Explained | The role of Cabinet Committee on Security

The Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) has accorded approval for procurement of more than 200 BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles and associated equipment for the Indian Navy at a cost of around Rs 19,000 crore.

The missiles will largely be deployed on various warships to enhance overall combat capabilities of the Navy.

The formal contract for acquisition of the missiles is expected to be sealed in the next few months. 

What is a Cabinet Committee?

• Cabinet Committees are extra-constitutional, meaning, they are not mentioned in the Indian Constitution. 

• Cabinet committee is a group of ministers which can take collective decisions that are binding across various ministries/departments. They are partly designed to reduce the burden on the Union Cabinet by allowing smaller groups of ministers to take decisions on specific policy areas. 

• The Cabinet Committees are constituted or reconstituted when a new government takes over or the Cabinet undergoes a reshuffle.

• The Prime Minister constitutes Standing Committees of the Cabinet and sets out the specific functions assigned to them.

• The Cabinet Secretariat is responsible for the administration of the Government of India (Transaction of Business) Rules, 1961 and the Government of India (Allocation of Business) Rules 1961, facilitating smooth transaction of business in ministries/departments of the government.

• This Secretariat provides secretarial assistance to the Cabinet and its Committees, and also assists in decision making in government by ensuring inter-ministerial coordination, ironing out differences amongst ministries/departments and evolving consensus through the instrumentality of the standing/ad hoc committees of secretaries. Through this mechanism new policy initiatives are also promoted.

Cabinet Committee on Security

The Cabinet Committee on Security is the country’s highest decision-making body on security affairs.

Members of the Cabinet Committee on Security:

i) PM Narendra Modi

ii) Rajnath Singh

iii) Amit Shah

iv) Nirmala Sitharaman

v) S.Jaishankar.

Functions of the Cabinet Committee on Security include:

• Deal with all defence related issues.

• Deal with issues relating to law and order, and internal security.

• Deal with policy matters concerning foreign affairs that have internal or external security implications including cases relating to agreements with other countries on security related issues.

• Deal with economic and political issues impinging on national security.

• Review the manpower requirements relating to national security including proposals concerning creation of posts carrying the pay scale or pay band plus Grade Pay equivalent to that of a joint secretary to the government of India and higher, and setting up new structures to deal with security related issues.

• Deal with all matters relating to atomic energy.

BrahMos missile

• BrahMos Aerospace Pvt Ltd, an India-Russian joint venture, produces supersonic cruise missiles that can be launched from submarines, ships, aircraft, or land platforms.

• BrahMos evolved out of the joint efforts of Indian and Russian scientists, under the joint venture company BrahMos Aerospace, DRDO and NPO Mashinostroyenia of Russia along with a consortium of Indian and Russian industries.

• The company came into existence consequent to an inter-governmental agreement signed between the two countries in February 1998. 

• The acronym BrahMos is perceived as the confluence of two great nations represented by two great rivers — Brahmaputra of India and River Moskva of Russia.

• The modular design of the missile and its capability of being launched at different orientations enables it to be integrated with a wide spectrum of platforms like warships, submarines and different types of aircraft.

• It operates on fire-and-forget principle, adopting varieties of flights on its way to the target. Its destructive power is enhanced due to large kinetic energy on impact. 

• BrahMos missile flies at a speed of 2.8 Mach or almost three times the speed of sound.

• India is also exporting the BrahMos missiles. In January 2022, India sealed a $375 million deal with the Philippines for supplying three batteries of the missile.

• A few other countries including Argentina have also shown interest in procuring BrahMos missiles from India.

• The IAF has already integrated the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile on some Sukhoi fighter jets.