Ajit Doval to continue as NSA, elevated to Cabinet rank

Ajit Doval will continue as National Security Advisor to Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the government re-appointed him to the post and elevated him to the rank of Cabinet Minister.

He is the first National Security Advisor who has been accorded the rank of a Cabinet Minister.

Doval, who retired as director of the Intelligence Bureau in January 2005, has been the National Security Advisor to Prime Minister since May 2014, when the Modi Government commenced its first term in office. But he was not accorded the Minister of State (MoS) rank initially, unlike his predecessors – Brajesh Mishra, J N Dikshit, M K Narayanan and Shiv Shankar Menon.

He was given the rank of an MoS in September 2014 when he was appointed as India's Special Representative for negotiations with China to resolve the boundary dispute.

He has now been elevated to the rank of Cabinet Minister.

Doval's reappointment was approved by Appointments Committee of the Union Cabinet with effect from May 31.

“His appointment will be co-terminus with the term of the Prime Minister or until further orders, whichever is earlier,” the Department of Personnel and Training of the Union Government stated in an order. “During the term of his office, he will be assigned the rank of Cabinet Minister in the Table,” it added.

Doval, an officer of 1968 batch of Indian Police Service, played a key role in shaping the national security doctrine of Modi Government during its first term. He oversaw planning and execution of Indian Army's “surgical strike” on terrorist facilities in territory under control of Pakistan on September 26 in 2016 as well as Indian Air Force's strike on a terrorist training camp at Balakot in Pakistan on February 26 this year.

He was also instrumental in ending the 72-day-long military face-off between India and China at Doklam Plateau in western Bhutan in June-August 2017.