Prime Minister of India

For a list of prime ministers, see List of prime ministers of India.

Prime minister of India
Bhārata kē/kī pradhānamaṁtrī
Logo of Prime Minister of India
Flag of India
Incumbent
Narendra Modi
since 26 May 2014
Prime Minister's Office
Union Council of Ministers
Executive branch of the Indian Government
Style
TypeHead of government
AbbreviationPM
Member of
Parliament of India
Union Council of Ministers
Reports to
Residence7, Lok Kalyan Marg, New Delhi, Delhi, India
SeatSecretariat Building, New Delhi, Delhi, India
NominatorLok Sabha members
AppointerPresident of India
by convention, based on appointee's ability to command confidence in the Lok Sabha
Term lengthAt the pleasure of the President
  • Lok Sabha term is 5 years unless dissolved sooner
  • No term limits specified
Constituting instrumentArticles 74 & 75, Constitution of India
PrecursorVice President of the Executive Council
Formation15 August 1947; 77 years ago (1947-08-15)
First holderJawaharlal Nehru
DeputyDeputy Prime Minister
Salary
  • ₹280,000 (US$3,400) (per month)[1]
  • ₹3,360,000 (US$40,000) (Annual)[1]
Websitepmindia.gov.in
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The prime minister of India (ISO: Bhārata kē/kī pradhānamaṁtrī) is the head of government of the Republic of India.[2][3] Executive authority is vested in the prime minister and his chosen Council of Ministers,[4][5][6] despite the president of India being the nominal head of the executive.[7][8][9][10] The prime minister has to be a member of one of the houses of bicameral Parliament of India, alongside heading the respective house.[11] The prime minister and his cabinet are at all times responsible to the Lok Sabha.[12][13]

The prime minister is appointed by the president of India; however, the prime minister has to enjoy the confidence of the majority of Lok Sabha members, who are directly elected every five years, lest the prime minister shall resign. The prime minister can be a member of the Lok Sabha or the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the parliament. The prime minister controls the selection and dismissal of members of the Union Council of Ministers; and allocation of posts to members within the government.

The longest-serving prime minister was Jawaharlal Nehru, also the first prime minister, whose tenure lasted 16 years and 286 days. His premiership was followed by Lal Bahadur Shastri's short tenure and Indira Gandhi's 11- and 4-year-long tenures, both politicians belonging to the Indian National Congress. After Indira Gandhi's assassination, her son Rajiv Gandhi took charge until 1989, when a decade with five unstable governments began. This was followed by the full terms of P. V. Narasimha Rao, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Manmohan Singh, and Narendra Modi. Modi is the 14th and current prime minister of India, serving since 26 May 2014.

  1. ^ a b as per Section 3 of "The Salaries and Allowances of Ministers Act 1952 and the rules made thereunder" (PDF). Ministry of Home Affairs. Retrieved 28 January 2019.
  2. ^ Pillay, Anashri (2019), "The Constitution of the Republic of India", in Masterman, Roger; Schütze, Robert (eds.), Cambridge Companion to Comparative Constitutional Law, Cambridge University Press, pp. 146–147, doi:10.1017/9781316716731, ISBN 978-1-107-16781-0, LCCN 2019019723, S2CID 219881288, The head of government is the Prime Minister.
  3. ^ Dam, Shubhankar (2016), "Executive", in Choudhry, Sujit; Khosla, Madhav; Mehta, Pratap Bhanu (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of the Indian Constitution, Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, p. 307, ISBN 978-0-19-870489-8, The Prime Minister is the head of government.
  4. ^ Majeed, Akhtar (2005), "Republic of India", in Kincaid, John; Tarr, G. Alan (eds.), Constitutional Origins, Structure, and Change in Federal Countries, A Global Dialogue on Federalism, Volume I, Montreal & Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press for Forum of Federation and International Association of Centers for Federal Studies, pp. 180–207, 185, ISBN 0-7735-2849-0, ...the executive authority is vested in the prime minister and in his Council of Ministers. (p. 185)
  5. ^ Dam, Shubhankar (2016), "Executive", in Choudhry, Sujit; Khosla, Madhav; Mehta, Pratap Bhanu (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of the Indian Constitution, Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, p. 307, ISBN 978-0-19-870489-8, Executive power, ordinarily, is exercised by Prime Minister.
  6. ^ Britannica, Eds. Encycl. (20 February 2020), "List of prime ministers of India", Encyclopaedia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., retrieved 2 April 2022, Effective executive power rests with the Council of Ministers, headed by the prime minister
  7. ^ Pillay, Anashri (2019), "The Constitution of the Republic of India", in Masterman, Roger; Schütze, Robert (eds.), Cambridge Companion to Comparative Constitutional Law, Cambridge University Press, pp. 146–147, doi:10.1017/9781316716731, ISBN 978-1-107-16781-0, LCCN 2019019723, S2CID 219881288, An elected President is the nominal head of state but exercises little power.
  8. ^ Majeed, Akhtar (2005), "Republic of India", in Kincaid, John; Tarr, G. Alan (eds.), Constitutional Origins, Structure, and Change in Federal Countries, A Global Dialogue on Federalism, Volume I, Montreal & Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press for Forum of Federation and International Association of Centers for Federal Studies, pp. 180–207, 185, ISBN 0-7735-2849-0, ...The president is the constitutional head. (p. 185)
  9. ^ Dam, Shubhankar (2016), "Executive", in Choudhry, Sujit; Khosla, Madhav; Mehta, Pratap Bhanu (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of the Indian Constitution, Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, p. 307, ISBN 978-0-19-870489-8, The President is the head of the Union of India
  10. ^ Singh, Nirvikar (2018), "Holding India Together: The Role of Institutions of Federalism", in Mishra, Ajit; Ray, Tridip (eds.), Markets, Governance, and Institutions: In the Process of Economic Development, Oxford University Press, pp. 300–323, 306, ISBN 978-0-19-881255-5
  11. ^ Pillay, Anashri (2019), "The Constitution of the Republic of India", in Masterman, Roger; Schütze, Robert (eds.), Cambridge Companion to Comparative Constitutional Law, Cambridge University Press, pp. 146–147, doi:10.1017/9781316716731, ISBN 978-1-107-16781-0, LCCN 2019019723, S2CID 219881288, ... Like the British system, there are two houses of parliament – the Lok Sabha, which has 545 members, is the main legislative body. In practice, it is the party with a majority in the Lok Sabha which elects its leader as the Prime Minister.
  12. ^ Dam, Shubhankar (2016), "Executive", in Choudhry, Sujit; Khosla, Madhav; Mehta, Pratap Bhanu (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of the Indian Constitution, Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, p. 307, ISBN 978-0-19-870489-8, Along with his or her cabinet, the Prime Minister is responsible to the Lower House of Parliament.
  13. ^ Majeed, Akhtar (2005), "Republic of India", in Kincaid, John; Tarr, G. Alan (eds.), Constitutional Origins, Structure, and Change in Federal Countries, A Global Dialogue on Federalism, Volume I, Montreal & Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press for Forum of Federation and International Association of Centers for Federal Studies, pp. 180–207, 185, ISBN 0-7735-2849-0, ...Both for the Union and the states, a "cabinet-type" system of parliamentary government has been instituted in which the executive is continuously responsible to the legislature. (p. 185)