Union Council of Ministers

The Union Council of Ministers exercises executive authority in the Republic of India.[1] It consists of senior ministers, called 'cabinet ministers', junior ministers, called 'ministers of state' and, rarely, deputy ministers. The council is led by the Prime Minister of India.

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A smaller executive body called the Union Cabinet is the supreme decision-making body in India.[2] Only the prime minister and ministers of the rank of cabinet minister are members of the Union Cabinet in accordance with Article 75.

Regulation

Pursuant to Article 75(3), the Council of Ministers is responsible collectively to the lower house of the Indian parliament, called the Lok Sabha (House of the People).[1] When a bill introduced by a minister in the Lok Sabha is not approved by it, the entire council of ministers is responsible and not the minister. The council of ministers upon losing confidence of Lok Sabha shall resign to facilitate new government formation.

A minister shall not take any decision without being considered by the council of ministers per Article 78(c). All union cabinet members shall submit in writing to the President to propose proclamation of emergency by the president in accordance with Article 352.

According to the Constitution of India, the total number of ministers in the council of ministers must not exceed 15% of the total number of members of the Lok Sabha. Ministers must be members of parliament. Any minister who is not a member of either of the houses of the parliament for six consecutive months is automatically stripped off his or her ministerial post.[1]

Ranking

There are five categories of the council of ministers as given below, in descending order of rank:

  • Prime Minister
  • Deputy prime minister (if any); presides as prime minister in his absence or as the senior most cabinet minister.[3]
  • Cabinet minister: member of cabinet; leads a ministry.
  • Minister of state (independent charge): junior minister not reporting to a cabinet minister.
  • Minister of state (MoS): deputy minister reporting to a cabinet minister, usually tasked with a specific responsibility in that ministry.

Appointment

Pursuant to Article 75, a minister who works at the pleasure of president, is appointed by the president on the advice of the prime minister. Since at least the turn of the millennia, evidence indicates that an MP’s electoral performance enhances the likelihood of being granted a ministerial portfolio.[4]

Removal
  • Upon death
  • Upon self resignation
  • Upon dismissal by the President for minister's unconstitutional acts per Article 75(2).[5]
  • Upon direction from the Judiciary for committing violation of law.
  • Upon ceasing eligibility to be a member of Parliament.

Council of Ministers in state governments

Every state in India is governed by its council of ministers with rules and procedures similar to union council of ministers per Articles 163, 164 and 167(c). There is no concept of cabinet rank minister in the council of ministers.

Current Union Council of Ministers

Council portfolios are as follows:[6]

Cabinet Ministers

India cabinet ministers information-2019

PortfolioMinisterTook officeLeft officeParty
Prime Minister
Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions
Department of Atomic Energy
Department of Space
All important policy issues and all other portfolios not allocated to any Minister.		 Narendra Modi30 May 2019IncumbentBJP
Minister of Defence Rajnath Singh30 May 2019IncumbentBJP
Minister of Home Affairs Amit Shah30 May 2019IncumbentBJP
Minister of Finance
Minister of Corporate Affairs		 Nirmala Sitharaman30 May 2019IncumbentBJP
Minister of External Affairs Subrahmanyam Jaishankar30 May 2019IncumbentBJP
Minister of Road Transport and Highways
Minister of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises
 Nitin Gadkari30 May 2019IncumbentBJP
Minister of Textiles
Minister of Women and Child Development		 Smriti Irani30 May 2019IncumbentBJP
Minister of Railways
Minister of Commerce and Industry		 Piyush Goyal30 May 2019IncumbentBJP
Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers D. V. Sadananda Gowda30 May 2019IncumbentBJP
Minister of Tribal Affairs Arjun Munda30 May 2019IncumbentBJP
Minister of Food Processing Industries Harsimrat Kaur Badal30 May 2019IncumbentSAD
Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Ram Vilas Paswan30 May 2019IncumbentLJP
Minister of Law and Justice
Minister of Communications
Minister of Electronics and Information Technology		 Ravi Shankar Prasad30 May 2019IncumbentBJP
Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas
Minister of Steel		 Dharmendra Pradhan30 May 2019IncumbentBJP
Minister of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare
Minister of Rural Developement
Minister of Panchayati Raj		 Narendra Singh Tomar30 May 2019IncumbentBJP
Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment Thawar Chand Gehlot30 May 2019IncumbentBJP
Minister of Human Resource Development Ramesh Pokhriyal30 May 2019IncumbentBJP
Minister of Health and Family Welfare Minister of Science and TechnologyMinister of Earth Sciences Harsh Vardhan30 May 2019IncumbentBJP
Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change
Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Minister of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises		 Prakash Javdekar30 May 2019IncumbentBJP
Minister of Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi30 May 2019IncumbentBJP
Minister of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Mahendra Nath Pandey30 May 2019IncumbentBJP
Minister of Parliamentary Affairs
Minister of Coal
Minister of Mines		 Pralhad Joshi30 May 2019IncumbentBJP
Minister of Jal Shakti Gajendra Singh Shekhawat30 May 2019IncumbentBJP
Minister of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries Giriraj Singh30 May 2019IncumbentBJP
Minister of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises Arvind Sawant30 May 201911 November 2019SS
Reference: Official Government of India publication, 31 May 2019

Ministers of State (Independent Charge)
PortfolioMinisterTook officeLeft officeParty
Minister of State (Independent Charge) of Labour and Employment Santosh Kumar Gangwar30 May 2019IncumbentBJP
Minister of State (Independent Charge) of Statistics and Programme Implementation
Minister of State (Independent Charge) of Planning		 Rao Inderjit Singh30 May 2019IncumbentBJP
Minister of State (Independent Charge) of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (AYUSH)
Minister of State in the Ministry of Defence.		 Shripad Yesso Naik30 May 2019IncumbentBJP
Minister of State (Independent Charge) of Development of North Eastern Region
Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office
Minister of State in the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions
Minister of State in the Department of Atomic Energy
Minister of State in the Department of Space		 Dr. Jitendra Singh30 May 2019IncumbentBJP
Minister of State (Independent Charge) of Youth Affairs and Sports
Minister of State of Minority Affairs		 Kiren Rijiju30 May 2019IncumbentBJP
Minister of State (Independent Charge) of Culture
Minister of State (Independent Charge) of Tourism		 Prahlad Singh Patel30 May 2019IncumbentBJP
Minister of State (Independent Charge) of Power
Minister of State (Independent Charge) of New and Renewable Energy
Minister of State of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship		 Raj Kumar Singh30 May 2019IncumbentBJP
Minister of State (Independent Charge) of Housing and Urban Affairs
Minister of State (Independent Charge) of Civil Aviation
Minister of State of Commerce and Industry		 Hardeep Singh Puri30 May 2019IncumbentBJP
Minister of State (Independent Charge) of Shipping
Minister of State of Chemicals and Fertilizers		 Mansukh L. Mandaviya30 May 2019IncumbentBJP

Ministers of State
PortfolioMinisterTook officeLeft officeParty
Minister of State of Steel Faggan Singh Kulaste30 May 2019IncumbentBJP
Minister of State of Health and Family Welfare Ashwini Kumar Choubey30 May 2019IncumbentBJP
Minister of State of Parliamentary Affairs
Minister of State of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises		 Arjun Ram Meghwal30 May 2019IncumbentBJP
Minister of State of Road Transport and Highways V. K. Singh30 May 2019IncumbentBJP
Minister of State of Social Justice and Empowerment Krishan Pal Gurjar30 May 2019IncumbentBJP
Minister of State of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Raosaheb Danve30 May 2019IncumbentBJP
Minister of State of Home Affairs G. Kishan Reddy30 May 2019IncumbentBJP
Minister of State of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Parshottam Rupala30 May 2019IncumbentBJP
Minister of State of Social Justice and Empowerment Ramdas Athawale30 May 2019IncumbentRPI(A)
Minister of State of Rural Development Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti30 May 2019IncumbentBJP
Minister of State of Environment, Forest and Climate Change Babul Supriyo30 May 2019IncumbentBJP
Minister of State of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries Sanjeev Kumar Balyan30 May 2019IncumbentBJP
Minister of State of Human Resource Development
Minister of State of Communications
Minister of State of Electronics and Information Technology		 Sanjay Shamrao Dhotre30 May 2019IncumbentBJP
Minister of State of Finance
Minister of State of Corporate Affairs		 Anurag Thakur30 May 2019IncumbentBJP
Minister of State of Railways Suresh Angadi30 May 2019IncumbentBJP
Minister of State of Home Affairs Nityanand Rai30 May 2019IncumbentBJP
Minister of State of Jal Shakti
Minister of State of Social Justice and Empowerment		 Rattan Lal Kataria30 May 2019IncumbentBJP
Minister of State of External Affairs
Minister of State of Parliamentary Affairs		 V. Muraleedharan30 May 2019IncumbentBJP
Minister of State of Tribal Affairs Renuka Singh30 May 2019IncumbentBJP
Minister of State of Commerce and Industry Som Parkash30 May 2019IncumbentBJP
Minister of State of Food Processing Industries Rameswar Teli30 May 2019IncumbentBJP
Minister of State of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises
Minister of State of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries		 Pratap Chandra Sarangi30 May 2019IncumbentBJP
Minister of State of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Kailash Choudhary30 May 2019IncumbentBJP
Minister of State of Women and Child Development Debasree Chaudhuri30 May 2019IncumbentBJP

See also

References
  1. Wikisource:Constitution of India/Part V#Article 74 .7BCouncil of Ministers to aid and advise President.7D
  2. Wikisource:Constitution of India/Part XVIII
  3. Rajendran, S. (13 July 2012). "Of Deputy Chief Ministers and the Constitution". The Hindu. Bangalore. ISSN 0971-751X. OCLC 13119119. Archived from the original on 1 February 2018. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
  4. Ladwig III, Walter C. (23 December 2019). "Executive Particularism and Ministerial Selection in India". Legislative Studies Quarterly. Department of Political Science at Washington University in St. Louis. 44 (4). doi:10.1111/lsq.12261.
  5. "Origin and Scope of Doctrine of Pleasure in India". Archived from the original on 26 April 2016. Retrieved 7 May 2016.
  6. "Who Gets What: Cabinet Portfolios Announced. Full List Here". NDTV.com. Archived from the original on 31 May 2019. Retrieved 31 May 2019.
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