What are the categories of council of ministers in a state and what are their functions?
Answers
Answer: The Constitution of India provides for a parliamentary system of government at the state level. The Governor acts as the constitutional and nominal executive head of the state. The real executive powers are in the hands of the State Council of Ministers headed by the Chief Minister. The Constitution provides for each state a Council of Ministers with the Chief Minister as its head for aiding and advising the Governor in the exercise of his functions. However, in reality the Chief Minister and his Council of Ministers act as the real executive in the State.
Explanation: 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.
Answer:
The Council of Ministers consists of four categories of ministers; 1. Cabinet Minister 2. Minister of state 3. Minister of State (independent charge) and 4. Deputy Minister.
1. Cabinet Ministers: Cabinet Ministers heads the important ministries of the Central Government like Home Ministry, Finance Ministry, Defence Ministry, External Affairs Ministry and Ministry of Human Resource and Development etc. Generally the Cabinet Ministers consist of 18 to 25 ministers. This time there are 24 Cabinet Ministers.
Cabinet Ministers attend crucial meetings and play a crucial role in the policy formation of the country.
2. Minister of State (Independent Charge): In this case, the minister of state performs the same functions and exercises the same powers in relation to their ministries/departments as Cabinet Ministers do. However, they are not members of the cabinet so not entitled to attend the cabinet meetings until they are not invited. Minister of State (independent charge) are invited in the cabinet meetings when something important related to their departments/ministries is considered by the cabinet.
3. Minister of State: These ministers are given the charge of the departments of the ministries headed by the Cabinet Ministers or allotted specific items of work related to the ministries headed by the Cabinet Ministers. So by and large these ministers work under the supervision and guidance of the Cabinet Ministers.
4. Deputy Ministers; These ministers are lowest in the rank. They are not given independent charge of the ministries/departments. They are attached to the Cabinet Ministers or Ministers of State to help them in their administrative, political and parliamentary duties. Deputy Ministers are not part of the cabinet so they do not attend the meetings of the cabinet.