Indian Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has been elected as president of IDSA (Institute for Defence Studies and Analysis). It is a customary in Indian system that current Defence minister is elected as IDSA president. So, election of Nirmala Sitharaman as president of IDSA held on November 23, was also unanimous.
Below are the other member of Executive Council: Prof Charan Dass Wadhwa, Air Marshal M. Matheswaran, G.K. Pillai, Lt. Gen. Prakash Menon, Ambassador Swashpawan Singh, Gulshan Luthra and Vice Admiral Anup Singh.
Ex-officio members are: Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar, Defence Secretary Sanjay Mitra, Director General Jayant Prasad and Deputy Director General Maj. Gen. Alok Deb. Ashok K. Behuria is staff representative in the Council.
About IDSA:
IDSA Institute for Defence Studies and Analysis works under defence miinistry and is also funded by the Ministry of Defence. The working of IDSA is to conduct research in military, foreign and strategic affairs. In past IDSA has important involvement as Government looked for the views of IDSA before taking major policy initiatives such as conducting nuclear tests, as in 1974 and 1998.