explain the functioning of the council of ministers in India
Answers
Answer:
Council of Ministers
The Council is collectively responsible to the Lok Sabha. It is the duty of the Prime Minister to communicate to the President all decisions of Council of Ministers relating to administration of affairs of the Union and proposals for legislation and information relating to them.
Answer:
(1) Formulation, execution, evaluation and revision of public policy in various spheres which the party in power seeks to progress and practice
2) Coordination among various ministries and other organs of the government which might indulge in conflicts, wastefulness, duplication of functions and empire building.
(3) Preparation and monitoring of the legislative agenda which translated the policies of the government in action through statutory enactments.
(4) Executive control over administration through appointments, rule making powers and handling of crises and disasters – natural as well as political.
(5) Financial management through fiscal control and operation of funds like Consolidated Fund and Contingency Funds of India.
(6) Review the work of planning and Planning Commission.
These functions are all pervading and interdependent. The members individually as well as collectively and through the Prime Minister perform these functions within the parameters of the Constitution. The council of ministers exercises the executive authority of the Union Government. It is the cabinet which steers the ship of the state. Under our Constitution, the cabinet can issue directives to state government under certain circumstances and under the state of emergency it can virtually control the working of the state governments.
Policy Making Functions:
The cabinet is a policy-formulating body. All kinds of policies, national, internal, external and international are thrashed out in the cabinet, which then presents them to the Parliament for approval. Once the policy has been determined by the cabinet, it is for the ministry/department concerned to carry it out.
A cabinet minister is in-charge of a specific ministry or department and it is his duty to administer the subjects included in his portfolio. In addition, he also shares a collective responsibility with other members of the cabinet for the overall policy for anything of high importance that is done in every branch of public business besides his own.
Laws Making Functions:
The Parliament is the repository of legislative authority and can enact repeal and amend legislation but m practice, it is the cabinet which takes initiative in legislative matters and directs Parliament. It is the cabinet which prepares the legislative measures, introduces them and pilots them through the two houses of Parliament.
Financial Functions:
The annual budget is prepared by the cabinet which determines what taxes are to be imposed and how the public revenues are to be spent. The Parliament, even the Lok Sabha is free to debate upon and discuss all items of the budget but it can hardly make any substantive change in it unless the government agrees to such a change. An adverse vote in Parliament on any money bill is deemed to be an expression of censure of the cabinet which may result in its resignation.
Administrative Functions:
All major appointments reserved for action by the President under the Constitution, e.g., Attorney-General, members of the Union Public Service Commission, Chief Election Commissioner, Judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts, Governors of states, etc., are made by him on the recommendation of the Prime Minister and in consultation with the minister of the department concerned.
The Secretary is responsible for carrying out the policies laid down by the cabinet and approved by the Parliament. He can instruct the departmental functionaries and supervise their working. A minister is expected to face questions in the Parliament. He may or may not abide by the advice of his civil servants but he should see to it that the civil servant’s freedom to advise is not curtailed
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