The Prime Minister of India is the chief of government, head of the Council of Ministers and the leader of the majority party in parliament. The Prime Minister leads the executive branch of the Government of India. The prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. The prime minister selects and can dismiss other members of the cabinet; allocates posts to members within the Government; is the presiding member and chairman of the cabinet and is responsible for bringing proposal of legislation. The Prime Minister is appointed by the President to assist the latter in the administration of the affairs of the executive. The incumbent prime minister is Man Mohan Singh, in office since 22 May 2004. The Prime Minister

Origins and History
The Prime Minister of India is, in practice, the most powerful person in the government of India and is technically outranked by the President of India, but because the President's duties are largely ceremonial, the Prime Minister has effective responsibility for government.

India follows a parliamentary system of government. In parliamentary systems fashioned after the Westminster system, the prime minister is the presiding and actual head of the government and head of the executive branch. In such systems, the head of state or the head of state's official representative (i.e. the monarch, president, or governor-general) usually holds a purely ceremonial position.

The prime minister is often, but not always, a member of parliament and is expected with other ministers to ensure the passage of bills through the legislature.

Constitutional framework and position of Prime Minister The Constitution envisages a scheme of affairs in which the President of India is the head of the executive in terms of Article 53 with office of the Prime Minister as heading the Council of Ministers to assist and advise the President in the discharge of the executive power. To quote, Article 53 and 74 provide as under;


The executive powers of the Union shall be vested in the President and shall be exercised either directly or through subordinate officers, in accordance with the Constitution.
Article 53(1), Constitution of India
There shall be a Council of Ministers with the Prime Minister at the head to aid and advise the President who shall, in the exercise of his functions, act in accordance with such advice.

Article 74(1), Constitution of India

like most parliamentary democracies the Head of State's duties are only ceremonial, the Prime Minister of India is the head of government and has the responsibility for executive power. With India following a parliamentary system of government the Prime Minister is generally the leader of a party (or coalition of parties) that has a majority in the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Parliament of India. The Prime Minister either has to be a current member of one of the houses of Parliament, or be elected within six months of being appointed.

Role and Power of the Prime Minister
The Prime Minister, leads the functioning and exercise of authority of the Government of India. They are invited by the President as leader of the majority party in the Parliament of India to form a government at the federal level (known as Central or Union Government in India) and exercise its powers. In practice the Prime Minister nominates the members of their Council of Ministers  to the President. They also work upon to decide a core group of Ministers (known as the Cabinet) as in-charge of the important functions and ministries of the Government of India.

The Prime Minister is responsible for aiding and advising the President in distribution of work of the Government to various ministries and offices and in terms of the Government of India (Allocation of Business) Rules, 1961. The co-ordinating work is generally allocated to the Cabinet Secretariat which in turn acts as a nodal agency for the functioning of the various Ministries. While generally the work of the Government is divided into various Ministries, the Prime Minister may retain certain portfolios.

The Prime Minister, in consultation with the Cabinet, schedules and attends the sessions of the Houses of Parliament and is required to answer the question from the Members of Parliament  to them as the in-charge of the portfolios in the capacity as Prime Minister of India. The Prime Minister is also the ex officio Chairman of the Planning Commission of India. They also appoint the Deputy Chairman of the Commission, who is responsible for the functioning of the Commission and reports to the Prime Minister.

The Prime Minister represents the country in various delegations, high level meetings and international organizations that require the attendance of the highest government office  and also addresses to the nation on various issues of national or other importance They also have exclusive jurisdiction over disposal of two national funds, (i) the PM's National Relief Fund, and (ii) the PM's National Defence Fund, which they use at their discretion attain the objectives behind the establishment of these funds.

India's fourteenth Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh is rightly acclaimed as a thinker and a scholar. He is well regarded for his diligence and his academic approach to work, as well as his accessibility and his unassuming demeanour.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was born on September 26, 1932, in a village in the Punjab; province of undivided  India. Dr. Singh completed his Matriculation examinations from the Panjab University in 1948. His academic career took him from Punjab to the University of Cambridge, UK, where he earned a First Class Honors degree in Economics in 1957. Dr. Singh followed this with a D.Phil in Economics from Nuffield College at Oxford University in 1962. His book, "India's Export Trends and Prospects for Self-Sustained Growth"[Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1964] was an early critique of India's inward-oriented trade policy. Dr. Singh's academic credentials were burnished by the years he spent on the faculty of Punjab University and the prestigious Delhi School of Economics. He had a brief stint at the UNCTAD Secretariat as well, during these years. This presaged a subsequent appointment as Secretary General of the South Commission in Geneva between 1987 and 1990.

In 1971, Dr. Singh joined the Government of India as Economic Advisor in the Commerce Ministry. This was soon followed by his appointment as Chief Economic Advisor in the Ministry of Finance in 1972. Among the many Governmental positions that Dr. Singh has occupied are Secretary in the Ministry of Finance; Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission; Governor of the Reserve Bank of India; Advisor of the Prime Minister; and Chairman of the University Grants Commission.

In what was to become the turning point in the economic history of independent India, Dr. Singh spent five years between 1991 and 1996 as India's Finance Minister. His role in ushering in a comprehensive policy of economic reforms is now recognized worldwide. In the popular view of those years in India, that period is inextricably associated with the persona of Dr. Singh.

Among the many awards and honours conferred upon Dr. Singh in his public career, the most prominent are India's second highest civilian honour, the Padma Vibhushan (1987); the Jawaharlal Nehru Birth Centenary Award of the Indian Science Congress (1995); the Asia Money Award for Finance Minister of the Year (1993 and 1994); the Euro Money Award for Finance Minister of the Year (1993), the Adam Smith Prize of the University of Cambridge (1956); and the Wright's Prize for Distinguished Performance at St. John's College in Cambridge (1955). Dr. Singh has also been honoured by a number of other associations including by the Japanese Nihon Keizai Shimbun.

Dr. Singh has represented India at many international conferences and in several international organizations. He has led Indian Delegations to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Cyprus (1993) and to the World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna in 1993.

In his political career, Dr. Singh has been a Member of India's Upper House of Parliament (the Rajya Sabha) since 1991, where he was Leader of the Opposition between 1998 and 2004.

Dr. Singh and his wife Mrs. Gursharan Kaur have three daughters.

Name (Birth–Death); Constituency	Term of office		Electoral mandates (Lok Sabha)	Political party	Refs
	Jawaharlal Nehru (1889–1964) MP for Phulpur	15 August 1947	27 May 1964	1951 (1st) • 1957 (2nd) • 1962 (3rd)	Indian National Congress
		Indo-Pakistani War of 1947; created Planning commission of India and initiated Five-year plan to increase government investment in agriculture and industry; launched programmes to build irrigation canals, dams and spread the use of fertilizers to increase agricultural production; oversaw widespread poverty and unemployment, even with improvements in agriculture and infrastructure; oversaw establishment of All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Indian Institutes of Technology and Indian Institutes of Management; criminalized caste discrimination and increased the legal rights and social freedoms of women; pioneered the policy of non-alignment and co-founded the Non-Aligned Movement; Sino-Indian War; signed the Indus Waters Treaty; granted asylum to the Dalai Lama; oversaw liberation of Goa.
	Gulzarilal Nanda (1898–1998) MP for Sabarkantha	27 May 1964 (int)	9 June 1964	(3rd)	Indian National Congress
		Was caretaker Prime Minister until the election of Lal Bahadur Shastri.
	Lal Bahadur Shastri (1904–1966) MP for Allahabad	9 June 1964	11 January 1966	(3rd)	Indian National Congress
		Indo-Pakistani War of 1965; pushed for Green Revolution in India and Operation Flood; The National Dairy Development Board was formed; died from a heart attack at a summit in Tashkent.
	Gulzarilal Nanda (1898–1998) MP for Sabarkantha	11 January 1966 (int)	24 January 1966	(3rd)	Indian National Congress
		Was in office as caretaker prime minister once again, until Indira Gandhi was chosen as the new leader.
	Indira Gandhi (1917–1984) MP for Rae Bareli	24 January 1966	24 March 1977	(3rd) • 1967 (4th) • 1971 (5th)	Indian National Congress
		Nationalized banks; won the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, which resulted in the formation of Bangladesh; signed the Shimla Agreement; tested the first nuclear weapon with Smiling Buddha; initiated Green Revolution in India; established state of emergency from 1975-1977.
	Morarji Desai (1896–1995) MP for Surat	24 March 1977	28 July 1979	1977 (6th)	Janata Party
		Ended the state of emergency initiated by Indira Gandhi; improved relations with Pakistan, China and the United States; softened its relationship with the Soviet Union; launched Sixth Five-Year Plan, aiming to boost agricultural production and rural industries; the plan proved unsuccessful leading to resurging inflation, fuel shortages, unemployment and poverty; lost many MPs from Janata Party, including his rival Charan Singh, which led to his resignation.
	Charan Singh (1902–1987) MP for Baghpat	28 July 1979	14 January 1980	(6th)	Janata Party
		Initiated high level diplomatic relations with Israel; lost support of Congress, which led to his resignation without even a single session of Lok Sabha.
	Indira Gandhi (1917–1984) MP for Rae Bareli	14 January 1980 [2]	31 October 1984	1980 (7th)	Indian National Congress (Indira)
		Operation Bluestar, which subsequently led to her assassination.
	Rajiv Gandhi (1944–1991) MP for Amethi	31 October 1984	2 December 1989	1984 (8th)	Indian National Congress
		1984 anti-Sikh riots; significantly reduced License Raj; expanded telecommunications in India; signed the Indo-Sri Lanka Peace Accord; Bofors scandal; nullified the Supreme Court's judgement on Shah Bano case.
	V. P. Singh (1931–2008) MP for Fatehpur	2 December 1989	10 November 1990	1989 (9th)	Janata Dal
		Negotiated terrorist kidnapping of Mufti Mohammad Sayeed's daughter; visited Golden Temple to ask for forgiveness for Operation Bluestar; withdrew IPKF from Sri Lanka; initiated fixed quota/reservation for all public sector jobs as per recommendation from Mandal Commission; Ram Janmabhoomi agitation and subsequent loss of vote of no confidence because of it.
	Chandra Shekhar Singh (1927–2007) MP for Ballia	10 November 1990	21 June 1991	(9th)	Samajwadi Janata Party
		Resigned due to accusations of spying on former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, and subsequent withdrawal of Congress' support; Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi.

	P. V. Narasimha Rao (1921–2004) MP for Nandyal	21 June 1991	16 May 1996	1991 (10th)	Indian National Congress
		Initiated Economic liberalization in India; SEBI Act 1992; formation of National Stock Exchange of India; 1993 Bombay bombings; introduced TADA; Demolition of Babri Masjid.
	Atal Bihari Vajpayee (1924– ) MP for Lucknow	16 May 1996	1 June 1996	1996† (11th)	Bharatiya Janata Party
		Hung parliament†. Was in power for only 13 days, after BJP could not gather enough support from other parties to form a majority.
	H. D. Deve Gowda (1933– ) MP for Karnataka	1 June 1996	21 April 1997	1996† (11th)	Janata Dal
		Hung parliament†. After a failed attempt of forming a BJP government, Congress refused to form a government and instead supported a minority United Front coalition led by Janata Dal. President of China Jiang Zemin begins the first visit by a Chinese head of state to India; initiates President's rule in Gujarat.
	Inder Kumar Gujral (1919– ) MP for Bihar	21 April 1997	19 March 1998	(11th)	Janata Dal
		Fodder scam; Jain Commission.
	Atal Bihari Vajpayee (1924– ) MP for Lucknow	19 March 1998 [2]	22 May 2004	1998 (12th) • 1999 (13th)	Bharatiya Janata Party
		Pokhran nuclear tests; Kargil War; National Highway Development Project; Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana; Barak Missile Deal Scandal;POTA; Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan; 2001 Gujarat earthquake; 2002 Gujarat violence.
	Dr. Manmohan Singh (1932– ) Rajya Sabha Member for Assam	22 May 2004	Incumbent	2004 (14th) • 2009 (15th)	Indian National Congress
		Indo-US civilian nuclear agreement; won the 2008 Lok Sabha vote of confidence; Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline; expanding ties with Israel; Economic crisis of 2008; National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA); Right to Information Act; revoking of POTA; 2008 Mumbai attacks and the implementation of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act; National_Investigation_Agency_(India);