Indian Defence Accounts Service

IDAS [Indian Defence Accounts Service]

Service Overview
Abbreviation	IDAS
Formed	1747:inception of Military accounts department with appointment of Military pay master & henceforth designated Military Accounts General; 1951 : re-christened defence accounts department; oldest department / service under Government of India
Country	India
Training Grounds	Foundation-course at various designated academies allocated by LBSNAA-Mussourie, NIFM ( faridabad) , NADFM ( pune) plus attachments at institutes of national importance / PSU's /autonomous establishments and at international institutes / organisations.In 2013 , IDAS probationers had an International-attachment at university of california , riverside, USA.In previous years it has been to UK etc.
Controlling Authority	Ministry of Defence(Finance Division)placed upon allocation by DoP&T
Legal personality	Governmental:Central Group 'A' Civil-service,officers recruited on basis of yearly competitive Civil Services Exam conducted by UPSC, former connotations : IAS- ALLIED
General-nature	Integrated / Internal Financial advisers, Budget formulation / management ,Financial managers in defence procurements /planning , Integrated advisers ( foreign defence procurements ), payments ,accounting & Audit Project management Materials management Production planning and control Quality control />Supplies management
FADS Current: Shri S S Mohanty	CGDA Current:Ms. Shobhana Joshi
Head of the Civil Services
	Cabinet Secretary Current: Shri Pradeep Kumar Sinha

The Indian Defence Accounts Service [IDAS] [ Hindi: भारतीय रक्षा लेखा सेवा ]is a group "A" gazetted central civil-service of the government of india [formerly referred to as IAS-ALLIED] ,the parent department being the Defence Accounts Department [DAD], It is the oldest department under the government of india.

The officers of the service being yearly recruited through the highly prestigious & grueling civil services examination [CSE] conducted by the Union Public Service Commission [UPSC]; IDAS officers are gazetted-Defence civilian officers under the Ministry of Defence, finance division.The officers are drawn from diverse academic and professional disciplines such as financial management, accountancy, costing, law, engineering, economics, humanities etc.The officers attend specially designed programmes during probation - in India and abroad and in mid-career levels at suitable intervals which deal with various aspects of risk assessment , performance output , outcome oriented results and cost-effective methodologies .besides , Conferences and Workshops , plus the guest lectures delivered by / participated -in by senior officers are held periodically to discuss the problems faced/envisioned and to find solutions to them.

IDAS officers are key -advisers and financial managers during acquisitions . procurements , licensing , service warranties etc. of weapon systems /platforms , transfer of technology [TOT]with foreign countries or under domestic - production .they're integral part of such processes & committees and render valuable advise and alternatives for meeting policy objectives and goals . The officers manage the biggest budget-allocation in the government of india ,that being of defence -forces , in the Budget year 2014-15- it was of roughly 2. 46 lakh crore rupees.

-Working at the cutting-edge of technology in various Ordnance factories & being a pivot at defence PSU - defence establishment interface and financial prudence -IDAS officers carry the mantle and mandate of utilising country's resources with the optimal upkeep of defence preparedness and mitigating security concerns .

Owing to the experience in various facets of personnel-administration , financial management ,payments ,accounting & audits , risk-analysis & financial projection /oversight , project monitoring and performance outcome audit & with an added advantage of being in-know of the fine symbiotics of defence services and the civilian bureaucracy - The IDAS officers have been in high demand both within and outside the country in various ministries /Rashtrapati Bhawan sectt./ PMO /University of delhi & other universities/academic institutes etc./cabinet sectt./ passport offices / UIDAI / autonomous bodies /PSU's & international organisations such as the IMF , WTO , ICAO etc.IDAS officers have had their representations at the permanent mission of India in UK [PMI-UK] & Permanent Mission of India in USA [PMI-USA]

It was an IDAS officer Mrs Vijalakshmi k Gupta who headed the Inter-Ministerial Committee that finalized the design of the auction of 3G Spectrum in May, 2010 that yielded an unprecedented revenue of more than Rs. 1.06 lakh crore to the public exchequer, far in excess of the reserve price of Rs. 35,000 crores. From September 2005 to November 2008 she was the Financial Advisor to the Commonwealth Games 2010 Organizing Committee, responsible for budget formulation, expenditure control, financial reforms, manpower planning and risk management among others.

Shri Amit Cowshish, stands as another distinct columnist & distinguished fellow at IDSA who regularly contributes on issues related to plethora of affairs related to finance, acquisitions, foreign policy, budgeting etc.

Many IDAS officers have also placed their services in R&AW - the premier external intelligence agency of India in various capacities. They are also placed on secondment/deputations to Union/State Governments with officers having worked /working with political executives in various capacities .

IDAS are part of the United Nations Peace Keeping forces and ordained with equivalent – uniformed service designation while serving the peace contingents deployed there-in.

The Defence Accounts department has a variety of work opportunities and environments: It serves the three Defence Services, DRDO, Border Road Organisation, Coast Guards, ordnance factories and other inter-services organisations, besides conducting audit functions of the Cantonment Boards, etc.

-The Controller General of Defence Accounts [CGDA]is the Head of the Indian Defence Accounts Service and functions as internal Financial Adviser and Chief Accounts Officer to the three Services Chiefs. The DAD comes out every year with the internal audit reports which along with the reports of C&AG help in maintaining the financial-risk based assessment & providing timely, assuring actions to the public at large for the judicious use of government-moneys.

An IDAS officer starts his career as assistant -controller /deputy integrated financial adviser [deputy IFA] in various set-ups viz. army, navy, air force, coast-guards, border roads, PAO's etc. or as assistant-controller- general at CGDA HQs. Additionally IDAS officers also hold posts of assistant- controller of factories at various ordnance factories. Further promotions lie in order of Deputy Controllers->Joint Controllers->Additional Controllers->Controllers ->Principal-Controllers/Additional Controller-general ->Controller-Genera[CGDA]-> Financial Adviser to Defence Services [FADS]<-upon empanelment as Secretary->Secretary [finance],Ministry of Defence .

Apart from it, the Financial adviser-defence services[FADS] holds a Secretary to Government of India-equivalent post which is a unique feature of this setup, S/He is responsible for all administrative reforms / overall cadre structure of the department and is the leading interactive face of the department with the ministry /ministries ;whereas the Controller-General of Defence Accounts [ CGDA ] exercises internal administrative day-to-day functions of department.

An added distinction of IDAS is the fast pace of their promotions which tad-compares their counterparts in All India Services and IA&AS giving its officers opportunity to reach higher echeleons of seniority- viz, joint secretary , additional secretary etc. than many other Group -A services.

See also

• Civil Services of India
• All India Service

References

1:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E58ROJWRMo8

2:http://cgda.nic.in/pdf/pink.pdf

3:http://kvsangathan.nic.in/topofficer.aspx

4:http://www.indiatourismreview.com/news/major-reshuffle-aviation-ministry-soon

5:http://www.imsc.res.in/~office/rti/Annexure1dec2013.pdf

6:http://pib.nic.in/newsite/erelease.aspx?relid=52964

7:http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/amit-cowshish-the-mod-is-not-a-holy-cow/1/239828.html

8:http://events.spguidepublications.com/DPP

9:http://www.defstrat.com/exec/frmArticleDetails.aspx?DID=423

10:http://www.janes.com/article/32034/indian-mod-starts-recovering-funds-after-aw101-deal-cancellation

11:http://www.indiastrategic.in/topstories968.htm

12:http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2010-11-04/india/28232434_1_defence-land-land-directorates-defence-estates

13:http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/india/budget.htm

14:http://www.indianbuzz.com/description?newsId=MTM2MTQ=