Centre doubles size of NSAB; new members join security body

The Central government has doubled the size of the all-important National Security Advisory Board by inducting five new members as it has also expanded the scope of work for the agency.

The new members include former Ambassador Amar Sinha, former bureaucrat Tilak Deveshwar and former Deputy Chief of Army Lt Gen (Retd) Subroto Saha. The convenor of the now nine-member NSAB P S Raghavan has now been designated as the Chairman of the grouping where specialist members advise the government on specific topics.

Existing members of the NSAB including China expert Lt Gen SL Narasimhan, Dr Bimal Patel, former Western naval Commander Vice Admiral Anil Chopra have been given extensions in the group.

All the members of the group have been specialists in their respective domains. Lt Gen Saha was working closely in the Army for the procurement of weapon systems for the force and is considered an expert in acquisitions for defence forces.

His appointment in the NSAB has come at a time when the government is looking for jointness in acquisition for the three services and different panels have proposed avoidance of duplicacy in these matters. In the last couple of years, various ministries and departments including the Defence Ministry have commissioned important studies to the NSAB such as the one on the restructuring of the Army under Lt Gen DS Hooda.