Department of Military Affairs
Also called: DMA · Topic: Union Executive: President, Vice-President, Prime Minister and Council of Ministers · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
The Department of Military Affairs (DMA) is a department inside the Ministry of Defence. It deals with the Army, Navy and Air Force. It is headed by the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), the senior-most military officer, who also serves as its Secretary. The Constitution does not create it. It was set up under the Allocation of Business Rules 1961, the rules made under Art. 77(3) that divide government work among ministries and departments. It matters because it gives a serving soldier a direct role in running the defence ministry. Its main job is jointness, which means getting the three services to plan, train and buy equipment together instead of separately. It also handles moves towards theatre commands, where forces from all three services in one region come under a single commander.
Example
The Agnipath scheme (2022) recruits soldiers for a short term. When it was revised, the three services' recommendations were brought together, and the CDS, as head of the DMA, made the change public. The DMA has also been asked to publish the selection rules for each service under the revised scheme.
Don't confuse with
- Department of Defence: a separate department in the same ministry. It is headed by the Defence Secretary, a civil servant, and handles wider defence policy and large weapons purchases.
- Cabinet Committee on Security: a group of ministers (the PM plus the Defence, Home, Finance and External Affairs ministers) that takes the top political decisions on national security. The DMA is an administrative department, not a decision-making body of ministers.