Ministry of Defence (Nepal)

Ministry of Defence
Agency overview
Formed	1950
Jurisdiction	Government of Nepal
Headquarters	Singha Durbar, Kathmandu
Ministers responsible	Manbir Rai, Defence Minister;
Agency executive	Kiran Raj Sharma, Defence Secretary;
Website	mod.gov.np

The Ministry of Defence is governmental body in Nepal that formulates defence policies and coordinates defence affairs with other agencies of the government and the Nepalese Armed Forces.

Origin

The origin and evolution of the defence administration of modern Nepal dates back to the unification of Nepal in 1770. From the foundation to until popular movement, the defence administration was directly overseen by the Crown itself.

Before 1950, there was no division of duties between the Ministry and the Army headquarters. The Commander-in Chief and the Senior Commanding General between themselves dealt with the whole range of administration and policy regarding defence. For the first time in the history of Nepal, a separate ministry by the name of Defence Ministry was set up in the interim Government of 1950 headed by Prime Minister Mohan Shumsher. The first Defence Minister was Babar Shumsher . The organizational structure of the Defence Ministry at the time was quite simple having only two branches, Viz. (i) General and (ii) Budget. The Ministry had a secretary, two deputy secretaries, and two assistant secretaries. Since then the ministry has undergone continuous evolution and assumed the present structure.

The Ministry of Defence was established to protect and defend the nation and the people from internal instability and external threats by ensuring the sovereignty, national independence and integrity of the country.

Functions

According to Business (Allocation) Regulation 2063, the Ministry of Defense is responsible for following functions:

overcome the threat of border
Organization and control of the Nepalese Army
Coordination of Military Training
Oversight of Military Welfare
Procurement and Production of military hardware
Oversight of military activities and military operations
Oversight and coordination of military construction
Development of Military academy, installation, communication and transport
Provision of Military storage
Enhancement of Military Intelligence capabilities
Development and establishment of Military Hospitals
Establishment and Management of Military barracks and offices
Coordination and direction of military assistance in natural calamities and development
Organization, Training and Administration of the National Cadet Corps
Welfare of Retired Military Personnel
Oversight, establishment and coordination of National Parks and Wildlife reserves
Provision and procurement of military aircraft
Welfare schemes
Coordination with the National Security Council (NSC)

Objective

Ministry of Defence is established as per Government of Nepal Business Allocation Rules, 2069 (2012) with the objective of managing and operating national defence affairs.^[1] The Ministry is responsible for maintaining internal as well as external security in order to safeguard the national sovereignty and territorial integrity. Besides its primary responsibility of external security, it is also responsible for maintaining internal law and order by protecting the lives and properties of the people as per the derisory of the government . In this context the principal task of the Defence Ministry is to make policy directions on defence and security matters and communicate them for implementation to the Nepalese Army and its various service departments. Besides, the MoD also acts as a liaison or contact point for communication and interaction for Nepal Army with other Ministries and Departments. ^[2]^[3]^[4]

Former Ministers of Defence

This is a list of all ministers of Defense since the Nepalese Constituent Assembly election in 2013:


	Name	Party	Assumed office	Left office
1	Interim Prime Minister Khil Raj Regmi^[5]	independent	25 February 2014	11 February 2014
2	Prime Minister Sushil Koirala	Nepali Congress	25 February 2014	12 October 2015
3	Bhim Bahadur Rawal	Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist–Leninist)	5 November 2015	1 August 2016^[6]
4	Bal Krishna Khand	Nepali Congress	26 August 2016	31 May 2017
5	Bhimsen Das Pradhan^[7]	Nepali Congress	26 July 2017	15 February 2018
6	Ishwor Pokharel	Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist–Leninist) until 17 May 2018 Nepal Communist Party from 17 May 2018	26 February 2018	4 June 2021
7	Minendra Rijal	Nepali Congress	8 October 2021	16 December 2021
8	Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba	Nepali Congress	16 December 2021	26 December 2022
9	Hari Prasad Upreti	Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist–Leninist)	17 January 2023	27 February 2023
10	Purna Bahadur Khadka	Nepali Congress	31 March 2023