Union Council of Ministers

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).[3] 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 the confidence of Lok Sabha shall resign to facilitate the formation of a new government.

A minister shall 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 a 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.[3]

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

• Prime Minister: Leader of the executive of the Government of India.
• Deputy Prime Minister (if any): Presides as prime minister in his absence or as the senior most cabinet minister.[4]
• Cabinet Minister: A member of the 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.

Pursuant to Article 75, a minister who works at the pleasure of the 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.[5]

• Upon death.
• Upon self resignation, or resignation or death of Prime Minister.
• Upon dismissal by the President for minister's unconstitutional acts per Article 75(2).[6]
• Upon direction from the Judiciary for committing violation of law.
• Upon ceasing eligibility to be a member of Parliament.
• Under the provision of "Collective Responsibility" under Article 75, the Prime Minister and the entire Council of Ministers resign if a Vote of No Confidence is passed in the Lower House (Lok Sabha) of the Indian Parliament.[7]

Every state in India is governed by its council of ministers with rules and procedures similar to the union council of ministers per Articles 163, 164 and 167(c).

In March 2020, the Supreme Court of India used its powers for the first time to do "complete justice" under Article 142 of the Indian Constitution to remove a minister functioning in the state of Manipur.[8]

Council portfolios are as follows:[9][10][11]

Cabinet Ministers

Portfolio	Minister	Took office	Left office	Party
Prime Minister Minister of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions Department of Atomic Energy Department of Space (All important policy issues and other portfolios not allocated to any minister)	Narendra Modi	30 May 2019	Incumbent		BJP
Minister of Defence	Rajnath Singh	30 May 2019	Incumbent		BJP
Minister of Home Affairs Minister of Co-operation	Amit Shah	30 May 2019	Incumbent		BJP
Minister of Finance Minister of Corporate Affairs	Nirmala Sitharaman	30 May 2019	Incumbent		BJP
Minister of Road Transport and Highways	Nitin Gadkari	30 May 2019	Incumbent		BJP
Minister of External Affairs	Subrahmanyam Jaishankar	30 May 2019	Incumbent		BJP
Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare	Narendra Singh Tomar	30 May 2019	Incumbent		BJP
Minister of Education Minister of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship	Dharmendra Pradhan	7 July 2021	Incumbent		BJP
Minister of Commerce and Industry Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Minister of Textiles	Piyush Goyal	30 May 2019	Incumbent		BJP
Minister of Women and Child Development Minister of Minority Affairs	Smriti Zubin Irani	30 May 2019 22 July 2022	Incumbent		BJP
Minister of Tribal Affairs	Arjun Munda	30 May 2019	Incumbent		BJP
Minister of Law and Justice	Kiren Rijiju	7 July 2021	Incumbent		BJP
Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment	Dr. Virendra Kumar	7 July 2021	Incumbent		BJP
Minister of Health and Family Welfare Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers	Mansukh L. Mandaviya	7 July 2021	Incumbent		BJP
Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister of Labour and Employment	Bhupender Yadav	7 July 2021	Incumbent		BJP
Minister of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises	Mahendra Nath Pandey	30 May 2019	Incumbent		BJP
Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Minister of Coal Minister of Mines	Pralhad Joshi	30 May 2019	Incumbent		BJP
Minister of Jal Shakti	Gajendra Singh Shekhawat	30 May 2019	Incumbent		BJP
Minister of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises	Narayan Tatu Rane	7 July 2021	Incumbent		BJP
Minister of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries
	Parshottam Rupala	7 July 2021	Incumbent		BJP
Minister of Railways Minister of Communications Minister of Electronics and Information Technology	Ashwini Vaishnaw	7 July 2021	Incumbent		BJP
Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways Minister of AYUSH	Sarbananda Sonowal	7 July 2021	Incumbent		BJP
Minister of Rural Development Minister of Panchayati Raj	Giriraj Singh	7 July 2021	Incumbent		BJP
Minister of Civil Aviation Minister of Steel	Jyotiraditya Scindia	7 July 2021 6 July 2022	Incumbent		BJP
Minister of Food Processing Industries	Pashupati Kumar Paras	7 July 2021	Incumbent		LJP
Minister of Power Minister of New and Renewable Energy	Raj Kumar Singh	7 July 2021	Incumbent		BJP
Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs	Hardeep Singh Puri	7 July 2021	Incumbent		BJP
Minister of Culture Minister of Tourism Minister of Development of North Eastern Region	G. Kishan Reddy	7 July 2021	Incumbent		BJP
Minister of Information and Broadcasting Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports	Anurag Thakur	7 July 2021	Incumbent		BJP
Reference: Official Government of India publication, 31 May 2019

• List of longest-serving members of the Union Council of Ministers of India
• Politics of India
• National Democratic Alliance
• Council of Ministers of Narendra Modi

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Union Council of Ministers of India.

• Union Council of Ministers at the National Portal of India
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