Council of Ministers, India

The Union Council of Ministers 'or federal cabinet' exercises executive authority in the Republic of India. It consists of senior ministers, called "Cabinet Ministers", junior ministers, called "Ministers of State" and deputy ministers.

It is led by the Prime Minister. A smaller executive body, called the Union Cabinet is the decision-making body in India. Only the Prime Minister and ministers of the rank of "Cabinet Minister" are members of Union Cabinet per .

Per , the Council of Ministers is responsible collectively to the lower house of the Indian Parliament, called the Lok Sabha (House of People). When a bill introduced by a minister in the Lok sabha is not approved by it, 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 . All union cabinet members shall submit in writing to the President to propose proclamation of emergency by the president per .

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 House of the People. Ministers must be members of parliament. Any minister who is not a member of either the lower or upper houses of parliament for six consecutive months is automatically stripped off his or her ministerial post.

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

Per , a minister who works at the pleasure of President, is appointed by the President on the advice of the Prime Minister.

It is nowhere stated in the constitution, a minister can be removed by the Prime Minister at his will.

Every state in India is governed by its council of ministers with rules and procedure similar to union council of ministers per . There is no concept of cabinet rank minister in the council of ministers.

As a collective, each successive Council of Ministers is referred to as a cabinet. The current cabinet is led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who took office on 26 May 2014.

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