Question

Who presides over the meeting of the ‘Council of Ministers’ in India?
A)President
B)Vice President
C)Prime Minister
D)None of these

Answer 1

Hint: India has a Parliamentary system of government. Article 74 of the constitution says that there shall be a Council of Ministers with the Prime Minister at the head to aid and advise the President who shall, in the exercise of his functions, act in accordance with such advice. Here , the real executive power resides with the Council of Ministers headed by the Prime Minister and the President is only the nominal head.

Complete Answer: The Council of Ministers consists of three kinds of ministers-cabinet minister, minister of state and deputy ministers. Cabinet ministers head the important ministries of the Central government like home, defence, finance, external affairs and so forth. The Minister of State can either be attached to the cabinet minister or given independent charge. Deputy ministers are not given independent charge of ministries/departments and assist the cabinet ministers or ministers of state. The entire Council of Ministers is collectively responsible to the Lok Sabha.
Let us look at the options given to us.
Option (A ) President is not correct as though the President appoints the ministers , he is not a part of either the Lok Sabha or the Rajya Sabha and doesn’t sit in its meetings. According to article 74 of the constitution, the president acts in accordance to the advice provided to it by the Council of Minister
Option (B) Vice President is not correct as the Vice President is the presiding officer of the Rajya Sabha .
Option (C ) Prime Minister is correct because the Prime Minister is at the head of the Council of Minister. The President appoints other ministers on the advice of the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister can also advise the President to remove a particular minister.
It is the Prime Minister who communicates messages between the President and the Council of Ministers.

Therefore the correct answer is option (C ).

Note: It is often found that the words cabinet and council of ministers are used synonymously. However there is a difference between the two. The council of ministers consists of cabinet ministers as well as ministers of state and deputy ministers. The cabinet is a part of the council of ministers. The cabinet was not mentioned in the original text of the constitution whereas the council of minister is mentioned under article 74. The cabinet was later added to the constitution under article 352 by the 44th Constitutional Amendment. Another fact to keep in mind is that the President is bound to act according to the advice provided to him by the Council of Minister.