Name: Gaurav Anand Gogia Founder-cum-Publishing Editor
Introduction
The real executive heads of the Country are the Council of Ministers which is headed by the Prime Minister. This article will critically analyze the performance of Council of Ministers over the period of last 70 Years. This article will show weather the performance of Council of Ministers (CoM) has improved or deteriorated over the period of last 70 Years. In this I would like to discuss about the various diversities in the CoM’s starting from the period of Former Prime Minister Shri Jawaharlal Nehru to Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi. In this Article I will be critically analyzing the progress of the CoM’s in terms of the male and female representation. Alongwith the male and female representation I have also included other factors such as the representation of the states and union territories, representation based on the caste and lastly the representation based on the education and wealth. As per the Constitution of India Article 74 deals with the Council of Ministers and the presence of CoM’s which should be headed by the Prime Minister and should advice the President of India.
Critical Analysis
Diversities in the Number of Women Representation in CoM
As per the estimate by one of the UN Women, it shows that globally there is only 1 Female Minister is there per 5 Ministers. This is a global problem and not for India. But when we compare the number of women representation in CoM of 2009 and 2019 we can clearly see that there has been a downfall of the number of women representation in CoM. We can see that only 14% of the newly elected members of Lok Sabha are women. Through this we can also see that how women are underrepresented not only in our houses but also in CoM. The present CoM have 58 members and out of those 58 only 6 of them are women ministers and of which only 3 of them hold Cabinet Ministers Post. Historically also the CoM’s have been highly dominated by the Male ministers but the present Council of Ministers has the least number of the women representatives as compared to that of the year 1999. Women representation in the CoM can be traced back till the time of first Lok-Sabha but their role was a nominal one in most of the governments that followed. We can also see this that there was an exception to this when Former Prime Minister Smt. Indira Gandhi held the key portfolio of the role of Prime Ministers and there was not any other women who was given such high and the most important key portfolio in any of the Government. Most of the women in any of the Government or in any of the CoM led by any of the government had only given women the rank of Minister of States and very few of the women were given the independent charge of any ministry. (Most recent example is of Smt. Smriti Irani who is the Minister of Textiles). There have been quite a few changes and improvements but still the charge of key portfolios is not given to women.[1]
Diversities in Terms of Educated / Wealthier
As compared to the previous CoM’s, there is a decrease in the number of Graduate ministers but we have seen an increase in the number of wealthier ministers. As per the technical requirements which are important for the position of minister it is unsurprising that almost all of the CoM hold a bachelor degree and hence are considered to well-educated. We can see the number of so called well-educated ministers is decreasing. As compared to the 95% of the CoM’s being educated in the year 2004 and in that year it was the maximum number of educated ministers who were a part of the CoM’s and after that there have been a decrease in the number of members who are educated and increase in the number of members who are wealthier. When we take into consideration the median wealth of the CoM headed by Prime Minister Modi we can see that the current CoM’s median wealth is approximately around ₹5.6 crores which can be considered to be significantly way higher than the median health of CoM’s in 2014 which was approximately around ₹2.5 crore. For instance Shri Pratap Chandra Sarangi he is Minister of State for Animal Husbandry ministry and Micro Small and Medium enterprises ministry has declared the worth of ₹13.4 lakh this can be considered as an exception but the Minister of Food Processing Industry Smt. Harsimrat Kaur Badal has the net worth of somewhere in the range of ₹1.2 billion and the same can be seen in other Ministers also.[2]
Diversities in Terms of the Caste Representation
When we go see the ministers in our country and not only in CoM we can see that they are not only male but also Hindu, and the ministers from other caste or tribes have either no representation or has very less representation. We can see that there is only 1 Muslim Minister and only 2 Sikh Ministers. However, as per the representation from the most marginalized cast groups the CoM which is led by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi is the most diverse in our history, but has also reduced in the number of representation from last CoM. We can even see the share of ministers from either Scheduled Castes (SCs) or Scheduled Tribes (STs) is the second highest diversity of representation of various castes is highest since 1952. We can also see that in the previous years the leaders from the Dalit community or any other tribal communities were given the ministries which were traditional and didn’t hold that much of importance. But in the last few we have seen that the leaders from this community are given more prominent ministries.[3]
Diversities in the Terms of Representation from States / Union Territories
The CoM which is led by Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has the representation of 64% of all the states and union territories. The state of Uttar Pradesh has always been in the highlights when it comes to the Indian Politics and it has played the major role in Indian Politics. Also most of the CoM are also from the state of Uttar Pradesh. Most of the ministers are from the constituency of Uttar Pradesh and this trend can be tracked back till 1952 except for the CoM which was led by the UPA government between 2004 and 2009. The representation of the members from the constituency of Uttar Pradesh has always been amongst the top represented states in the CoM. On the other hand we can see that the states in the southern part of India barely get any representation in the CoM. The most diverse CoM was in the year 1991 which was headed by Narsimha Rao and it had the representation from all the states and Union Territories.
Conclusion
In India we know that our male society is dominant and the same can be seen in the CoM as well. If in the governing body of any country there is less representation of women then the same can be seen in the mentality of the people who are residing in the country. At the end I am of the opinion that women should get more and more representation in the CoM and also in the whole parliamentary system. Because the women representation has a better understanding of the situations and also has a better knowledge in regards with the control of any situation. Women should not only in India but worldwide should get equal representation if not more than men.
As per the research and also as per the data available on various sites we can see that the ones who are wealthier get more say and get more representation than the ones who are qualified. The wealthier ministers if handling any of the ministry would obviously look after the profit which they would making rather than the development of any industry. Alongside women the ones who have achieved something or other in the field of sports or in any field are also given way less representation than that of the wealthier people.
As per the statistical analysis of the data we can see that there has been a rise in the number of backward leaders. The BJP government has realised the power of representation and the same is not just for the sake of including them but also to help the country make a better place for the people of that community. The leaders from the backward caste can be seen raising their voice and also have given various expert opinions in regards with the same. As the BJP government has realised the importance of backward leaders and now it is only a matter of time in which other political parties also realise the same and implement the same.
The most members of the CoM over the years have been from the state of Uttar Pradesh. The only time when we had the representation from all the states of our Country was during the time of 2004 and 2009 which was headed by Former Prime Minister Shri Narsimha Rao and in that time also the members of Uttar Pradesh were there higher in number but at least all of the states got representation. In the current CoM we can see that there is hardly any member of CoM who is from the southern part of the India. From this we can see that there is quite an inclination towards the Ministers from the constituency of Uttar Pradesh and this can be considered to be a very favourable decision towards the Ministers of Uttar Pradesh, and the number of members who are represented by the constituency of Uttar Pradesh reduces the chances of the representation of other states in the CoM.