- The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has reappointed Ajit Doval as the National Security Advisor (NSA) to the Prime Minister. Former IPS officer Ajit Doval has been reappointed for his third consecutive term.
- Narendra Modi took oath as the Prime Minister of India for the third consecutive term on 9 June 2024 after the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) won a majority in the 18th Lok Sabha. The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet consists of just the Prime Minister and the Home Minister.
Ajit Kumar Doval third term as NSA
- Ajit Kumar Doval is a 1968 batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer of Kerala cadre. He was appointed to the Intelligence Bureau in 1972 and retired as its Director in 2005.
- In his career spanning over 33 years as an intelligence officer, Ajit Doval has served in Punjab, Kashmir and the Northeast region of the country.
- Doval was the chief negotiator of the Indian team that negotiated with the hijackers of the Indian Airlines flight IC-814 taken to Kandahar in 1999.
- He was appointed the fifth National Security Advisor to the Prime Minister on 30 May 2014 after the Narendra Modi government came to power.
- He was re-appointed as NSA by the Modi government in its second term in 2019.
National Security Advisor in India
- Atal Bihari Vajpayee government created the post of NSA along with the National Security Council after India tested nuclear weapons in 1998. The first NSA to be appointed was Brajesh Mishra in 1998.
- The job of the NSA is to advise the Prime Minister on issues related to national security, manage India’s nuclear arsenal, collate policy options and oversee their implementation.
- India has had five NSAs: Brajesh Mishra, J.N. Dixit, Shivshankar Menon, M.K. Narayanan, and Ajit Doval.