India has a parliamentary form of government and is inspired by the British Constitution. The Council of Ministers spearheaded by the Prime Minister is the real executive authority in the country. Article 74 of the Indian Constitution provides for the provision of having a Council of Ministers with the Prime Minister at the head to aid and advise the President. Article 75 states that the President shall appoint the Prime Minister and seek the advice of the Prime Minister to appoint other ministers. Further, the 91st Amendment(2003) to the Indian constitution stated that the total number of ministers in the Council of Ministers including the Prime Minister in the Council of Ministers shall not be more than 15% of the total strength of the lower house.
While the Council of Ministers is a wider body, the Cabinet consists if about 15-20 ministers. The cabinet is a component of the Council of Ministers only and includes the cabinet ministers only. In reality, the cabinet takes significant decisions on behalf of the Council of Ministers. It orchestrates the decision-making task and the Council of Ministers has to mandatorily follow the said decisions. The cabinet also oversees the implementation of the same decision. The cabinet is a much smaller body and composed of heads of important portfolios finds it comparatively easy to make and implement decisions.
Unlike the Council of Ministers, the cabinet doesn’t find a mention in the original constitution. The provision for the cabinet was included in the Article 352 of the Constitution of India in accordance with the 44th Constitutional Amendment Act of 1978. However, its powers and responsibilities are not defined in the Constitution.
However, the function of the cabinet can be understood to be of pivotal importance. It is the chief crisis in the manager, takes all major decisions, the topmost executive authority in India, and makes binding advice to the President of India.
The complete list of the Cabinet Ministers of India is as follows (LATEST & UPDATED)-: The Cabinet as a body is headed by the Prime Minister at the top. Shri Narendra Modi is the press.tly serving as the Prime Minister of India. He has additional charge of the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Department of Atomic Energy, Department of Space. The other Cabinet Ministers are as follows
| CABINET MINISTER | PORTFOLIO / MINISTRY ASSIGNED |
| 1. Sri Rajnath Singh | MINISTRY OF DEFENSE |
| 2. Shri Amit Shah | MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS
MINISTRY OF COOPERATION |
| 3. Shri Nitin Jairam Gadkari | MINISTRY OF ROAD TRANSPORT AND HIGHWAYS |
| 4. Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman | MINISTRY OF FINANCE
MINISTRY OF CORPORATE AFFAIRS |
| 5. Shri Narendra Singh Tomar | MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE & FARMERS WELFARE |
| 6. Dr.Subramanyam Jaishankar | MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS |
| 7. Shri Arjun Munda | MINISTRY OF TRIBAL AFFAIRS |
| 8. Smt. Smriti Zubin Irani | MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT MINISTRY OF MINORITY AFFAIRS |
| 9. Shri Piyush Goyal | MINISTRY OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY
MINISTRY OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION MINISTRY OF TEXTILES |
| 10. Shri Dharmendra Pradhan | MINISTRY OF EDUCATION
MINISTRY OF SKILL DEVELOPMENT AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP |
| 11. Shri Prahlad Joshi
12. Shri Narayan Tatu Rane 13. Shri Sarbananda Sonowal |
MINISTRY OF PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS
MINISTRY OF COAL MINISTRY OF MINES MINISTRY OF MICRO, SMALL, AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES MINISTRY OF PORTS, SHIPPING, AND WATERWAYS MINISTRY OF AYURVEDA, YOGA AND NATUROPATHY, UNANI, SIDDHA AND HOMOEOPATHY (AYUSH) |
| 14. Dr. Virendra Kumar | MINISTRY OF SOCIAL JUSTICE AND EMPOWERMENT |
| 15. Shri Giriraj Singh | MINISTRY OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT
MINISTRY OF PANCHAYATI RAJ |
| 16. Shri Jyotiraditya M. Scindia | MINISTRY OF CIVIL AVIATION
MINISTRY OF STEEL |
| 17. Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw | MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS
MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATION MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY |
| 18. Shri Pashu Pati Kumar Paras | MINISTRY OF FOOD PROCESSING INDUSTRIES |
| 19. Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat | MINISTRY OF JAL SHAKTI |
| 20. Shri Kiren Rijiju | MINISTRY OF EARTH SCIENCES |
| 21. Shri Raj Kumar Singh | MINISTRY OF POWER
MINISTRY OF NEW AND RENEWABLE ENERGY |
| 22. Shri Hardeep Singh Puri | MINISTRY OF PETROLEUM AND NATURAL GAS MINISTRY OF HOUSING AND URBAN AFFAIRS |
| 23. Shri Mansukh L. Mandavya | MINISTRY OF HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE MINISTRY OF CHEMICALS AND FERTILIZERS |
| 24. Shri Bhupendra Yadav | MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE
MINISTRY OF LABOR AND EMPLOYMENT |
| 25. Dr. Mahendra Nath Pandey
26. Shri Parhottam Rupala |
MINISTRY OF HEAVY INDUSTRIES
MINISTRY OF FISHERIES, ANIMAL HUSBANDRY AND DAIRYING |
| 27. Shri G. Kishan Reddy | MINISTRY OF CULTURE
MINISTRY OF TOURISM MINISTRY OF DEVELOPMENT OF NORTH EAST REGION |
| 28. Shri Anurag Singh Thakur | MINISTRY OF INFORMATION AND BROADCASTING MINISTRY OF YOUTH AFFAIRS AND SPORTS |
The list of Ministers of State (Independent Charge) is as follows
| 1. Shri Rao Inderjit Singh | MINISTRY OF STATISTICS AND PROGRAMME IMPLEMENTATION
MINISTRY OF PLANNING |
| 2. Dr. Jitendra Singh | MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY |
| 3. Shri Arjun Ram Meghwal | MINISTRY OF LAW AND JUSTICE |
The cabinet ministers list is subject to update multiple times due to rejig in the cabinet owing to the decisions of the Prime Minister.
Sir John Marriott has rightly remarked about the importance of the cabinet system in India when he says that ‘the cabinet is the pivot around which the whole political machinery revolves.’ Hence, the Cabinet system is of utmost importance in the context of the Indian parliamentary setup as it helps both in quick and vital decisions.
