Thu. Mar 28th, 2024
cabinet

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who got a massive mandate in consecutive general elections, on Wednesday expanded the cabinet for the first time the second term in an official function at Rashtrapati Bhawan. President Ram Nath Kovind administrated oath to the new Council of Ministers. After this cabinet expansion, there are a total of 78 ministers in the newly expanded cabinet. The cabinet had 58 ministers before the expansion.

On all 24 Cabinet Ministers, 9 Ministers of State with Independent Charge and 24 Ministers of State took the oath on Thursday.

But Have you ever thought what makes a Cabinet Minister different from a Minister of State? Or How Minister of State (MoS) in different from Minister of State with Independent Charge.

Here is a brief introduction of all responsibilities of Union Minister, Minister of State with Independent Charge and Minister of State, and how they all are different from each other.

Cabinet Minister or Union Minister:

A Cabinet minister or a Union minister is the head of a particular portfolio and is the utmost authority of that particular Department such as Finance, Defence, Home, etc. Just like Amit Shah, who is the Union Home Minister in Narendra Modi’s government, the responsibility which was held by Rajnath Singh in the previous NDA government between 2014-19.

Cabinet Minister can be appointed from any house – be it Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha. Former Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley held the Finance Portfolio being a member of Rajya Sabha.

Minister Of State

Unlike Cabinet Minister who is the utmost authority of a particular Department, Minister of State (MoS), in simple terms, he/she assists the Cabinet Minister and is the Junior of the Cabinet Minister.

For example, G. Kishan Reddy and  Nityanand Rai, both are Minister of State for Home Affairs. Both these ministers have a responsibility of assisting Amit Shah and these two do not hold a separate or an independent portfolio.

Minister of State (Independent Charge)

Unlike Minister of State, the MoS with Independent Charge has its own ministry to look after and don’t assist a Cabinet Minister. However, this post isn’t considered equal to the cabinet minister. This could be considered as a Junior Minister with an independent portfolio. MoS Independent Charge is the intermediate post in between Cabinet Minister and Minister of state.

He/She doesn’t have an overseeing Cabinet Minister above him/her. He/She can directly report to the Prime Minister. The Minister of State (MoS) with Independent Charge not called for regular day to day affair discussion with the PM but is only called for specific matters related to his/her respective department.

MoS is given independent charge of ministries, which don’t have a Cabinet Minister to oversee the functions of that particular department. Just Like Hardeep Singh Puri who was given a Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.

By talharashid

Part-time Traveler| Full-time Political Enthusiast | Foodie | Strong Believer of Freedom of Speech and Expressions!

5 thought on “Difference between Cabinet Minister, Minister of State; Minister of State Independent Charge”
  1. Simple and understandable explanation. Even a common reader or a student can really find it easy to grasp. Continue posting explanations on Polity. Thank You so much!!!

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