Prime Ministers of India

Prime Ministers in India

About Prime Minister

Prime Minister of India is supposedly the government chief as has been put down in the Indian Constitution, also plays the role of President of India’s chief advisor, heads the Council of Ministers and is also the leader of the party with majority in the Lok Sabha or Parliament. In a broad sense, the Government of India has the Prime Minister as its executive head.

In Indian government, Prime Minister is supposed to be the senior-most member in the executive cabinet of the parliamentary system government. It is also the work of the Prime Minister to select or dismiss members from the cabinet and various posts are allocated to the members inside the government. This makes Prime Minister the chairman and presiding member inside the cabinet. In some government systems, usually in the governments which are semi-presidential in nature, the appointment of the Prime Minister is to manage the services of civil nature and work as an executive chief representing the state’s head.

Most often, it is supposed that the Prime Minister is a parliamentary member and works towards the passing of bills in cooperation with his ministers for legislative purposes. Monarchies in some countries have the executive decisions, termed as royal prerogative which is the constitutional right of the crown, but might be promulgated in discussion with the parliament. President appoints the Prime Minister in order to provide assist the former in executive administrative affairs.

Eligibility to be the Prime Minister of India

It has been laid down in the Indian Constitution in Article 84 that has certain principals laying down the qualifications required for becoming a member of parliament. In the Article 75, there is the mention of rules for becoming a minister in the Union Council of Minister. It has also been put forth in some places that the Prime Minister is the First among Equals. To become a Prime Minister, a person must

• Be an Indian citizen
• Be Rajya Sabha or Lok Sabha member. In case a person is selected as the Prime Minister, but doesn’t hold any elected membership of the Rajya Sabha or the Lok Sabha, he has to be elected from a constituency or nominated to the Rajya Sabha within a period of 6 months
• Be of 25 years of age or more, for becoming a member of Lok Sabha or 30 years or more for membership in Rajya Sabha
• Not be holding a profitable office position in the central or state government or even in any local body, which is under the state or the central government

India Prime Minister Power and Role

• Authority of executive category
• Works as chairman ex-officio in National Development Council, Planning Commission, Interstate Council and National Integration Council
• It is only with consultation of the Prime Minister that the president can prorogue or convene various parliamentary sessions
• Prime Minister can call for Lok Sabha’s dissolution before the term expires
• Appointment of the council of minister
• Portfolio allocation is done by the Prime Minister, who can ask resignation from any minister or request the president to dismiss the minister
• Give recommendations to Indian president for emergency declaration in case of aggression or rebellion from external forces or in case of war
• Works as the leader of the house

Prime Minister of India Office

Prime Minister is the designated Council of Ministers’ head and looks after the work of various ministries. Meetings of the cabinet are presided over by him, which are held in PMO’s cabinet room. Working of the Union Cabinet is under the principle known as ‘collective responsibility’.
The office of the Prime Minister in India is also called in short as PMO, which is situated at:

South Block, Raisina Hill,
New Delhi.
India-110011
Telephone: 91-11-23012312.
Fax: 91-11-23019545 / 91-11-23016857

Remuneration of Prime Minister

Remuneration received by the Prime Minister is promulgated in Article 75 of Indian Constitution, wherein there are similar decisions regarding other ministers also, which is reviewed at different times. In the original promulgation, these features were specified in Second Schedule, Part B of Indian Constitution, which was changed in later years through an amendment.

It was reported in 2010 by the office of the Prime Minister that there are not salaries for the Prime Minister, but allowances are allowed on a monthly basis. In that year, it was reported by The Economist that if the income of the Prime Minister is to be considered on the basis of parity of purchasing power, then it will be about 4106 dollars in a year, which is perhaps the least than in any other country, if the Gross Domestic Product of a country is taken into account.

Prime Minister monthly pay and allowances
Salary in Oct 2009	Salary in Oct 2010	Salary in Jul 2012
INR100000 (US$1,600)	INR135000 (US$2,200)	INR160000 (US$2,600)

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