Prime Minister of India
This was followed by the full terms of P. V. Narasimha Rao, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Manmohan Singh, and Narendra Modi.
The first—and to date, the only—woman to hold the post, Indira's first term in office lasted 11 years, in which she took steps such as nationalisation of banks;[18] end of allowances and political posts, which were received by members of the royal families of the erstwhile princely states of the British Indian Empire.
Ultimately, after two and a half years as PM; on 28 July 1979, Desai tendered his resignation to the president; and his government fell.
[26][27] However, Congress pulled its support shortly after, and Singh had to resign; he had a tenure of 5 months, the shortest in the history of the office.
[29] In revenge, on 31 October of that year, Gandhi was shot dead by Satwant Singh and Beant Singh—two of her bodyguards—in the garden of her residence at 1, Safdarjung Road, New Delhi.
[30] After Indira, Rajiv—her eldest son and 40 years old at the time—was sworn in on the evening of 31 October 1984, becoming the youngest person ever to hold the office of prime minister.
In the subsequent general election, the Congress secured a supermajority, winning 401 of 552 seats in the Lok Sabha, the maximum number received by any party in the history of India.
[31][32] Vishwanath Pratap Singh—first finance minister and then later defence minister in Gandhi's cabinet—uncovered irregularities, in what became known as the Bofors scandal, during his stint at the Ministry of Defence; Singh was subsequently expelled from Congress and formed the Janata Dal and—with the help of several anti-Congress parties—also formed the National Front, a coalition of many political parties.
[37] After V. P. Singh's resignation, Chandra Shekhar along with 64 members of parliament (MPs) floated the Samajwadi Janata Party (Rashtriya),[38] and proved a majority in the Lok Sabha with support from Congress.
[40] Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated on the campaign trail for the general election of 1991, and the Congress—under the leadership of P. V. Narasimha Rao—rode a sympathy wave to form a minority government; Rao became the first PM of South Indian origin.
[41] After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, India was on the brink of bankruptcy, so, Rao took steps to liberalise the economy, and appointed Manmohan Singh—an economist and a former governor of the Reserve Bank of India—as finance minister.
In February 1999, India and Pakistan signed the Lahore Declaration, in which the two countries announced their intention to annul mutual enmity, increase trade and use their nuclear capabilities for peaceful purposes.
[49] In May 1999, All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam withdrew from the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) coalition;[50] Vajpayee's government, hence, became a caretaker one after losing a motion-of-no-confidence 269–270, this coincided with the Kargil War with Pakistan.
[51] In the subsequent October 1999 general election, the BJP-led NDA and its affiliated parties secured a comfortable majority in the Lok Sabha, winning 299 of 543 seats in the lower house.
[53] In addition to the development of infrastructure and basic facilities, the government took several steps to improve the infrastructure of the country, such as, the National Highways Development Project (NHDP) and the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY; IAST: Pradhānamaṃtrī Grāma Saḍaka Yojanā; lit.
[76] External support from INC The Constitution envisions a scheme of affairs in which the president of India is the head of state; in terms of Article 53 with office of the prime minister being the head of Council of Ministers to assist and advise the president in the discharge of their constitutional functions.
The prime minister plays a crucial role in the government of India by enjoying majority in the Lok Sabha.
Oath of office: I,
[81][82][83] He also works upon to decide a core group of ministers (known as the cabinet),[81] as in charge of the important functions and ministries of the government of India.
[85] While the work of the government is generally divided into various ministries, the prime minister may retain certain portfolios if he is not allocated to any member of the cabinet.
Also, as the Minister of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, the PM also exercises control over the Indian Administrative Service (IAS),[93] the country's premier civil service,[94][95] which staffs most of the senior civil service positions;[94][95] the Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB);[96][97] and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI),[96][97] except for the selection of its director, who is chosen by a committee of: (a) the prime minister, as chairperson; (b) the leader of the opposition in Lok Sabha; and (c) the chief justice.
In this role, the prime minister is tasked with representing the executive in the legislature, announces important legislation, and is further expected to respond to the opposition's concerns.
[104] Article 85 of the Indian constitution confers the president with the power to convene and end extraordinary sessions of the parliament; this power, however, is exercised only on the advice of the prime minister and their council, so in practice the prime minister does exercise some control over affairs of the parliament.
The official website of the Prime Minister's Office is available in 11 Indian languages namely Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Meitei (Manipuri), Marathi, Odia, Punjabi, Tamil and Telugu, out of the 22 official languages of the Indian Republic, in addition to English and Hindi.
[108][109] The 7, Lok Kalyan Marg—previously called 7, Race Course Road—in New Delhi, currently serves as the official place of residence for the prime minister of India.
Former prime ministers are entitled to a bungalow,[119][120] and are also entitled the same facilities as those given to a serving cabinet minister,[119] including a fourteen-member secretarial staff, for a period of five years; reimbursement of office expenses; six domestic executive-class air tickets each year; and security cover from the armed forces and police as established by law.
[124][needs update] Some prime ministers have had significant careers after their tenure, including H. D. Deve Gowda, who continues to be a Member of Parliament.
It is customary for states and union territories to declare a day of mourning on the occasion of death of any former prime minister.
The fund, now, is primarily used to assist the families of those who are killed during natural disasters such as earthquakes, cyclones and flood and secondarily to reimburse medical expenses of people with chronic and deadly diseases.
[128] In March 2020, after the rapid spread of the COVID – 19 virus from Wuhan to countries across the world, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the formation of a special fund to deal with any kind of emergency or distress situations like the COVID-19 pandemic.
