What is the difference between a Cabinet Minister, Minister of State (Independent Charge) and Minister of State?

What is the difference between a Cabinet Minister, Minister of State (Independent Charge) and Minister of State?

On Sunday, June 9, shortly before the swearing-in of Narendra Modi’s cabinet, a news came. In this, NCP (Ajit Pawar faction) leader Praful Patel was refusing to accept the post of Union Minister of State. Instead, he was demanding a Cabinet Minister post. He said that he has already held the post of Cabinet Minister in the Government of India (during the UPA government), so it is difficult for him to accept the post of Minister of State.

According to Patel, taking the post of Union Minister of State is like demotion or reduction in stature for him. However, in the Narendra Modi 3.0 government, 72 ministers including Prime Minister Modi have taken the oath of office and secrecy. Among them, 30 cabinet ministers, five ministers of state (independent charge) and 36 leaders have taken the oath of state minister. Now a question arises here that what is the difference between these three? And what different allowance do these three get from other MPs?

Actually, under Article 74 of our Constitution, there is a provision that a Council of Ministers or Cabinet will be formed to assist and advise the President. Its next Article i.e. 75 says that the Prime Minister will be appointed by the President and other ministers will be appointed by the President on the advice of the Prime Minister. Now there are three types of ministers in this cabinet – Cabinet Minister, Minister of State (Independent Charge) and Minister of State.

The most powerful person in this cabinet is the cabinet minister. After him there is the minister of state (independent charge) and then the minister of state. Here the question may arise why is it so? Actually, the cabinet ministers report directly to the Prime Minister. They are the heads of important ministries of the central government like home, defense, finance, foreign affairs etc. Whatever ministry is given to them, they have full responsibility for it. More than one ministry can also be given to a cabinet minister. It is necessary for them to attend cabinet meetings. The government takes all its decisions in the cabinet meeting only.

Now let us come to the Minister of State (Independent Charge). They also report directly to the Prime Minister but unlike the Cabinet Ministers, they do not participate in the Cabinet meetings. In fact, these are the Ministers of State with independent charge after the Cabinet Minister. They have their own ministry and unlike the State Ministers, they do not report to the Cabinet Minister. Understand it this way that they can either be given independent charge of ministries/departments or can be associated with Cabinet Ministers.

In this category, the ministers of state are less powerful than these two. Actually, ministers of state are appointed to assist the cabinet minister. They report to the cabinet minister. More than one minister of state can be appointed in a ministry. In the absence of the cabinet minister, the entire responsibility of the ministry lies with the minister of state. The ministers of state also do not attend cabinet meetings.

After understanding the difference between these three, let us now understand their salaries and allowances. Although the salary and allowances of every member of the Lok Sabha are fixed. But the MPs who become Prime Minister, Cabinet Minister or Minister of State, also get a separate allowance every month as compared to other MPs. According to the information given on the Aaj Tak website, the salary and allowances given to the MPs are decided under the Salary Act. According to this, every member of the Lok Sabha gets a basic salary of Rs 1 lakh every month.

Apart from this, Rs 70,000 is given as election allowance and Rs 60,000 separately for office expenses. Apart from this, when the Parliament is in session, a daily allowance of Rs 2,000 is also given. The Prime Minister and Ministers also get a hospitality allowance every month. The Prime Minister gets Rs 3,000, the Cabinet Minister gets Rs 2,000, the Minister of State (Independent Charge) gets Rs 1,000 and the Minister of State gets Rs 600 as hospitality allowance every month. This money is spent on the hospitality of the people who come to meet the ministers.

Understand it this way that a Lok Sabha MP gets a total of Rs 2.30 lakh every month in salary and allowances. Whereas, the Prime Minister gets Rs 2.33 lakh, a Cabinet Minister gets Rs 2.32 lakh, a Minister of State (Independent Charge) gets Rs 2.31 lakh and a Minister of State gets Rs 2,30,600. If we talk about tax, whether it is an MP or the Prime Minister or the President or the Vice President, everyone has to pay income tax. According to the rules, the MPs of Lok Sabha-Rajya Sabha, the President and the Vice President pay tax only on their salary. There is no tax on the other allowances that they get separately.

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