The Union Council of Ministers is the group of junior and senior ministers that are incharge of various ministries. For eg. Finance, Defence, etc. The senior ministers are called the ‘Cabinet ministers’. The Prime minister along with cabinet ministers form the Union Cabinet that is the highest decision making body in India.
Who appoints them?
The Prime Minister submits a list of his cabinet ministers to the President who then appoints them for a term of 5 years until the next election. However, they can be removed under various circumstances.
How many times have P. M Modi’s cabinet been reshuffled since May, 2014?
The cabinet has already been reshuffled thrice since then. In November 2014, PM Modi expanded his Cabinet, bringing in 21 new faces and re - allotting key portfolios.
In July 2016, PM Modi further expanded his cabinet saying it was to reflect the focus of the 2016 Budget, which was centred around the agriculture sector and development of women and weaker sections. He had also said that the expansion was natural and “according to requirement. ”
And finally, on the third of this month, Mr. Modi inducted a fresh set of ministers. About nine have been brought into the council of ministers and four have been promoted to the Union Cabinet. The most prominent has been Nirmala Sitharaman who was handed over the defence ministry.
Out of the nine ministers, 1 passed away, and eight others have assumed different roles or given up on some of their roles thereby making place for new entrants.
Can the Prime minister reshuffle the Cabinet anytime?
The Prime Minister has the right to make amends to his cabinet to suit the country’s need better.
A reshuffle provides an opportunity to create, abolish and rename departments and to reassign responsibilities among departments. This may be done to reflect new priorities or for reasons of efficiency by removing poor performers. Smaller reshuffles are needed to replace ministers who have resigned, retired or died and to remove poor performers.
Source: Indian Express
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