Ajit Doval stays on as NSA for Modi's second term, now with Cabinet rank

In his first tenure, Doval is credited with leading India's response in the wake of the Uri terror attack in September 2016, particularly the subsequent 'surgical strike', and the Balakot air strike

Ajit Kumar Doval will be India’s National Security Advisor, or NSA, for another five-year term — only this time he will get the rank of a Cabinet minister.

In his first term as the NSA, Doval had the rank of a minister of state, although his influence on the Narendra Modi government’s internal security decision making and foreign relations, particularly with its immediate neighbourhood, far exceeded that of the respective Cabinet ministers who held the portfolios of home and external affairs.

The Modi government on Monday said the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet, in an order dated June 2, has approved of