4.1. Ministry of Home Affairs

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has multifarious responsibilities, important among them being internal security, management of para-military forces, border management, Centre-State relations, administration of Union Territories, disaster management, etc. Though in terms of Entries 1 and 2 of List II – ‘State List’ – in the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution of India, ‘public order’ and ‘police’ are the responsibilities of States, Article 355 of the Constitution enjoins the Union to protect every State against external aggression and internal disturbance and to ensure that the government of every State is carried on in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution.

Under the Government of India (Allocation of Business) Rules, 1961, the Ministry of Home Affairs has the following constituent Departments:

a. Department of Internal Security, dealing with the Indian Police Service, Central Police Forces, internal security and law & order, insurgency, terrorism, naxalism, activities of inimical foreign agencies, rehabilitation, grant of visa and other immigration matters, security clearances, etc.;

b. Department of States, dealing with Centre-State relations, Inter-State relations, administration of Union Territories, Freedom Fighters’ pension, Human rights, Prison Reforms, Police Reforms, etc.;

c. Department of Home, dealing with the notification of assumption of office by the President and Vice-President, notification of appointment/resignation of the Prime Minister, Ministers, Governors, nomination to Rajya Sabha/Lok Sabha, Census of population, registration of births and deaths, etc.;

d. Department of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) Affairs, dealing with the constitutional provisions in respect of the State of Jammu and Kashmir and all other matters relating to the State, excluding those with which the Ministry of External Affairs is concerned;

e. Department of Border Management, dealing with management of international borders, including coastal borders, strengthening of border guarding and creation of related infrastructure, border areas development, etc.; and

f. Department of Official Language, dealing with the implementation of the provisions of the Constitution relating to official languages and the provisions of the Official Languages Act, 1963.