Narendra Damodardas Modi was sworn-in as the 15th Prime Minister of India on 26 May 2014. Along with him, 45-member Council of Ministers that includes 23 Ministers with Cabinet rank, 10 Ministers of State with independent charges and 12 Ministers of State also took oath of their offices. Oath to the office and secrecy was administered by the President Pranab Mukherjee in the forecourt of Rashtrapati Bhawan. The Prime Minister and his Council of Ministers were appointed in term of Article 75 of the Constitution of India.
With this swearing-in, 63-year-old Modi became the first Prime Minister of India who was born in independent India i.e. post 15 August 1947. Of the 45 ministers 43 are also those who were born in independent India except two. The oldest is Najma Heptulla (74) and the youngest is Smriti Irani (38). This is the first time in three-decades that any party has emerged as the winner in elections with absolute majority.
Besides, this is the first time that, 25% of the Cabinet post has been allocated to women. Out of 23 Cabinet post, 6 has been allocated to women. These 6 women are: Sushma Swaraj (first woman to be External Affairs Minister); Uma Bharti; Dr. Najma A Heptullah; Maneka Gandhi; Smriti Zubin Irani; and Harsimrat Kaur Badal.
The sworn-in ceremony of Modi and his cabinet was attended by a strong gathering of 3000 people that included the heads of SAARC nations, cinema and religion, industry and politics. The representative from SAARC nations included
• Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif of Pakistan
• Prime Minister Sushil Koirala of Nepal
• Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam of Mauritius
• Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay of Bhutan
• President Abdulla Yameen of Maldives
• President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan
• President Mahinda Rajapaksa of Sri Lanka
• Speaker of the Bangladesh National Parliament, Dr. Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury
| Prime Minister | Portfolio held |
|---|---|
| Narendra Damodardas Modi | Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions Department of Atomic Energy Department of Space All important policy issues and all other portfolios not allocated to any Minister |
The 23 Cabinet Ministers to take oath were
| Name of Ministers | Ministries Allotted |
|---|---|
| Rajnath Singh | Home Minster |
| Sushma Swaraj | External Affairs & Overseas Indian Affairs |
| Arun Jaitley | Finance Corporate Affairs & Defence |
| M. Venkaiah Naidu | Urban Development Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation & Parliamentary Affairs |
| Nitin Jairam Gadkari | Road Transport and Highways Shipping |
| D.V. Sadananda Gowda | Railways |
| Uma Bharati | Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation |
| Dr. Najma A. Heptulla | Minority Affairs |
| Gopinathrao Munde | Rural Development, Panchayati Raj & Drinking Water and Sanitation |
| Ramvilas Paswan (of LJP) | Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution |
| Kalraj Mishra | Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises |
| Maneka Gandhi | Women and Child Development |
| Ananthkumar | Chemicals and Fertilizers |
| Ravi Shankar Prasad | Communications and Information Technology & Law and Justice |
| Ashok Gajapathi Raju (of TDP) | Civil Aviation |
| Anant Geete (of Shiv Sena) | Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises |
| Harsimrat Kaur Badal (of Akali Dal) | Food Processing Industries |
| Narendra Singh Tomar | Mines & Steel Labour and Employment |
| Jual Oram | Tribal Affairs |
| Radha Mohan Singh | Agriculture |
| Thaawar Chand Gehlot | Social Justice and Empowerment |
| Smriti Zubin Irani | Human Resource Development |
| Dr. Harsh Vardhan | Health and Family Welfare |
Ten people who were inducted into the ministry as Ministers of State with Independent Charge
| Name of Ministers | Ministries Allotted |
|---|---|
| General (Retd.) V K Singh | Development of North Eastern Region (Independent Charge) & External Affairs Overseas Indian Affairs |
| Santosh Kumar Gangwar | Textiles (Independent Charge), Parliamentary Affairs Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation |
| Sripad Yesso Naik | Culture (Independent Charge) & Tourism (Independent Charge) |
| Inderjit Singh Rao | Planning (Independent Charge), Statistics and Programme Implementation (Independent Charge) & Defence |
| Dharmendra Pradhan | Petroleum and Natural Gas (Independent Charge) |
| Sarvanand Sonwal | Skill Development, Entrepreneurship, Youth Affairs and Sports (Independent Charge) |
| Prakash Javadekar | Information and Broadcasting (Independent Charge), Environment, Forest and Climate Change (Independent Charge) & Parliamentary Affairs |
| Piyush Goel | Power (Independent Charge), Coal (Independent Charge) & New and Renewable Energy (Independent Charge) |
| Dr. Jitendra Singh | Science and Technology (Independent Charge), Earth Sciences (Independent Charge), Prime Minister Office Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions Department of Atomic Energy Department of Space |
| Nirmala Sitharaman | Commerce and Industry (Independent Charge), Finance Corporate Affairs |
The twelve Ministers of State to take oath are
| Name of Ministers | Ministries Allotted |
|---|---|
| G M Sidheswara | Civil Aviation |
| Raosaheb Danve | Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution |
| Vishnu Deo Sai | Mines, Steel & Labour and Employment |
| Manoj Sinha | Railways |
| Upendra Kushwaha | Rural Development, Panchayati Raj & Drinking Water and Sanitation |
| Radhakrishan P | Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises |
| Kiren Rijiju | Home Affairs |
| Krishna Pal | Road Transport and Highways Shipping |
| Dr. Sanjeev Kumar Baliyan | Agriculture & Food Processing Industries |
| Mansukhbhai Dhanjibhai Vasava | Tribal Affairs
|
| Sudarshan Bhagat | Social Justice and Empowerment |
| Nihal Chand | Chemicals and Fertilizers |
Article 75 of the Constitution of India
• The Article 75 (1) says that the Prime Minister shall be appointed by the President and the other Ministers shall be appointed by the President on the advice of the Prime Minister.
• Article 75 (1A) says that the total number of Ministers, including the Prime Minister, in the Council of Ministers shall not exceed 15% of the total number of members of the House of the People. (This Clause was added by the 91st Amendment Act, 2003).
• Article 75 (1B) says that a member of either House of Parliament belonging to any political party who is disqualified for being a member of that House under paragraph 2 of the Tenth Schedule (added by 52nd Amendment Act, 1985) shall also be disqualified to be appointed as a Minister under clause (1) of the Article 75. The member will be disqualified for duration of the period commencing from the date of his disqualification till the date on which the term of his office would expire or where he contests any election to either House of Parliament before the expiry of such period, till the date on which he is declared elected, whichever is earlier. (This Clause was also added by the 91st Amendment Act, 2003).
• Article 75 (2) says that the Ministers shall hold office during the pleasure of the President
• Article 75(3) says that the Council of Ministers shall be collectively responsible to the House of the People.
• Article 75(4) says that before a Minister enters upon his office, the President shall administer to him the oaths of office and of secrecy according to the forms set out for the purpose in the Third Schedule.
• Article 75(5) A Minister who for any period of six consecutive months is not a member of either House of Parliament shall at the expiration of that period cease to be a Minister.
• Article 75(6) the salaries and allowances of Ministers shall be such as Parliament may from time to time by law determine and, until Parliament so determines, shall be as specified in the Second Schedule.
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