance (DGAQA) • Directorate of Standardisation (DOS) • Directorate of Planning & Coordination (Dte. of P&C) • Defence Exhibition Organisation (DEO) • National Institute for Research & Development in Defence Shipbuilding (NIRDESH). With the objective of achieving self-reliance in defence production, the Ordnance Factories and DPSUs have been continuously modernizing and upgrading their capabilities and widening their product range. A large number of major products have been developed through in-house research and development initiatives in addition to a number of products and equipment produced through transfer of technology.
Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) is the Research and Development arm of the Ministry of Defence. It was created in 1958 by merging the units of Defence Science Organisation, which was set up in 1948 to advise and assist the defence Services on scientific problems and to undertake research in areas related to defence, with the then existing Technical Development Establishments of the three Services. Subsequently, a separate Department of Defence Research and Development (DDR&D) was formed in 1980 to improve administrative efficiency. Starting from a cluster of about 10 laboratories in 1958, DRDO today has 46 laboratories which are spread far and wide; from Tezpur in the east to Mumbai in the west, from Leh in the north to Kochi in the south. DRDO’s mandate is to provide assessment and advice on scientific aspects of weapons, platforms and surveillance sensors; to carry out research and to develop cutting edge technologies leading to production of state-ofthe-art sensors, weapon systems, platforms and allied equipment for our defence Services. In the recent past, the mandate has been widened to support national cyber security architecture which includes testing capabilities, security solutions, networking systems and cyber defence tools. In this process, it has also established national infrastructure, enhanced defence industrial capability and developed committed quality human resources. DRDO is headed by the Scientific Adviser to Raksha Mantri (SA to RM) who is also the Secretary, Department of Defence Research and Development and Director General R&D (DGR&D). Based on the R&D work carried out by the 46 laboratories of DRDO, they are grouped into seven technology clusters namely, Armament and Combat Engineering Systems (ACE), Aeronautical Systems (AERO), Missiles and Strategic Systems (MSS), Naval Systems and Materials (NS & M), Electronics and Communication Systems (ECS), Micro Electronic Devices and Computational Systems (MED & CoS) and Life Sciences (LS). Each of these clusters functions under the administrative control of the cluster DGs. The seven DG offices are located at Pune (ACE), Bengaluru (Aero and ECS), Hyderabad (MSS), Vishakhapatnam (NS & M) and Delhi (MED & CoS and LS). In addition, DDR&D has one autonomous body viz. Aeronautical Development Agency, one joint venture viz. BrahMos Aerospace, four human resource institutions i.e. Centre for Personnel Talent Management (CEPTAM), Institute of Technology Management (ITM), Military Institute of Training (MILIT) and Recruitment and Assessment Centre (RAC), one deemed university viz. Defence Institute of Advance Technology (DIAT) and three certification agencies i.e. Centre for Military Airworthiness and Certification for airworthiness of products, Centre for Fire Explosive and Environment Safety for fire and explosives and Scientific Analysis Group for grading of information security products under its fold. These certification agencies provide services not just for DRDO but other organisations of Government of India as well. Four research boards (Aeronautics, Naval, Armaments and Life Sciences) functioning under DRDO funding, provide thrust to basic research in academia in areas of strategic importance.
DRDO headquarters (HQ) at Delhi, which coordinates the overall functioning of the organisation, is the interface between the Government and the laboratories. The HQ consist of corporate Directorates viz. Budget, Finance and Accounts (BF&A), Extramural Research and Intellectual Property Rights (ER&IPR), Human Resource Development (HRD), Parliamentary Affairs, Personnel, Planning and Coordination (P&C), Public Interface, Rajbhasha etc. Some corporate Directorates which oversee specific functions with partner organisations are Industry Interface and Technology Management (IITM), Interaction with Services for Business (ISB) and International Cooperation (IC). DRDO has in the recent past set up new Directorates/Groups with a specific role to assist/guide laboratories in respective areas viz. Cyber Security (CS), Futuristic Technology Management (FTM) group, Quality, Reliability and Safety (QR&S), Simulation and Modeling Centre (SAM-C) and Technical Coordination Group. There are five Chief Controllers R&D (CC R&D) to oversee the activities of the corporate HQ namely, CC R&D Production Coordination and Services Interaction (PC & SI), CC R&D Human Resources (HR), CC R&D Technology Management (TM), CC R&D Resources & Management and Implementation (R&M and Impl.) and CC R&D Systems Analysis & Modeling (SAM).

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