Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS)
11.06.2024
Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS)
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For Prelims: About Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS), Functions, What are Cabinet Committees?, Why is CCS so important?, Have alliance partners been part of the CCS earlier? |
Why in the news?
Recently, Prime Minister Modi took oath along with 71 ministers of the new coalition government; thirty of them are Cabinet Ministers, five independent charges, and 36 Ministers of State.
About Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS)
- It is headed by the Prime Minister.
- The Committee discusses, debates, and is the apex body when it comes to the appointments of the officials in the national security bodies.
- It also makes all the important decisions on defense policy and expenditure and, generally, all matters of India’s security.
- Members: PM, Ministers of Defence, Home Affairs, Finance and External Affairs.
Functions:
- Deals with all the issues related to the defense and security of India.
- The CCS deals with all issues related to the law and order and national security of India.
- It discusses different initiatives to take to enhance the national security of India.
- It also deals with policy matters of foreign affairs which may have a bearing on internal or external security implications, including cases relating to agreements with other countries on security-related issues.
- The Committee discusses the political issues which can impact the security of our nation.
What are Cabinet Committees?
- They are extra-constitutional, meaning, they are not mentioned in the Indian Constitution.
- They are partly designed to reduce the burden on the Union Cabinet by allowing smaller groups of ministers to make decisions on specific policy areas.
- They are constituted or reconstituted when a new government takes over or the Cabinet undergoes a reshuffle.
- There are a total of 8 cabinet committees:
○ Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs.
○ Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs.
○ Cabinet Committee on Investment and Growth.
○ Cabinet Committee on security.
○ Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs.
○Cabinet Committee on Employment and Skill Development.
○ Cabinet Committee on accommodation.
○ Appointments Committee of the Cabinet
Why is CCS so important?
- With the Prime Minister helming it, the CCS has the ministers for Finance, Defence, Home Affairs and External Affairs as its members.
- It is responsible for debates, discussions and appointments of/ in the national security bodies.
- Major decisions with respect to the significant appointments, issues of national security, defense expenditure of India are taken by CCS.
Have alliance partners been part of the CCS earlier?
- The most notable example was of the H D Deve Gowda government of 1996, which came after Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s resignation as Prime Minister. Deve Gowda, who was Chief Minister of Karnataka at the time, took oath as Prime Minister on June 1. Samajwadi Party’s Mulayam Singh Yadav became Defence Minister, P Chidambaram, who had formed the Tamil Maanila Congress earlier that year, became Finance Minister, and CPI’s Indrajit Gupta became Home Minister.
- In 2001, with Vajpayee heading the NDA government, Samata Party founder George Fernandes was appointed the Defence Minister and remained in the post for three years. In fact, as Defence Minister in the BJP-led second and third Atal Bihari Vajpayee ministries (1998–2004), he oversaw the Kargil War and the nuclear tests at Pokhran.
- However, the Congress kept all CCS positions in the UPA government, and the BJP had all four of these positions in the Modi governments.
Source: Indian Express
Ques :- The Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) is chaired by which one of the following?
- Union Defence Minister of India
- Home Minister of India
- Prime Minister of India
- None of the above
Answer C