Vice Admiral Atul Anand takes over as Additional Secretary, Department of Military Affairs
Vice Admiral Atul Anand took over as additional secretary, Department of Military Affairs on 3 July. The post was previously held by Lt Gen Anil Puri, who superannuated on 28 February. Surprisingly such an important post of DMA of MoD remained vacant for four months ???
Vice Admiral Anand was commissioned into the executive branch of the Indian Navy on 1 January 1988. He is an alumnus of 71 st Course of National Defence Academy and was a cadet in the Delta Squadron. His father was from 13 NDA Course. Admiral Anand had specialized in Navigation.
He was selected to attend the Defence Services Command and Staff College, Mirpur (Bangladesh). Later as a Commodore, he was selected for National Defence College, New Delhi. He has also attended the Advanced Security Cooperation course at Asia Pacific Centre of Security Studies, Hawaii, USA.
A recipient of Ati Vishisht Seva Medal (AVSM) and Vishisht Seva Medal (VSM), Anand has held several key appointments in his career. His first command was that of the command of Torpedo Recovery Vessel INTRV A72 followed by command of missile boat INS Chatak and corvette INS Khukri.
He served as the Navigating Officer of ships Sharda, Ranvijay and Jyoti, and was the Direction Officer of the Sea Harrier squadron INAS 300 and the Executive Officer of destroyer INS Delhi.
As a Captain he commanded the destroyer INS Mumbai.
His staff appointments as a Commander was Joint Director Staff Requirements; As a Captain he was a Directing Staff at Defence Services Staff College, Wellington and later as Director, Naval Operations and Director, Naval Intelligence (Ops).
As a Commodore he has served as Principal Director, Naval Operations and Principal Director, Strategy, Concepts and Transformation at Integrated Headquarters of Ministry of Defence (Navy).
As a Flag Officer, he has served as Assistant Chief of Naval Staff (Foreign, Cooperation and Intelligence), Deputy Commandant and Chief Instructor at National Defence Academy, Khadakvasla; Flag Officer Commanding Maharashtra Naval area; Flag Officer Commanding Karnataka Naval area.
On promotion to the rank of Vice Admiral he was appointed as the Director General Naval Operations, On 1 April 2023.
As the Additional Secretary in the Department of Military Affairs he will be handling things given below directly through the Joint Secretaries in the DMA.
As per the Second Schedule to Government of India (Allocation of Business) Rules 1961, the following subjects have been allocated to DMA –
The Armed Forces of the Union, namely, Army, Navy and Air Force.
Integrated Headquarters of the Ministry of Defence comprising Army Headquarters, Naval Headquarters, Air Headquarters and Integrated Defence Staff Headquarters.
The Territorial Army.
Works relating to Army, Navy and Air Force.
Procurement exclusive to the Services except capital acquisitions, as per prevalent rules and procedures.
Promoting jointness in procurement, training and staffing for the Services through joint planning and integration of their requirements.
Facilitation of restructuring of Military Commands for optimal utilisation of resources by bringing about jointness in operations, including through establishment of joint / theatre commands.
Promoting use of indigenous equipment by the Services.
The Addl Secretary DMA reports to the Secretary DMA who happens to be the Chief of Defence Staff.
