The Prime Minister of India is the head of government of the Republic of India. The current Prime Minister of India is Narendra Modi, his full name is Narendra Damodardas Modi. The office of the Prime Minister of India is the post of the head of government of India.
According to the Constitution, he is the head of the Government of India, the chief advisor to the President of India, the head of the Council of Ministers, and the leader of the majority party in the Lok Sabha. He heads the executive of the Government of India. In India's political system, the prime minister is a senior member of the cabinet.
List of Prime Ministers of India from 1947 to 2024:
| Name of the Prime Minister | Term | Name of the political party |
| Jawaharlal Nehru (1889–1964) | February 26, 1950 to May 27, 1964 | Indian National Congress |
| Gulzari Lal Nanda (1898–1997)(Acting) | May 27, 1964 to June 09, 1964 | Indian National Congress |
| Lal Bahadur Shastri (1904 –1966) | June 09, 1964 to January 11, 1966 | Indian National Congress |
| Gulzari Lal (1898-1997) Nanda (Acting) | January 11, 1966 to January 24 1966 | Indian National Congress |
| Smt. Indira Gandhi (1917–1984) | January 24, 1966 to March 24, 1977 | Indian National Congress |
| Morarji Desai (1896–1995) | March 24, 1977 to July 28, 1979 | Janata Party |
| Charan Singh Chowdhary (1902–1987) | July 28, 1979 to January 14, 1980 | Janata Party (Secular) |
| Shrimati Indira Gandhi (1917–1984) | 14 January, 1980 to 31 October, 1984 | Indian National Congress |
| Rajiv Gandhi (1944–1991) | 31st October, 1984 to 1st December, 1989 | Indian National Congress |
| Vishwanath Pratap Singh (1931–2008) | 1 December, 1989 to 10 November, 1990 | Janata Party |
| Chandrashekhar Singh (1927–2007) | 10 November, 1990 to 21 June, 1991 | Samajwadi Janata Party (National) |
| P. V. Narasimha Rao (1921–2004) | June 21, 1991 to May 16, 1996 | Indian National Congress |
| Atal Bihari Vajpayee (1926) | May 16, 1996 to June 01, 1996 | Bharatiya Janata Party |
| H. D. Deve Gowda (1933) | June 01, 1996 to April 21, 1997 | Janata Dal |
| Indra Kumar Gujral (1933–2012) | April 21, 1997 to March 19, 1998 | Janata Dal |
| Atal Bihari Vajpayee (1926) | March 19, 1998 to May 22, 2004 | Bharatiya Janata Party |
| Dr. Manmohan Singh (1932) | May 22, 2004 to May 26, 2014 | Indian National Congress |
| Narendra Modi (1950) | May 26, 2014 present | Bharatiya Janata Party |
How is the Prime Minister selected and appointed in India?
With regard to the selection and appointment of the Prime Minister, only provision has been made in Article 75 of the Constitution that the Prime Minister shall be appointed by the President. But this does not mean that the President can appoint the Prime Minister at his discretion. The general practice is that the President can appoint to the post of Prime Minister the person who is the leader of the majority party in the Lok Sabha.
The person who is elected the leader of the majority party in the Lok Sabha, meets the President and stakes claim to form the government. After that that person is appointed to the post of Prime Minister. If no party gets a majority in a general election, the President requires him to appoint the leader of the single largest party in the Lok Sabha or a person who has the support of several parties to the post of Prime Minister. Prove his majority in the Lok Sabha within one month.
Eligibility for the post of Prime Minister:
No clear provision has been made in the constitution regarding the qualification of the Prime Minister, but it has been said that the Prime Minister will be the leader of the majority party in the Lok Sabha. To be the leader of the majority party in the Lok Sabha, it is necessary that the leader should be a member of the Lok Sabha.
Therefore, the Prime Minister should ordinarily possess the qualifications to be a member of the Lok Sabha. If a person, who is not a member of the Lok Sabha, is appointed to the post of Prime Minister, he has to be a member of the Lok Sabha within 6 months. Membership of Lok Sabha is not mandatory for the Prime Minister. He must in fact be a member of either of the two Houses of Parliament, i.e. Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha.
Term of office of the Prime Minister of India:
Ordinarily, the Prime Minister can continue in the office of the Prime Minister from the date of his taking office till the formation of the Cabinet after the next election to the Lok Sabha
- The President can be relieved of office by resigning, or
- resigns because of the passage of a motion of no confidence in the Lok Sabha, or
- Can be dismissed by the President.
Salary and Allowances of the Prime Minister of India:
The Prime Minister gets Rs 1,25,000 per month as salary. In addition, they are provided with free accommodation, travel, medical, telephone etc. facilities. In the form of allowance, the Prime Minister gets the constituency, incidental expenses, other expenses and D.A. etc. is given.
Rights and Functions of the Indian Prime Minister
- Forming the Council of Ministers- The first task of the Prime Minister of India is that after his appointment, he includes the fittest persons of his party and other ministers from outside the party as per the need in his council of ministers. He also does the division of the office of ministers and their functions.
- Removal of ministers- The Prime Minister of India has the right, if a minister does not accept his leadership, then he can remove him.
- To preside over the meetings of the Council of Ministers - Often the meetings of the Cabinet are held from time to time and only the Prime Minister has the right to preside over this meeting. The Prime Minister also controls the entire proceedings of the meeting and gives orders to the ministers.
- Policy-making- It is very important for the ministers to take the permission of the Prime Minister while setting the policy in the departments of the government. In the end, the decision of the Prime Minister will be the same decision of all the ministers.
- To establish harmony in policies- Sometimes differences arise between the policies of the central government and the policies of the state government, it is also the task of the Prime Minister to resolve these differences and reconcile the policies.
- Leading the Lok Sabha - The Prime Minister is the leader of the majority party in the Lok Sabha, due to which he is responsible for all his actions in the Parliament. The Prime Minister has to lead the Lok Sabha.
- Prime Minister as "National Leader"- The Prime Minister is the leader of the nation because in the election people do not vote for the party or the election paper, but the Prime Minister of different parties vote keeping the candidate in mind.
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☞ Prime Minister of India GK Questions and Answers 🔗
Read also:
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- List of President of India from 1950 to 2024 🔗
- List of Pakistan Prime Ministers from 1947 to 2023 🔗
Prime Ministers of India FAQs:
Jawaharlal Nehru was the first Prime Minister of India. Under the tutelage of Mahatma Gandhi, he emerged as the supreme leader of the Indian independence movement and ruled India from its establishment as an independent nation in 1947 until his death in 1964.
The first completely non-Congress Prime Minister of India was Morarji Desai. He served as the Prime Minister of India from 1977 to 1979. Morarji Desai was a prominent leader of the Janata Party, which was formed as a coalition of several opposition parties to challenge the ruling Congress party.
The name of the first woman Prime Minister of India was Indira Gandhi. She was an Indian political leader and a member of the Indian National Congress party. Indira Gandhi served the office of Prime Minister from 1966 to 1977 and again from 1980 to 1984.
Vishwanath Pratap Singh was the 10th Prime Minister of the Republic of India (7th person) and has been the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh. V.P.Singh was the Prime Minister who was voted out by the Parliament.
The Prime Minister is appointed by the President on the basis of the result of the parliamentary general election. The Prime Minister is usually the leader of the majority party (or coalition) in the Lok Sabha.