The task force will be chaired by former Union defence minister K C Pant and will have as its members Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission Jaswant Singh and Director of the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses Jasjit Singh, who is also the convenor.

An official spokesman said the brief of the task force is to ``work out the Constitutional role and function'' of the NSC. The idea of a National Security Council was first mooted by the V P Singh Government in 1990. It was part of the then Janata Dal's election manifesto, and was rooted in the fiascos associated with India's foreign and security policies during the 1980s. Two meetings were held during its short-lived tenure but after the Government fell, the proposal was quietly buried.

The few members who attended those meetingsincluded Arun Singh, Minister of State for Defence under Rajiv Gandhi, K Subrahmanyam, the former Chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee and the then Director Intelligence Bureau, M K Narayanan.

During the Narasimha Rao government's tenure, much pressure was mounted to revive the body. In a debate on the issue in 1993, Rao had spoken extensively on whether India needed a National Security Council or not. He made it clear that he did not favour the idea as India already had structures to deal with security issues.

It has been revived now, having featured featured prominently in the last two election manifestos of the BJP. The BJP has a strong interest in national security issues and has repeatedly stressed the need for a clear-cut security policy for the country.

One of the primary aims of the task force will be to define the relationship between the NSC and the governmental departments that deal with issues affecting India's security environment. The broad reach of this body will also include coreministries like Defence, External Affairs, Home, the Intelligence agencies, and departments like Science and Technology and the Atomic Energy Commission.

The major concern of the task force is going to be delineating the responsibilities between the NSC secretariat and that of the JIC, for there are certain overlapping functions between the two.

The spokesman said the task force has been asked to submit its recommendations in the shortest time possible.