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It is constitutionally mandatory for the Prime Minister to
communicate to the President all decisions of the Council of
Ministers relating to the administrative affair of the Union and
proposals of legislation. The Prime Minister is involved in all
crucial decisions of the government and decides on the
policies of the government.
Thus, the power exercised by the Prime Minister flows from
various sources, such as, control over the Council of Ministers,
leadership of Lok Sabha, command over bureaucratic
machinery, etc.
Council of Ministers
The Council of Ministers are also appointed by the President on
the advice of the Prime Minister and is collectively responsible to
the Lok Sabha, which means that a Minister who loses confidence
of the Lok Sabha is obliged to resign. Collective responsibility
implies that a vote of no confidence even against a single minister
leads to the resignation of the entire Council of Ministers and
further, it also indicates that if a minister does not agree with a
policy or decision, the minister either accept the decision or
resign.
Size of Council of Ministers
91st Amendment Act, 2003 stated that the size of the Council of
Ministers shall not exceed 15 per cent of total number of
members of the Lok Sabha or the state legislative assembly, as
the case may be.
State Executive
At the state level, a similar parliamentary executive exists with
some variations. The variations are that the Governor is
appointed by the President on the advice of the Central
government and has more discretionary powers and the Chief
Minister is the leader of the majority party in the assembly
appointed by the Governor.
Coalition Government
Coalition government is a group of advisors created when various
political parties or regional parties join forces to manage and
regulate the country. If none of the parties wins an absolute
majority in the general election, the government is formed by a
coalition of more than two parties.
Since 1989, the system of Coalition Government was introduced
in India and many of such governments could not remain in
power for the full term of Lok Sabha. These developments have
affected the working of the parliamentary executive in following
ways
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It resulted in growing discretionary role of the President in
selection of the Prime Minister.
2. Bureaucracy Civil services or administration that forms the permanent executive.
CBSE Term II Political Science Class 11th
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The coalition nature of Indian politics, has necessitated
much more consultation between political partners,
leading to erosion of prime ministerial authority.
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It has also brought restrictions on the privileges of the
Prime Minister, like choosing the ministers and
deciding their ranks and portfolios.
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The policies and programmes of the government cannot
be decided by the Prime Minister alone, as the political
parties of different ideologies come together to form
government.
It has led to a lot of negotiations and compromises in
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policy formulation.
In the state the Chief Minister is the leader of Majority
party in Assembly, like the Prime Minister.
Permanent Executive : Bureaucracy
Bureaucracy 2 or administrative machinery is one of the
executive organ of the government who works as a
permanent employee and are assigned the task of assisting
the ministers in formulating policies and implementing
these policies. The bureaucracy is politically neutral which
means that the bureaucracy will not take any political
position on policy matters.
In a democracy, the elected representatives and the
ministers are in charge of the government and the
administration is under their control and supervision. In
the Parliamentary system, the legislature also exercises
control over the administration. The administrative officers
cannot act in violation of the policies adopted by the
legislature and the machinery is also made politically
accountable.
Indian Bureaucracy
The Indian bureaucracy is an enormously complex system
consisting of the All India Services, State Services,
employees of the local governments, technical and
managerial staff.
India has developed a professional administrative
infrastructure. Simultaneously, this apparatus is rendered
politically accountable. Political neutrality is also expected
of the bureaucracy. This implies that the bureaucracy will
refrain from taking a political stance on policy issues.
In a democracy, it is always possible for a party to lose
elections for the new government to seek to implement
new policies in place of the former administration’s
programmes. In such a case, it is the administrative
machinery’s job to engage sincerely and efficiently in the
policy’s development and implementation.