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IN THE COUNTRY

Historical Background

1. In a Government resolution dated 07 Sep 1919, the then Government of India suspended the functioning of the Central Recruiting Board and at its place a new Board was established called the Indian Soldiers' Board to advise on matters affecting the interest of serving, discharged and deceased Indian Soldiers and non‑combatants and their dependents. Due to steady expansion of the Navy and Air Force during the second World War, the need for a single organisation to perform the same functions in relation to all the three services was felt and the Board was consequently reconstituted in 1944.

2. In March 1951, it was renamed as the Indian Soldiers’, Sailors’ and Airmen’s Board. The designation of the Board was changed to the Kendriya Sainik Board in 1975. This Board functions under the Ministry of Defence as an Inter‑Service Organisation. The Secretariat was placed under direct administrative control of Director General Resettlement from 18 Apr 1982.

3. Though welfare of the ex-servicemen and their dependents is the joint responsibility of the Centre and the State/UTs, however, majority of the problems have to be resolved only by the States/UTs. To assist the State Governments in this regard, there are 32 Rajya Sainik Boards (Appendix ‘A) and 340 Zila Sainik Boards in the country. The expenditure on these is shared between the Centre and the States/UTs on 50:50 basis. Like the Kendriya Sainik Board at the Centre, the Rajya/Zila Sainik Boards are responsible for policy formulation and implementation of resettlement and welfare schemes for ex-servicemen, widows and their dependents residing in States/UTs.

Organisation

4. The inter‑relationship between the various Deptts in the Central Organisation and the State and Zila Organisation are outlined in the following chart: ‑