Tag: #cabinet

Cabinet Reshuffle

With number of changes taking place in the country in recent times, one of a major change is taken place in the union cabinet. The Modi government had introduced new members in the council giving rise to a whole new cabinet of ministers for different departments on July,7th 2021. The total members counted as 43 among which 36 are new faces and 12 had been dropped out from the cabinet which includes, Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, IT and Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and I&B Minister Prakash Javadekar, and brought Sarbananda Sonowal, Narayan Rane, Jyotiraditya Scindia and others. Many prime ministers all over the world have been known to have sacrificed this or that ministerial pawn in order to cover up their own leadership failure. Harsh Vardhan’s departure is as close an admission of governmental floundering as prime ministerial hubris would allow.

The new department of cooperation is granted to our home minister Amit Shah. New list is as follows-

Rajnath Singh: Defence Minister, Nitin Gadkari: Road Transport and Highways Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman: Finance Minister, Corporate Affairs Minister, Narendra Singh Tomar: Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Minister, S Jaishankar: External Affairs Minister, Arjun Munda: Tribal Affairs Minister, Smriti Irani: Women and Child Welfare Minister, Piyush Goyal: Commerce & Industry Minister, Consumer Affairs Minister, Food & Public Distribution Minister, Textiles Minister, Dharmendra Pradhan: Education Minister, Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Minister, Pralhad Joshi: Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Coal Minister, Mines Minister, Narayan Rane: Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Minister, Sarbananda Sonowal: Ports, Shipping and Waterways Minister, AYUSH Minister, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi: Minority Affairs Minister, Dr Virendra Kumar: Social Justice and Empowerment Minister, Giriraj Singh: Rural Development Minister, Panchayati Raj Minister, Jyotiraditya Scindia: Civil Aviation Minister, Ramchandra Prasad Singh: Steel Minister, Ashwini Vaishnaw: Railways Minister, Communication Minister, Electronics & IT Minister, Pashu Pati Kumar Paras: Food Processing Industries Minister, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat: Jal Shakti Minister, Kiren Rijiju: Law & Justice Minister, Raj Kumar Singh: Power Minister, New & Renewable Energy Minister, Hardeep Singh Puri: Petroleum & Natural Gas Minister, Housing & Urban Affairs Minister, Mansukh Mandaviya: Health and Family Welfare Minister, Chemicals & Fertilisers Minister, Bhupender Yadav: Environment, Forest & Climate Change Minister, Labour & Employment Minister, Mahendra Nath Pandey: Heavy Industries Minister, Parshottam Rupala: Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying Minister, G Kishan Reddy: Culture Minister, Tourism Minister, Minister for Development of Northeast, Anurag Thakur: Information & Broadcasting Minister, Sports & Youth Affairs Minister. Other 28 will hold the charge as Ministers of State.

This new cabinet marked a starting of new journey not only in terms of development but also along with growth with social equality as the members itself are chosen from different social backgrounds including, 12 ministers from Scheduled Caste communities from states such as Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal. Two of them are likely to be Cabinet ministers. From the Scheduled Tribe communities, eight representatives from Arunachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Assam, and Madhya Pradesh are inducted. Three of these are Cabinet ministers. Also, 19 members from Other Backward Class (OBC) communities. 11 women members had aslo been accomodated giving rise to women empowerment.

According to people aware of the details, the selection of ministers has also been done with the intent of bringing on-board people with administrative experience as the government has faced criticism including over the state of the economy, job crisis, rising prices, and the response to the second Covid-19 wave.

Indian cabinet

Council of ministers 

The Constitution of India provides for a parliamentary system of government or Cabinet form of government modelled on the British pattern, the council of ministers headed by the prime minister is the real executive authority. 

Salient Features of Cabinet form of government

•Dual executive: There are two executives – the real executive and the Nominal executive. 

•Nominal executive is the head of state (president)   

•Real executive is the head of government (Prime minister)

•The party with the greatest representation forms the government

•Dual Membership – ministers are members of both legislature and executive 

•Collective Responsibility- PM and his council of ministers are collectively responsible to the Loksabha

The word Cabinet has not been mentioned anywhere in the constitution except in Article 352. Instead, the constitution gave detailed provisions regarding Council of ministers  

•Art 74 

◆There shall be a Council of Ministers with the Prime Minister at the head to aid and advise the President who shall, in the exercise of his functions, act in accordance with such advice

◆The advice tendered by Ministers to the President shall not be inquired into in any court

●Art 75

Appointment: The Prime Minister shall be appointed by the President and the other Ministers shall be appointed by the President on the advice of the Prime Minister

  A person who is not a member of either House of Parliament can also be appointed as a minister. But, within 6 months, he must become a member of either House of Parliament, otherwise, he ceases to be a minister

EXAMPLE : Recent example of Uttarakhand CM

Strength: The total number of ministers, including the Prime Minister, in the Council of Ministers shall not exceed 15% of the total strength of the LokSabha. This provision was added by the 91st Amendment Act of 2003

Tenure: The ministers shall hold office during the pleasure of the President

Collective responsibility: The council of ministers shall be collectively responsible to the LokSabha

Every minister shall have the right to speak and take part in the proceedings of either House, any joint sitting of the Houses and any Committee of Parliament of which he may be named a member. But he shall not be entitled to vote.

Composition of the Council of ministers:

●The council of ministers consists of three categories of ministers are 

     1. Cabinet ministers

       2.Ministers of state  

     3.  Deputy ministers

The difference between them lies in their respective ranks, emoluments, and political importance

Cabinet ministers head the important ministries of the Central government like home, defence, finance, external affairs, and they play an important role in deciding policies.

Ministers of state are attached to cabinet ministers and they work under the guidance of cabinet ministers. However, MoS can also be given independent charge of the Ministry. They are not members of the cabinet and do not attend the cabinet meetings unless specially invited.

Deputy Ministers-Next in rank are the deputy ministers. They are not given independent charge of ministries but are attached to the cabinet ministers or ministers of state and assist them in their administrative, political, and parliamentary duties. They are not members of the cabinet and do not attend cabinet meetings.

parliamentary secretaries- They are the members of the last category of the council of ministers. They have no department under their control. They are attached to the senior ministers and assist them in the discharge of their parliamentary duties.

According to the Transaction of Business rules (1961), Prime Minister can constitute cabinet committees for smooth functioning of business of the government.

At present there are 8 Cabinet committees

•Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs

•Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs

•Cabinet committee on Appointments

•Cabinet Committee on Security

•Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs

•Cabinet Committee on Accommodation

•Cabinet committee on Investment

•Cabinet committee on Employment and skill development

Cabinet secretariat:

The Cabinet Secretariat facilitates smooth transaction of business in Ministries/ Departments through enforcement of Transaction of Business Rules, 1961.  The Secretariat assists in decision-making in Government by ensuring Inter-Ministerial coordination. Cabinet Secretariat also provide secretarial assistance to Cabinet committees