Prime Minister and Council of Ministers

According to Article 74 of the Constitution, there is a Council of Ministers, headed by the Prime Minister, to advise and advise the President on his work. 

According to Article 75 of the Constitution, the President will be appointed by the Prime Minister and other ministers will be appointed by the President on the advice of the Prime Minister.  The word Prime Minister has been used 4 times in the Indian Constitution.  (Articles 74, 75, 78, 352)

To become a member of the Council of Ministers, it is statutorily required that the person be a member of any House of Parliament.  If a person is not a Member of Parliament at the time of becoming a Minister, it is mandatory to make him a Member of Parliament within 6 months, otherwise he will have to leave his post.

Before assuming office, every minister including the Prime Minister has to take oath of office and secrecy before the President.  The Prime Minister submits his resignation to the President.

 The term of the Prime Minister is for 5 years.

There are 3 types of ministers – Cabinet ministers, Ministers of State and Deputy Ministers. All ministers, ministers of state and deputy ministers get free residency and other facilities.

The Cabinet Minister is the head of the department.  The cabinet would have been formed by including the Prime Minister and the Cabinet Minister.

The Council of Ministers is composed of the Prime Minister, the Cabinet Minister, the Minister of State and the Deputy Minister.

The President of the Council of Ministers is the Prime Minister.

Apart from ministers, other members of the House are called Non-Official members.  The Council of Ministers is collectively responsible to the Lok Sabha.

The Prime Minister is the main link of dialogue between the President and the Council of Ministers.  (Article – 78)

The cabinet is mentioned only once in the constitution.  Article – 352 (3) [44 Constitution  Amendment was added by 1978]

There is no difference between the Cabinet and the Council of Ministers in terms of powers and functions.  The executive and the cabinet are responsible for presenting the budget in Parliament.

The Prime Minister is the leader of the Lok Sabha.  He advises the President to summon and suspend the session.  He may at any time recommend to the President to dissolve the Lok Sabha.

On the basis of the advice of the Prime Minister, the Lok Sabha can be dissolved by the President.Earlier it has been done 8 times till date (1970, 1977, 1979, 1984, 1989, 1991, 1997 1999).

The Prime Minister is the ex-officio Chairman of NITI Aayog (National Institute of Transforming India), National Development Council, National Integration Council, Inter-State Council, National Water Resources Council, CSI (Council of Scientific and Industrial Research) and NDMA (National Disaster Management Authority).

Ex-officio: Whenever a person takes up a post, he will also become the president of other post as well, except him no one else can hold that post.

The Cabinet Secretariat functions under the Prime Minister.

The Prime Minister advises the President on the appointment of various officials such as – Attorney General of India, Comptroller and Auditor General of India, President of Union Public Service Commission, Election Commissioner, Chairman of Finance Commission and other officers.

The Prime Minister may advise a Minister to resign or advice the President to dismissed the Ministers

Prime Minister has given any advice to the President or not and what advice has been given.   On this matter cannot be investigated in any court, but on what grounds this advice was given, it can be investigated in the court.

He presides over the Council of Ministers meeting and may resign from his post and dismiss the cabinet.

Note: The Prime Minister is the head of the Council of Ministers.  Therefore, when the Prime Minister resigns or dies, other ministers cannot do any work.  In other words, the Council of Ministers disintegrates by the death or resignation of the Prime Minister and a void is created.

If the Lok Sabha passes a motion of No confidence against any one minister or cancels a bill relating to that Minister’s department, the entire cabinet has to resign.

Jawaharlal Nehru has the longest tenure as prime minister.  He held his post for a total of 16 years, 9 months, 13 days.  (16 years, 286 days).

Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the shortest serving Prime Minister (just 13 days).

Jagjivan Ram was the longest serving cabinet minister, who served in the Union Cabinet for almost 32 years.

The longest serving Union minister was Rajkumari Amrit Kaur.

Indira Gandhi became the first woman Prime Minister of the country.  She was the only one  who was the Prime Minister in two different periods.

When Indira Gandhi became Prime Minister for the first time, she was a member of Rajya Sabha.

3 Prime Ministers died during his term of office. 

Jawaharlal Nehru

Lal Bahadur Shastri and Indira Gandhi

Lal Bahadur Shastri died on 11 January 1966 in Tashkent outside India.

Morarji Desai became the oldest and Rajiv Gandhi became the youngest Prime Minister.

Rajiv Gandhi became Prime Minister at the age of 40.

Morarji Desai became Prime Minister at the age of 81.

Morarji Desai was the first non-Congress Prime Minister.

Morarji Desai was the first Prime Minister to resign from the post of Prime Minister.  Chaudhary Charan Singh was the prime minister who never faced the Lok Sabha during his tenure. 

Vishwanath Pratap Singh was the first Prime Minister to be removed by a motion of No confidence.

P.  V.  Narasimha Rao was not a member of either House at the time of assuming office. 

Rajya Sabha member who became Prime Minister:

1.  Indira Gandhi: 1966 – 67

2.  H.  D.  Dev Gowda: 1996 – 97

3.  I.  K.  Gujral: 1997 – 98

4.  Dr Manmohan Singh: 2004 – 14

Prime Minister of India

 1. Jawaharlal Nehru (15. 08. 1947 – 27. 05. 1964)

 2. Lal Bahadur Shastri (09. 06. 1964 – 11. 01. 1966)

 3. Indira Gandhi (24. 01. 1966 – 24. 03. 1977)

 4. Morarji Desai (24. 03. 1977 – 28. 07. 1979)

 5. Chaudhary Charan Singh (28. 07. 1979 – 14. 01. 1980)

 6. Indira Gandhi (14. 01. 1980 – 31. 10. 1984)

 7. Rajiv Gandhi (31. 10. 1984 – 02. 12. 1989)

 8. Vishwanath Pratap Singh (02. 12. 1989 – 10. 11. 1990)

 9. Chandrasekhar (10. 11. 1990 – 21. 06. 1991)

 10. P.  V.  Narasimhan (21. 06. 1991 – 16. 05. 1996)

 11. Atal Bihari Vajpayee (16.05 1996 – 01. 06. 1996)

 12. H.  D.  Devgowda (01. 06. 1996 – 21. 04. 1997)

 13. I.  K.  Gujral (21. 04. 1997 – 19. 03. 1998)

 14. Atal Bihari Vajpayee (19. 03. 1998 – 13. 10. 1999)

 15. Atal Bihari Vajpayee (13. 10. 1999 – 22. 05. 2004)

 16. Dr Manmohan Singh (22. 05. 2004 – 26. 05. 2014)

 17. Narendra Modi (26.05.2014 – Till Date)

Some important facts related to Prime Minister

For the establishment of Cabinet PM makes departments

PM do not take any recommendation from anyone regarding the distribution of department

The PM ‘s right is completely discriminative in relation to the formation of the cabinet

Till now -14 PM

1^st PM – J.L. Nehru

14^th PM – Narendra Modi

Among 14 only 1 woman had become PM Indira Gandhi

Till now only 1 had become Sikh PM Manmohan Singh

No Muslim had become PM till now.

No Christian had become PM till now

No Dalit had become PM till now

Currently among those 14,3 are live –

1. H.D. Devgowda
2. Manmohan Singh
3. Narendra Modi

Till now among 11 Prime Minister who are dead ,9 died in India and 1 in foreign

Among those 11, 3 died on his post

1. J.L. Nehru
2. Indira Gandhi
3. Lal Bahadur Shastri

Oldest PM – Morarji Desai

Youngest PM – Rajiv Gandhi

Among 14 till now 10 PM were from Lok Sabha & 4 are from Rajya Sabha

1. Indira Gandhi
2. H.D. Devgowda
3. Inder Kumar Gujral
4. Manmohan Singh

Indira Gandhi is the only PM till now who became PM by the membership of both houses

1^st time – 1966 -RS

2^nd time – 1967 – by winning elections from Rai Bareli LS member

PM who remained for the longest time continuously – J.L. Nehru (16 years 286 days)

PM who remained for the shortest time continuously – A.B. Vajpayee (13days)

Ch. Charan Singh is the only who had not faced LS

PV Narasimha Rao while accepting the post of PM or becoming PM, was neither the member of LS not RS

HD Devgowda was the member of RS while becoming PM and later on he became member of LS

PM who presented budget being on post –

1. J.L. Nehru
2. Indira Gandhi
3. Rajeev Gandhi

Some more important points

In the Constitution of India, Presidential achievement is written in place of President’s salary.

The President can issue an ordinance in only those matters in which parliament can make law. If issuing an ordinance is not Good will than a challenge can be made in the court

Referendum is not mentioned in the amendment of the constitution

Lok Sabha

• No opposition leader from 1952 -1969
• No opposition leader from 1970 -1977
• No opposition leader from 1979 -1989
• No opposition leader from 2015-2019
• No opposition leader from 2019-2023

Some Prominent Secretaries of India

• Secretary to the president – Kapil Dev Tripathi
• Principal Secretary to PM – P.K. Mishra
• Private Secretary to PM – Vivek Kumar
• Cabinet Secretary of India – Rajiv Gauba
• Home Secretary of India – Ajay Kumar Bhalla
• Finance Secretary of India – Ajay Bhushan Pandey
• Defence Secretary of India – Ajay Kumar
• Foreign Secretary of India – Harsh Vardhan Shringla
• Minority Affair Secretary – Pramod Kumar Das
• National Security Affairs – Ajeet Doval

Secretaries of Finance Ministry

• Economic Affairs – Atanu Chakraborty
• Finance Secretary – Ajay Bhushan Pandey
• Finance Services Secretary – Debasish Panda
• DIPAM Secretary – Tuhin Kant Pandey

DIPAM (Department of investment & public asset management)

Prime Minister of India :-

14 people had become PM till now

J.L. Nehru

1. Birth – 14 Nov.1889
2. Death – 27 May 1964 (New Delhi) due to cardiac arrest
3. Father – Motilal Nehru
4. Mother – Swarup Rani
5. Wife – Kamal Devi
6. Sister – Vijay Luxmi Pandit Krishna Hastings
7. From 1953-1954 she was head of general assembly of UNO
8. First women Head/Chairman of UNO
9. 1962-1964 – Governor of Maharashtra
10. 1967-1971- Governor of MP
11. In 1937 she was  public health minister
12. First women to become Cabinet Minister in British India
13. Sitaram Pandit was her husband
14. J.L. Nehru is the longest living leader of the PM (16 years 286 days)
15. Prime Minister who was the most flagging flag on the red fort
16. First PM who died on his post
17. First PM who presented budget on his post
18. First PM who got Bharat Ratna on his post
19. First PM against whom no confidence motion was applied but that wasn’t passed
20. India’s first common elections were held at the time of J.L. Nehru (1951-1952)
21. First five years planning was started in 1951 in his time.
22. Planning Commission (1950) & National development council (1952) both were established during the era of J.L. Nehru
23. Nationalisation of RBI was also done in his era on 1 Jan 1949
24. On 2 oct.1959 Panchayati Raj in Nagaur(Rajasthan) was started by J.L. Nehru
25. Indian space program was started in the era of J.L. Nehru in 1962
26. After Modi he was the PM who gave speech for the longest time on Red Fort
27. Presidential rule was also applied in his time for the 1^st time in 1962 and also emergency
28. Panchsheel   Agreement was concluded on 29 April 1954between India and China.

Lal Bahadur Shastri

• Birth – 2 Oct. 1904 (Varanasi,UP)
• Death – 11 Jan.1966 (Tashkand, Uzbekistan)
• Party – INC
• 2^nd PM of Country
• India’s one & only PM who died outside the country
• In 1965, Indo -Pak fight was also happened during this era
• He gave the slogan Jai Jawan -Jai Kisan in 1965
• Awarded by Bharat Ratna posthumously
• India’s 3^rd Railway Minister (1952-1956)
• 2^nd PM who died on his post
• 1^st PM who take blame of railway accident on himself and resigned

Gulzari Lal Nanda

• Birth – 4 July 1898
• Death -15 Jan 1998(Ahmedabad Gujarat)
• Party -INC
• India’s 1^st &only acting PM
• He became acting PM for 2 times but couldn’t become PM
• Awarded by Bharat Ratna
• Gulzari Lal Nanda Museum is in Kurukshetra.

Indira Gandhi

• Birth -19Nov.1917 (Allahabad, UP)
• Death -31 Oct.1984 (Delhi)
• Husband -Firoz Gandhi
• On 19 Nov. World Toilet Day is celebrated
• On 31 Oct. National Integration Day is celebrated
• India’s first women PM
• First lady who was awarded by ‘Bharat Ratan’
• India’s first women who was Home Minister,Finance Minister, Defence Minister, Foreign Minister& Information Broadcasting Minister
• She remained as PM approx about 15 years
• 2^nd longest term PM
• After Nehru she was the PM who hoisted National Flag on Red Fort for Maximum time
• India’s 3^rd PM who died on her post
• India’s 1^st PM who was killed
• She was killed by her bodyguard on 31 Oct 1984 and the reason behind her death is considered to be ‘operation blue’.
• This operation was started on 3 June -8June 1984 to take out Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and his colleagues who were hidden in the Golden Temple
• India’s 2^nd and 3^rd emergency rule was applied during her tenure

Shimla agreement also took place during her time

B/w India -Pak

B/w India’s PM Indira Gandhi & Pakistan PM Julifikar Ali Bhutto

• On 19 July 1969, Indira Ghandhi Nationalised 14 big banks
• On 15 April 1980 Indira Gandhi Nationalised 6 big banks
• She slammed ‘ Garibi Hatao’
• Max. time Non – Confidence Motion was brought against her (15 times)
• She was given ‘Bangladesh Independence Award’ posthumously in 2011.
• India’s longest Lok Sabha was in her time
• Also called Iron lady of India
• India’s 1^st PM who was PM from both houses i.e.  LS and RS
• India’s 1^st Atomic Test was done in her time

Hottest place – Jaisalmer

Coldest place – Leh

The above operation was done on the day of 'Budh   Purnima' That’s why it is called 'Operation Smiling Buddha'

• In 1980 Bharat Ratna was again started. India’s biggest Constitutional amendment was done in her time
• Indira Gandhi made ‘Tiger’ National Animal at the place of ‘Lion’ in 1972
• In 1973 project Tiger was started in her time
• India’s 1st Lok Sabha was dissoluted in her time

Morarji  Desai :-

• Birth – 29 Feb 1896 (Bombay)
• Death – 10 April 1995 (Mumbai)10 T
• Party – Janta party
• India’s 1^st Non Congress PM
• 1^st PM who resigned while holding office
• 44^th Constitutional amendment in 1978 was done during this time
• First PM to become PM from Finance Minister
• Oldest PM (81 years)
• Removal of Right to property from fundamental rights & then addition of that into the legal right was also done in his time.
• Till now ,there are 4 such finance minister who become prime minister later –
• Morarji Desai
• Ch. Charan Singh
• V.P. Singh
• Manmohan Singh
• The record of presenting budget for maximum times is of him (10 times)
• India’s one & only PM to present budget on his Birthday (2 times)
• 1 he was awarded by ‘Bharat Ratna’
• In 1990 he was awarded by Nishan – e – Pakistan award that is Pakistan’s biggest Award
• India’s only person who got the biggest Award of India
• In 1977 Padam Awards & Bharat Ratna were closed Morarji left as PM & Deputy PM of India
• He is the only PM on whose time 2 Deputy PM had worked

Ch. Charan Singh and Jag Jivan Rai

Ch. Charan Singh

• Birth – 23 Dec. 1909(U.P.)
• Death – 29 May 1987(Delhi)
• Party – Janta Party
• He belonged to Congress
• His birthday is celebrated as Farmer’s day
• He has also been PM & Deputy PM
• India’s one & only PM who never faced Lok Sabha

Rajeev Gandhi

• Birth – 20 August
• Death – 21 May 1991
• Party – INC
• His birthday -National Goodwill Day
• Youngest PM (40) years
• India’s 1^st PM in whose time there was no leader in the opposition
• 52^nd Constitutional amendment was also in his time regarding party defection
• In 1991 he was awarded by Bharat Ratna posthumously
• India’s biggest sports awards are given on his name.

Vishavnath Partap Singh

• Birth – 25 June 1931
• Death – 27 Nov.2008
• Party – Jan Morcha
• India’s first PM who was removed by no confidence motion

Chandershekhar

• Birth – 1 July 1927 (Balia,UP)
• Death – 8 July 2007 (Delhi)
• Party – Samajwadi Janta party

 PV Narasimha Rao

• Birth – 28 June 1921 (Telangana)
• Death – 23 Dec.2004 (Delhi)
• Party – INC
• The policy of liberalisation was adopted in his time
• Finance Minister in his time was Manmohan Singh (1991 -1996)

Father of Liberalisation

 A.B. Vajpayee

Father of Economics

• Birth – 25 Dec.1924 (Gwalior MP)
• Death –16 August 2018
• Party – BJP
• India’s 1^st completely Non – Congress PM. PM for shortest time (13 days)
• India’s 2^nd atomic test was done in his time 1 May 1998 (Pokhran, Jaisalmer, Rajasthan)
• He is awarded by Bharat Ratna in 2015
• His birthday is celebrated as National Good Governance Day
• 1999’s Kargil war was held in his time 26 July – Kargil day
• 86^th Constitutional amendment was done in his time

In this education for child from 6-14 years was made free & compulsory

H.D. Devgoda

• Birth – 18 May 1933
• Party – Janta party
• India’s 2^nd PM who was member of R.S. when become PM

Inder Kumar Gujral

• Birth – 4 Dec.,1930
• Death – 30 Nov., 2012
• Party – Janta Party
• India’s 1^st Sikh PM
• Member of RS while becoming PM
• Governor of RBI
• Opposition leader in RS
• He left as PM of India for 10 years
• 1^st PM to travel Siachin Glacier
• 3^rd PM to remain as PM for longest time

Narendra Modi

• Birth – 17 September 1950 (Jamnagar, Gujarat)
• Party – BJP
• 1^st PM to take birth in Republic & Independent India
• 1^st PM to reach in Parliament by winning 2 seats of LS
• Currently he is MP from Varanasi
• Father – Damodardas Modi
• Mother – Hiraben Patel
• Wife – Yasodhaben