Who is the most powerful among the cabinet ministers and ministers of state!

Who appoints the ministers?

The Prime Minister is appointed by the President and other ministers are appointed by the President on the advice of the Prime Minister. Normally, to become a minister, a person must be a member of either House of Parliament. However, there is no bar in the Constitution to appoint a person from outside Parliament as a minister. But such a person cannot remain a minister for more than six months unless he becomes a member of either House of Parliament. 

The Council of Ministers consists of Cabinet Ministers, Ministers of State (Independent Charge), Ministers of State, and Deputy Ministers. However, in recent times there have been no instances of Deputy Ministers being appointed to the Union Council of Ministers.

Three types of ministers are appointed in the government. There 

are three types of ministers in the cabinet - Cabinet Minister, Minister of State - Independent Charge, and Minister of State. The question arises what is the difference between these ministerial posts and what are their roles? There are 

different responsibilities and rights attached to these ministerial posts. Let us understand the post, power, and work of all the ministers one by one. 

Cabinet Ministers 

Cabinet ministers are members of the Council of Ministers who head the ministry. Cabinet ministers are the most senior in the Council of Ministers who have the most knowledge and experience. They are appointed by the President on the recommendation of the Prime Minister on the basis of their expertise and seniority. After the Prime Minister, the most powerful ministers in the Central Government are the Cabinet Ministers who report directly to the Prime Minister. Cabinet ministers can also be assigned more than one ministry and have overall responsibility for them. It is mandatory for these ministers to be present in the cabinet meetings in which the government takes important decisions. Generally, very experienced MPs are given the post of Cabinet Minister.   

Functions of Cabinet Minister

Cabinet ministers handle important ministries under the central government such as Home, Finance, Defence, Health, Education, Road Transport and Highways and Foreign Ministries. Their job is to decide and develop new policies and coordinate and supervise implementation.

Minister of State (Independent Charge) and their work

In simple words, they are called junior ministers. The Minister of State (Independent Charge) reports directly to the PM. They are responsible for the ministry given to them. They do not attend cabinet meetings and neither are they accountable to the cabinet minister.

Ministers of State and their functions

Ministers of State are appointed to assist the Cabinet Minister. They report to the Cabinet Minister. There are usually one or two Ministers of State below a Cabinet Minister. Ministers of State are assigned specific responsibilities within the ministry and assist the Cabinet Minister in carrying out work. This may include overseeing particular areas or projects within the ministry. They have limited decision-making power and usually focus on specific tasks or areas within their ministry.

Who gets how much salary- 

Talking about salary, a cabinet minister gets one lakh rupees every month as a basic salary. Along with this, like MPs, they get a constituency allowance of Rs 70000. Rs 60,000 is also given every month for office. State ministers also get all this. They just get Rs 1,000 per day as a hospitality allowance. If someone is made a deputy minister, then he is given Rs 600 per day as a hospitality allowance.

What facilities do

Do ministers get? Just like members of Parliament, they also get travel allowance/travel facilities, train travel facilities, steamer passes, telephone facilities, and advance for purchasing vehicles.

Former ministers get pension

Ministers also get monthly pensions like any former MP. Every time after the completion of five years, an additional increase of Rs 1500 is made in the pension. In case of death, the husband or wife is given half the pension for life. However, after death, the dependent gets only 50 percent of the pension amount.

Exemption in train travel:

Just like MPs, ministers are allowed to travel as many times as they want in AC first class. However, if there is an assistant or wife along with them, they are allowed to travel in a second AC. Apart from pension and free rail travel, former Union ministers also get free medical facilities. Like cabinet ministers, all these facilities are also given to ministers of state and ministers of state with independent charge.

Know who decides the salary:

Till the year 2018, the members of Parliament themselves used to make laws for an amendment to their salary. There used to be a lot of controversy regarding this. In view of this, the law was amended through the Finance Act 2018. Now according to this Act, there is a provision for an increase in the salary, daily allowance, and pension of MPs every five years. For this, the cost inflation index mentioned in the Income Tax Act-1961 is made the basis.