| Prime Minister of the Republic of India | |
|---|---|
| Bhārat kē Pradhānamantrī | |
 Logo of the Prime Minister of India | |
 | |
 | |
| Prime Minister's Office Union Council of Ministers Executive branch of the Indian Government | |
| Style |
|
| Type | Head of government |
| Abbreviation | PM |
| Member of | |
| Reports to | |
| Residence | 7, Lok Kalyan Marg,New Delhi,Delhi,India |
| Seat | Secretariat Building, New Delhi,Delhi,India |
| Nominator | Lok Sabhamembers |
| Appointer | President of India byconvention, based on appointee's ability tocommand confidence in theLok Sabha |
| Term length | At the pleasure of the president
|
| Constituting instrument | Articles 74 & 75,Constitution of India |
| Precursor | Vice President of the Executive Council |
| Formation | 15 August 1947; 78 years ago (1947-08-15) |
| First holder | Jawaharlal Nehru |
| Deputy | Deputy Prime Minister |
| Salary | |
| Website | pmindia |
Theprime minister of India (ISO:Bhārat kē Pradhānamantrī) is thehead of government[2] of theRepublic of India.Executive authority is vested in the prime minister and his chosenCouncil of Ministers,[3][4][5] despite thepresident of India being the nominal head of the executive.[6][7][8][9] The prime minister has to be a member of one of the houses of bicameralParliament of India, alongside heading the respective house.[10] The prime minister and the cabinet are at all times responsible to theLok Sabha.[11][12]
The sitting prime minister ranks third in theOrder of Precedence of India[13] and is appointed by the president of India; however, the prime minister has toenjoy the confidence of the majority of Lok Sabha members, who are directly electedevery five years, lest the prime minister shall resign. The prime minister can be a member of the Lok Sabha or theRajya Sabha, the upper house of the parliament. The prime minister controls the selection and dismissal of members of theUnion Council of Ministers and allocation of posts to members within the government.
The longest-serving prime minister was the first prime minister,Jawaharlal Nehru, whose tenure lasted 16 years and 286 days. His premiership was followed byLal Bahadur Shastri's short tenure andIndira Gandhi's 11- and 4-year-long tenures, with both politicians belonging to theIndian National Congress. AfterIndira Gandhi's assassination, her sonRajiv Gandhi took charge until 1989, when a decade with five unstable governments began. This was followed by the full terms ofP. V. Narasimha Rao,Atal Bihari Vajpayee,Manmohan Singh, andNarendra Modi, who is the current prime minister of India, serving since26 May 2014. He is the first non-Congress leader to win three consecutive general elections and secure a third successive term (2014, 2019, 2024). The first prime minister to do so wasJawaharlal Nehru, who won the general elections of 1952, 1957, and 1962.
India follows aparliamentary system in which the prime minister is the presidinghead of the government and chief of the executive of the government. In such systems, thehead of state, or, the head of state's official representative (i.e., the monarch, president, orgovernor-general) usually holds a purely ceremonial position and acts, on most matters, only on the advice of the prime minister.
The prime minister must become amember of parliament within six months of beginning their tenure, if they are not one already. A prime minister is expected to work with other central ministers to ensure the passage of bills by the parliament.
Since 1947, there have been 14 different prime ministers.[a] The first few decades after 1947 saw theIndian National Congress' (INC) near complete domination over the political map of India. India's first prime minister,Jawaharlal Nehru, took oath on 15 August 1947. Nehru went on to serve as prime minister for 17 consecutive years, winning fourgeneral elections in the process. His tenure ended in May 1964, on his death.[14][15] After the death of Nehru,Lal Bahadur Shastri, a formerhome minister and a leader of the Congress party, ascended to the position of prime minister. Shastri's tenure saw theIndo-Pakistani War of 1965. Shashtri subsequently died of a reported heart attack inTashkent, after signing theTashkent Declaration.[16]
After Shastri,Indira Gandhi, Nehru's daughter, was elected as the country's third prime minister. The first, and to date, the only, woman to hold the post, Indira's first term in office lasted 11 years, in which she took steps such asnationalisation of banks;[17] end ofallowances and political posts, which were received by members of the royal families of the erstwhileprincely states of theBritish Indian Empire.[18][19] In addition, events such as theIndo-Pakistani War of 1971;[20] the establishment of a sovereignBangladesh;[21] accession ofSikkim to India, through areferendum in 1975;[22] and India'sfirst nuclear test inPokhran occurred during Indira's first term. In 1975, amid growing unrest and a court order declaring Indira's election to the Lok Sabha void, PresidentFakhruddin Ali Ahmed, on Indira's advice, imposed astate of emergency, therefore bestowing the government with the power torule by decree; this period is known for human rights violations such as mass sterilisation and the imprisonment of Indira's political opponents.[23][24]
After widespread protests, the emergency was lifted in 1977, and ageneral election was held. All of the political parties of the opposition, after the conclusion of the emergency, fought together against the Congress, under the umbrella of theJanata Party, in thegeneral election of 1977, and were successful in defeating the Congress. Subsequently,Morarji Desai, a formerdeputy prime minister, became the first non-Congress prime minister of India. Desai's government was composed of groups with opposite ideologies, in which unity and coordination were difficult to maintain. Ultimately, after two and a half years as PM; on 28 July 1979, Desai tendered his resignation to the president; and his government fell. Thereafter,Charan Singh, a deputy prime minister in Desai's cabinet, with outside, conditional support from Congress, proved a majority inLok Sabha and took oath as Prime Minister.[25][26] However, Congress pulled its support shortly after, and Singh had to resign; he had a tenure of 5 months, the shortest in the history of the office.
In1980, after a three-year absence, the Congress returned to power with an absolute majority. Indira Gandhi was elected prime minister a second time.[27] In June 1984,Operation Blue Star, anIndian Army operation againstSikh militants inside theGolden Temple, the most sacred site in Sikhism, was conducted, resulting in reportedly thousands of deaths, both of the militants and civilians.[28] In revenge, on 31 October of that year, Gandhi was shot dead bySatwant Singh andBeant Singh, two of her bodyguards, in the garden of her residence at 1,Safdarjung Road, New Delhi.[29]
After Indira,Rajiv, her eldest son and 40 years old at the time, was sworn in on the evening of 31 October 1984, becoming the youngest person ever to hold the office of prime minister. Rajiv immediately called for a general election. In the subsequentgeneral election, the Congress secured asupermajority, winning 401 of 552 seats in theLok Sabha, the maximum number received by any party in the history of India.[30][31]Vishwanath Pratap Singh, firstfinance minister and then laterdefence minister in Gandhi's cabinet, uncovered irregularities, in what became known as theBofors scandal, during his stint at theMinistry of Defence; Singh was subsequently expelled from Congress and formed theJanata Dal and, with the help of several anti-Congress parties, also formed theNational Front, a coalition of many political parties.[32]
In thegeneral election of 1989, the National Front, with outside support from theBharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and theLeft Front, came to power.[33]V. P. Singh was elected prime minister.[33] During a tenure of less than a year, Singh and his government accepted theMandal Commission's recommendations.[34] Singh's tenure came to an end after he ordered the arrest of BJP memberLal Krishna Advani,[35] as a result, BJP withdrew its outside support to the government, V. P. Singh lost the subsequentvote-of-no-confidence 146–320 and had to resign.[36] After V. P. Singh's resignation,Chandra Shekhar along with 64members of parliament (MPs) floated theSamajwadi Janata Party (Rashtriya),[37] and proved a majority in theLok Sabha with support from Congress.[38] But Shekhar's premiership did not last long, Congress proceeded to withdraw its support; Shekhar's government fell as a result, andnew elections were announced.[39]
Rajiv Gandhiwas assassinated on the campaign trail for thegeneral election of 1991, and the Congress, under the leadership ofP. V. Narasimha Rao, rode a sympathy wave to form aminority government; Rao became the first PM ofSouth Indian origin.[40] After thedissolution of the Soviet Union, India was on the brink ofbankruptcy, so, Rao took steps toliberalise the economy, and appointedManmohan Singh, an economist and a formergovernor of the Reserve Bank of India, as finance minister.[40] Rao and Singh then took various steps to liberalise the economy,[40] these resulted in unprecedented economic growth in India.[41] His premiership, however, was also a witness to thedemolition of the Babri Masjid, which resulted in the death of about 2,000 people.[42] Rao, however, did complete five continuous years in office, becoming the first prime minister outside of theNehru—Gandhi family to do so.[40]
After the end of Rao's tenure in May 1996, the nation saw four prime ministers in a span of three years,viz., two tenures ofAtal Bihari Vajpayee; one tenure ofH. D. Deve Gowda from 1 June 1996 to 21 April 1997; and one tenure ofI. K. Gujral from 21 April 1997 to 19 March 1998. The government of Prime Minister Vajpayee—elected in1998—took some concrete steps; in May 1998, after a month in power, the government announced theconduct of five underground nuclear explosions inPokhran.[43] In response to these tests, manywestern countries, including the United States, imposedeconomic sanctions on India,[44] but, due to the support received from Russia, France, theGulf countries and some other nations, the sanctions, were largely, not considered successful.[45][46] A few months later in response to the Indian nuclear tests, Pakistan alsoconducted nuclear tests.[47] Given the deteriorating situation between the two countries, the governments tried to improve bilateral relations. In February 1999, India and Pakistan signed theLahore Declaration, in which the two countries announced their intention to annul mutual enmity, increase trade and use their nuclear capabilities for peaceful purposes.[48]
In May 1999,All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam withdrew from the rulingNational Democratic Alliance (NDA) coalition;[49] Vajpayee's government, hence, became acaretaker one after losing a motion-of-no-confidence 269–270, this coincided with theKargil War with Pakistan.[50] In the subsequentOctober 1999 general election, the BJP-led NDA and its affiliated parties secured a comfortable majority in the Lok Sabha, winning 299 of 543 seats in thelower house.[51]
Vajpayee continued the process of economic liberalisation during his reign, resulting in economic growth.[52] In addition to the development of infrastructure and basic facilities, the government took several steps to improve the infrastructure of the country, such as, theNational Highways Development Project (NHDP) and thePradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY;IAST:Pradhānamaṃtrī Grāma Saḍaka Yojanā;lit. Prime Minister Rural Road Scheme),[53] for the development of roads. But during his reign, the2002 Gujarat communal riots in the state of Gujarat took place; resulting in about 2,000 deaths.[54] Vajpayee's tenure as prime minister came to an end in May 2004, making him the first non-Congress PM to complete a full five-year tenure.[52]
In the2004 election, the Congress emerged as the largest party in ahung parliament; the Congress-ledUnited Progressive Alliance (UPA), with outside support from the Left Front, theSamajwadi Party (SP) andBahujan Samaj Party (BSP) among others, proved a majority in the Lok Sabha,[55] and Manmohan Singh was elected prime minister; becoming the first Sikh prime minister of the nation.[55] During his tenure, the country retained the economic momentum gained during Prime Minister Vajpayee's tenure.[56] Apart from this, the government succeeded in getting theNational Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005, and theRight to Information Act, 2005 passed in the parliament.[57][58] Further, the government strengthened India's relations with nations like Afghanistan,[59][60] Russia,[61] theGulf States, and the United States, culminating with the ratification ofIndia–United States Civil Nuclear Agreement near the end of Singh's first term.[62][63][64] At the same time, theNovember 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks also happened during Singh's first term in office.[65][66] In thegeneral election of 2009, the mandate of UPA increased.[67][68] Prime Minister Singh's second term, however, was surrounded by accusations of high-level scandals and corruption.[69][70] Singh resigned as prime minister on 17 May 2014, after Congress' defeat in the2014 general election.[71][72][73]
In thegeneral election of 2014, the BJP-led NDA won an absolute majority, winning 336 out of 543 Lok Sabha seats. The BJP became the first party since 1984 to secure a majority in the Lok Sabha.Narendra Modi, then theChief Minister of Gujarat, was elected prime minister, becoming the first prime minister to have been born in an independent India.[74]
Narendra Modi was re-elected as prime minister in 2019 with a bigger mandate than that of 2014. The BJP-ledNDA won 354 seats out of which theBJP secured 303 seats.[75]
| Party | PMs | Years in Office | Name(s) | Alliance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Indian National Congress | 6[a] | 54 years | Jawaharlal Nehru,Lal Bahadur Shastri,Indira Gandhi,Rajiv Gandhi,P. V. Narasimha Rao andManmohan Singh[a] | ||
| Bharatiya Janata Party | 2 | 17 years | Atal Bihari Vajpayee andNarendra Modi | NDA (from 1998) | |
| Janata Dal | 3 | 2 years | Vishwanath Pratap Singh,H. D. Deve Gowda andInder Kumar Gujral | NF (1989–1990)UF (1996–1998) | |
| Janata Party | 1 | 2 years | Morarji Desai | JP | |
| Janata Party (Secular) | 1 | <1 years | Charan Singh | ||
| Samajwadi Janata Party (Rashtriya) | 1 | <1 years | Chandra Shekhar | JP External support fromINC | |
TheConstitution envisions a scheme of affairs in which thepresident of India is the head of state; in terms of Article 53 with office of the prime minister being the head ofCouncil of Ministers to assist and advise the president in the discharge of their constitutional functions. To quote, Article 53,74 and 75 provide as under:
The executive powers of the Union shall be vested in the president and shall be exercised either directly or through subordinate officers, in accordance with the Constitution.
— Article 53(1), Constitution of India
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.
— Article 74(1), Constitution of India
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.
— Article 75(1), Constitution of India
Like mostparliamentary democracies, thepresident's duties are mostlyceremonial as long as theconstitution and therule of law is obeyed by the cabinet and the legislature. The prime minister of India is the head of government and has the responsibility for executive power. The president's constitutional duty is to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution and the law perarticle 60. In the constitution of India, the prime minister is mentioned in only four of its articles (articles 74, 75, 78 and 366). The prime minister plays a crucial role in thegovernment of India by enjoying majority in theLok Sabha.
According to Article 84 of the Constitution of India, which sets the principle qualification for member of Parliament, and Article 75 of the Constitution of India, which sets the qualifications for the minister in the Union Council of Ministers, and the argument that the position of prime minister has been described asprimus inter pares (the first among equals),[76] A prime minister must:
Once a candidate is elected as the prime minister, he must vacate his posts at any private or government companies and may take up the position only on completion of his term.
The prime minister is required to make and subscribe in the presence of thepresident of India before entering office, the oath of office and secrecy, as per the Third Schedule of the Constitution of India.
Oath of office:
I, <name>, do swear in the name of God/solemnly affirm that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of India as by law established, that I will uphold the sovereignty and integrity of India, that I will faithfully and conscientiously discharge my duties as Prime Minister for the Union and that I will do right to all manner of people in accordance with the Constitution and the law, without fear or favour, affection or ill-will.
— Constitution of India, Third Schedule, Part I
Oath of secrecy:
I, <name>, do swear in the name of God/solemnly affirm that I will not directly or indirectly communicate or reveal to any person or persons any matter which shall be brought under my consideration or shall become known to me as Prime Minister for the Union except as may be required for the due discharge of my duties as such Minister.
— Constitution of India, Third Schedule, Part II
The prime minister serves at 'the pleasure of the president', hence, a prime minister may remain in office indefinitely, so long as the president has confidence in him/her. However, a prime minister must have the confidence of Lok Sabha, the lower house of theParliament of India.
The term of a prime minister can end before the end of a Lok Sabha's term, if asimple majority of its members no longer have confidence in him/her, this is called avote-of-no-confidence.[77] Three prime ministers,I. K. Gujral,[36]H. D. Deve Gowda andAtal Bihari Vajpayee have been voted out from office this way. In addition, a prime minister can resign from office;Morarji Desai was the first prime minister to resign while in office.
Upon ceasing to possess the requisite qualifications to be a member of Parliament subject to theRepresentation of the People Act, 1951.[78]
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The prime minister leads the functioning and exercise of authority of the government of India. The president of India, subject to eligibility, invites a person who is commanding support of majority members of Lok Sabha to form thegovernment of India, also known as the central government or Union government, at the national level and exercise its powers.[79] In practice the prime minister nominates the members of theircouncil of ministers to the president.[80][81][82] He also works upon to decide a core group of ministers (known as the cabinet),[80] as in charge of the important functions and ministries of thegovernment of India.
The prime minister is responsible for aiding and advising the president in distribution of work of the government to various ministries and offices and in terms of theGovernment of India (Allocation of Business) Rules, 1961.[83] The co-ordinating work is generally allocated to theCabinet Secretariat.[84] While the work of the government is generally divided into various ministries, the prime minister may retain certain portfolios if he is not allocated to any member of the cabinet.
The prime minister, in consultation with the cabinet, schedules and attends the sessions of the houses of parliament and is required to answer questions from the Members of Parliament.[85]
Some specific ministries/department are not allocated to anyone in the cabinet but the prime minister themself. The prime minister is usually always in charge/head of:
The prime minister represents the country in various delegations, high level meetings and international organisations that require the attendance of the highest government office,[86] and also addresses to the nation on various issues of national or other importance.[87]
PerArticle 78 of theConstitution of India, the union cabinet and the president officially communicate through the prime minister. Otherwise, the Constitution recognises the prime minister as a member of the union cabinet only outside the sphere of union cabinet.
The prime minister recommends to the president, among others, names for the appointment of:
As the chairperson ofAppointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC), the prime minister, on the non-binding advice of theCabinet Secretary of India led-Senior Selection Board (SSB), decides the postings of top civil servants, such as,secretaries,additional secretaries andjoint secretaries in the government of India.[88][89][90] Further, in the same capacity, the PM decides the assignments of top military personnel such as theChief of the Army Staff,Chief of the Air Staff,Chief of the Naval Staff and commanders of operational and training commands.[91] In addition, the ACC also decides the posting ofIndian Police Service officers, theAll India Service for policing, which staffs most of the higher level law enforcement positions at federal and state level, in thegovernment of India.
Also, as theMinister of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, the PM also exercises control over theIndian Administrative Service (IAS),[92] the country's premier civil service,[93][94] which staffs most of the senior civil service positions;[93][94] the Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB);[95][96] and theCentral Bureau of Investigation (CBI),[95][96] except for the selection of its director, who is chosen by a committee of: (a) the prime minister, as chairperson; (b) theleader of the opposition in Lok Sabha; and (c) thechief justice.[97]
Unlike most other countries, the prime minister does not have much influence over the selection of judges; that is done by a collegium of judges consisting of thechief justice of India, four senior mostjudges of theSupreme Court of India and thechief justice (or the senior-most judge) of the concernedstate high court.[98][99] The executive as a whole, however, has the right to send back a recommended name to the collegium for reconsideration;[100] this, however, is not a full veto power, and the collegium can still put forward a rejected name.[101][102]
The prime minister acts as the leader of the house of the chamber of parliament that s/he belongs to, generally theLok Sabha. In this role, the prime minister is tasked with representing the executive in the legislature, announces important legislation, and is further expected to respond to theopposition's concerns.[103] Article 85 of theIndian constitution confers the president with the power to convene and end extraordinary sessions of the parliament; this power, however, is exercised only on the advice of the prime minister and their council; hence, in practice the prime minister does exercise some control over affairs of the parliament.
The official website of the Prime Minister's Office is available in 13 Indian languages namelyAssamese,Bengali,Gujarati,Kannada,Malayalam,Manipuri,Marathi,Odia,Punjabi,Tamil,Telugu andUrdu out of the22 official languages of the Indian Republic, in addition toEnglish andHindi.[104]
The thirteen Indian language websites can be accessed at the following links:
Article 75 of the Constitution of India confers the Parliament with the power to decide the remuneration and other benefits of the prime minister and other ministers are to be decided by the Parliament.[105] and is renewed from time to time. The original remunerations for the prime minister and other ministers were specified in the Part B of the second schedule of the constitution, which was later removed by an amendment.
In 2010, the Prime Minister's Office reported that the prime minister does not receive a formal salary; only monthly allowances.[106] That same yearThe Economist reported that, on apurchasing power parity basis, the prime minister received an equivalent of $4106 per year. As a percentage of the country's per-capita GDP (gross domestic product), this is the lowest of all countriesThe Economist surveyed.[107][108]
| As on | Gross amount in INR (₹) | Gross amount in USD ($) |
|---|---|---|
| October 2009 | ₹100,000 | $1,400 |
| October 2010 | ₹135,000 | $1,900 |
| July 2012 | ₹160,000 | $2,200 |
| Sources:[108] | ||
The7, Lok Kalyan Marg, previously called 7, Race Course Road, in New Delhi, currently serves as the official place of residence for the prime minister of India.[109]
The residence during the tenure of Nehru, the first prime minister, wasTeen Murti Bhavan.Lal Bahadur Shastri chose10, Janpath as an official residence.Indira Gandhi resided at1, Safdarjung Road.Rajiv Gandhi became the first prime minister to use 7, Lok Kalyan Marg as his residence, which was used by his successors.[110]
For ground travel, the prime minister uses a highly modified, armoured version of aRange Rover.[111] The prime minister's motorcade comprises a fleet of vehicles, the core of which consists of at least three armouredBMW 7 Series sedans, two armouredRange Rovers, at least 8–10BMW X5s, sixToyota Fortuners/Land Cruisers, and at least twoMercedes-Benz Sprinter ambulances.
For air travel,Boeing 777-300ERs designated by the call signAir India One (AI-1 or AIC001) and maintained by theIndian Air Force are used.[112][113] There are several helicopters, such asMi-8, used for carrying the prime minister over short distances. These aircraft are operated by theIndian Air Force.
TheSpecial Protection Group (SPG) is charged with protecting the sitting prime minister and their family.[114][115] The security is aided by theCentral Reserve Police Force (CRPF),Border Security Force (BSF) and theDelhi Police to provide three-rung security for the estate.
ThePrime Minister's Office (PMO) acts as the principal workplace of the prime minister. The office is located atSouth Block, and is a 20-room complex, and has theCabinet Secretariat, theMinistry of Defence and theMinistry of External Affairs adjacent to it. The office is headed by theprincipal secretary to the prime minister of India, generally a former civil servant, mostly from theIndian Administrative Service (IAS) and rarely from theIndian Foreign Service (IFS).
The prime minister's spouse sometimes accompanies him/her on foreign visits. The prime minister's family is also assigned protection by theSpecial Protection Group, though it was removed afterSpecial Protection Group Act in 2019.[116] The most prominent of the family of prime ministers is theNehru–Gandhi family, which has had three prime ministers,J. L. Nehru,Indira Gandhi andRajiv Gandhi.[117] Many family members of former prime ministers are politicians.
Former prime ministers are entitled to a bungalow,[118][119] and are also entitled the same facilities as those given to a serving cabinet minister,[118] including a fourteen-member secretarial staff, for a period of five years; reimbursement of office expenses; six domesticexecutive-class air tickets each year; and security cover from the armed forces and police as established by law.[118][119]
In addition, former prime ministers rank seventh on theIndian order of precedence, equivalent tochief ministers of states (within their respective states) and cabinet ministers.[120][13][121] As a formermember of the parliament, the prime minister also receives a pension after he leaves office. In 2015, a former MP receives a minimum pension of₹20,000 (US$240) per month, plus, if he/she served as an MP for more than five years,₹1,500 (US$18) for every year served.[122][needs update]
Some prime ministers have had significant careers after their tenure, includingH. D. Deve Gowda, who continues to be amember of Parliament.[123]
Prime ministers are accorded astate funeral. It is customary for states and union territories to declare aday of mourning on the occasion of death of any former prime minister.[124]
Several institutions are named after prime ministers of India. The birth date ofJawaharlal Nehru is celebrated aschildren's day while the birth date ofCharan Singh is celebrated as farmer's day in India. Prime ministers are also commemorated on the postage stamps of several countries.
The prime minister presides over various funds.
TheNational Defence Fund (NDF) was set up the Indian government in 1962, in the aftermath of1962 Sino-Indian War. The prime minister acts as chairperson of the fund's executive committee, while, the ministers of defence, finance and home act as the members of the executive committee, the finance minister also acts the treasurer of the committee. The secretary of the fund's executive committee is ajoint secretary in the Prime Minister's Office, dealing with the subject of NDF.[125] The fund, according to its website, is "entirely dependent on voluntary contributions from the public and does not get any budgetary support.". Donations to the fund are 100% tax-deductible under section 80G of theIncome Tax Act, 1961.[126][127]
The Prime Minister's National Relief Fund (PMNRF) was set up by the first prime minister of India,Jawaharlal Nehru, in 1948, to assist displaced people from Pakistan. The fund, now, is primarily used to assist the families of those who are killed during natural disasters such as earthquakes, cyclones and flood and secondarily to reimburse medical expenses of people with chronic and deadly diseases.[128] Donations to the PMNRF are 100% tax-deductible under section 80G of theIncome Tax Act, 1961.[126]
In March 2020, after the rapid spread of theCOVID-19 virus from Wuhan to countries across the world, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi announced the formation of a special fund to deal with any kind of emergency or distress situations like theCOVID-19 pandemic.[129] The fund being fully voluntary without any government budgetary support, PM Modi appealed to the public to donate generously towards the fund. Following this donors from all sections of the society donated whole heartedly. Initially in FY 2019–20 the fund received Rs 3076.62 crores in just 5 days of its announcement. Initially the fund was used to procure COVID emergency products like ventilators, PPE kits for frontline workers and also funding the vaccine resaearch efforts and procurement. By FY 2020–21 the corpus of thePM Cares Fund was around Rs 10990 crore.[130]
The post ofdeputy prime minister of India is not technically a constitutional post, nor is there any mention of it in an Act of Parliament.[131] But historically, on various occasions, different governments have assigned one of their senior ministers as the deputy prime minister. There is neither constitutional requirement for filling the post of deputy PM, nor does the post provide any kind of special powers.[131] Typically, senior cabinet ministers like thefinance minister or thehome minister are appointed as deputy prime minister. The post is considered to be the senior most in the cabinet after the prime minister and represents the government in their absence. Typically, deputy prime ministers have been appointed to strengthen the coalition governments.
...the executive authority is vested in the prime minister and in his Council of Ministers. (p. 185)
Executive power, ordinarily, is exercised by Prime Minister.
Effective executive power rests with the Council of Ministers, headed by the prime minister
An elected President is the nominal head of state but exercises little power.
...The president is the constitutional head. (p. 185)
The President is the head of the Union of India
... Like the British system, there are two houses of parliament – the Lok Sabha, which has 545 members, is the main legislative body. In practice, it is the party with a majority in the Lok Sabha which elects its leader as the Prime Minister.
Along with his or her cabinet, the Prime Minister is responsible to the Lower House of Parliament.
...Both for the Union and the states, a "cabinet-type" system of parliamentary government has been instituted in which the executive is continuously responsible to the legislature. (p. 185)
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