Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman inside MiG-21 Bison at Uttarlai Air Force station in Gujarat. PTI

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 11

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman today issued a set of instructions under which she will meet the chiefs of three armed forces and the Defence Secretary on a daily basis.The Ministry of Defence said the minister shall meet the three chiefs of the Indian Army, Indian Air Force and the Navy at morning meetings. A separate daily meeting with the Defence Secretary has been formatted. The ministry spokesperson said this was “a new practice for quick decision making”.To date, the chiefs of the three services used to be called by the Defence Minister as and when required or they could walk across to the chamber of the Defence Minister in South Block.Sitharaman was today briefed by senior officials to familiarise with the activities and functioning of various activities of the forces and the ministry. Yesterday, the minister had seen operations of the IAF at Uttarlai, Barmer and Navy’s flying operations at Dabolim, Goa.Today, the minister laid special emphasis on the need to step up the pace of acquisition proposals. Towards ensuring time-bound and speedy disposal, it has been decided to hold Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) meetings on a fortnightly basis. The DAC is the highest decision-making body of the MoD.Sitharaman has scheduled a range of meetings with the three Defence service chiefs to review Defence preparedness and allied issues of strategic interests.Other areas of focus would be settling all outstanding land-related issues for infrastructure projects and matters relating to welfare of Defence personnel and their families.Today, Sitharaman visited a forward area along the Indo-Pak border in Gujarat. The minister and Army Chief General Bipin Rawat flew in an IAF plane to Naliya air base in Kutch, Gujarat where she interacted with Indian Army troops.

Nirmala Sitharaman inducted into CCS, CCEA, CCPA

• The government on Monday notified the induction of Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman into the all-powerful five-member Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS)
• Headed by PM Narendra Modi, other members of the committee are Home Minister Rajnath Singh, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley
• The CCS decides on each security-related issue of the country be it new weapons, new raising of forces, appointments of the top brass, military relations with other countries, among other aspects
• She will also be a member of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) and the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs (CCPA)