Ministry of Home Affairs (India)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ministry of Home Affairs (Hindi: गृह मन्त्रालय; known as the Home Ministry or MHA) is an Indian government ministry. It is an interior ministry responsible for domestic policy.

The Minister of Home Affairs holds cabinet rank as a member of the Council of Ministers. The current minister is P.Chidambaram. The ministry has been headed by some of the most influential names of Indian politics, such as Sardar Patel, C. Rajagopalachari, Lal Bahadur Shastri, and Lal Krishna Advani.

[edit] Organisation

The Ministry of Home Affairs consists of the following departments.

Departments
- Department of Internal Security (आन्तरिक सुरक्षा विभाग) - Internal security, police, and refugees
- Department of States (राज्य विभाग). Administers Union Territories; manages relations between the Union Government ("Centre") and the states as well as relations between states; administers the Swatantrata Sainik Samman Pension Scheme 1980 (Freedom Fighters' Pension) to those imprisoned by the British during the Indian independence movement
- Department of Official Language (राज भाषा विभाग) - Official languages of India
- Department of Home (गृह विभाग) - "notifications relating to assumption of office of President and Vice-President, appointment of Prime Minister/Ministers, etc."
- Department of Jammu and Kashmir Affairs ( जम्मू तथा कश्मीर विभाग) - Jammu and Kashmir
- Department of Border Management (सीमा प्रबन्धन विभाग) - Border control service. Monitors coastal borders as well as land borders.

Divisions
- Administration Division - handles "administrative and vigilance matters" and "allocation of work among various Divisions of the Ministry." This devision also monitors compliance with the Right to Information Act and matters relating to the table of precedence, Padma Shri awards, awards for gallantry, Jeevan Raksha Padak awards, as well as matters relating to the national flag (Flag Code of India), state emblem, national anthem ("Jana Gana Mana"), and Secretariat Security Organisation.
- Border Management Division - deals with borders. Also manages the Multipurpose National Identity Card program
- Centre-State Division - Deals with relations between the national government and state governments; appointment of Governors; creation of new States; nominations to Rajya Sabha/Lok Sabha; boundary disputes, overseeing crime in the states; imposition of President's rule
- Coordination Division - coordinates between ministries, deals with parliamentary matters, handles public grievances (PGs). This division publishes the Annual Report of the Ministry, Record Retention Schedule, and Annual Action Plan of the Ministry, and is the custodian of classified and non-classified records of the Ministry, Internal Work Study, and various reports of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes (SC/STs) and persons with disabilities, etc."
- Disaster Management Division - emergency management agency. I Division is responsible for drought preparedness and immediate response and relief for both natural and man-made disasters, except drought and epidemics. II Division is responsible for long-term planning and policy.
- Finance Division - finance and budget
- Foreigners Division - deals with visas and nationality law (including immigration, citizenship, and overseas citizenship)
- Freedom Fighters and Rehabilitation Division - implements the Freedom Fighters' Pension Scheme and assistance to migrants from the former West Pakistan/East Pakistan, as well as too Sri Lankan and Tibetan refugees in India.
- Human Rights Division - Deals with human rights, implements the Protection of Human Rights Act 1993. Also charged with matters relating to Ayodhya
- Internal Security Division - Deals with internal security and national security. Monitors the Pakistani intelligence agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), as well as extremist groups; counterterrorism; security clearances, "Home Secretary-level talks with Pakistan on terrorism and drug trafficking"; weapons, explosives, narcotics; Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB); National Security Act
- Jammu and Kashmir Division (J&K) - Jammu and Kashmir; Article 370; Prime Minister's Special Package for Jammu and Kashmir
- Judicial Division - Indian Penal Code (IPC), Code of Criminal Procedure (Cr.P.C.), Commission of Inquiry Act; mercy petitions (clemency requests) under Article 72 of the Constitution; political pensions to pre-independence rulers of princely states; state legislation, which requires the assent of the President under the Constitution
Naxal Management Division - Created in 2006 to counter the Naxalites through both security measures and development.
North East Division - internal security in North-East India; dealing with insurgent groups in North-East India
Police Division - administers the Indian Police Service (IPS) and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF)
Police Modernisation Division - modernization of police; provisioning/procurement of equipment, police reforms
Policy Planning - "policy formulation in respect of internal security issues, international cooperation on counter-terrorism, international covenants, bilateral assistance treaties and related items"
Union Territories Division - matters relating to Union Territories, including Delhi; also controls the joint Indian Administrative Service and IPS cadres of Arunachal Pradesh-Goa-Mizoram and Union Territory (AGMU), Delhi-Andaman and Nicobar Islands Civil Service (DANICS)/Delhi-Andaman and Nicobar Islands Police Service (DANIPS).