Prime Minister's Office (India) Explained

Agency Name:Prime Minister's Office
Native Name:Hindi: Pradhānamantrī Kāryālaya
Picture Caption:Secretariat Building, South Block
Jurisdiction:Government of India
Headquarters:Secretariat Building, New Delhi, India
Budget:[1] (2017–18 est.)
Minister1 Name:Narendra Modi
Minister1 Pfo:Prime Minister
Deputyminister1 Name:Jitendra Singh
Deputyminister1 Pfo:Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office
Chief1 Name:Pramod Kumar Mishra, IAS
Chief1 Position:Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister
Child1 Agency:Department of Atomic Energy (DAE)
Child2 Agency:Department of Space (DoS)
Child3 Agency:Performance Management Division (PMD)
Child4 Agency:National Security Council (NSC)

The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) (IAST: Pradhānamantrī Kāryālaya) consists of the immediate staff of the Prime Minister of India, as well as multiple levels of support staff reporting to the Prime Minister. The PMO is headed by the Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister of India, currently Pramod Kumar Mishra. The PMO was originally called the Prime Minister's Secretariat until 1977, when it was renamed during the Morarji Desai ministry.

It is part of the Government of India located in the South Block of the Secretariat Building.

The Prime Minister's Official Website is available in 11 Indian languages namely Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Meitei (Manipuri), Marathi, Odia, Punjabi, Tamil and Telugu in addition to English and Hindi, out of the 22 official languages of the Indian Republic.[2]

History

During the tenure of Jawaharlal Nehru as Prime Minister, the then Prime Minister's Secretariat was headed by a Joint Secretary to Government of India until his death.[3] The post of Principal Secretary to Prime Minister was created during the tenure of Indira Gandhi as Prime Minister.[3] The Principal Secretary to PM is the head of the Prime Minister's Office.

Function

The PMO provides secretarial assistance to the Prime Minister. It is headed by the Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister. The PMO includes the anti-corruption unit and the public wing dealing with grievances. The office houses the Prime Minister and few selected officers of Indian Civil Service who work with him to manage and coordinate government and his office. The Prime Minister through his office coordinates with all ministers in the central union cabinet, minister of independent charges and governors and ministers of state government. The PMO is located at the South Block of the Secretariat Building.

The subject-matter of files required to be submitted to the Prime Minister depends on whether he is holding direct charge of the Ministry or whether there is a Cabinet Minister or Minister of State (Independent Charge) in charge of the Ministry. In the case of the latter, most matters are dealt with by the Cabinet Minister / Minister of State-in-charge. Only important policy issues, which the Minister concerned feels should be submitted to the Prime Minister for orders or information, are received in the PMO.

In cases where the Prime Minister is the Minister-in-charge, matters requiring Ministerial approval which are not delegated to the Minister of State/Deputy Minister, if any, are submitted for orders. The Prime Minister has traditionally been the Minister-in-charge of the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions and the Departments of Space and Atomic Energy.

Some of the important matters that require the Prime Minister's personal attention include the following:

  1. Important defence-related issues;
  2. Decorations, both civilian and defence, where Presidential approval is required;
  3. All important policy issues;
  4. Proposals for appointment of Indian Heads of Missions abroad and requests for grant of agreement for foreign Heads of Missions posted to India;
  5. All important decisions relating to the Cabinet Secretariat;
  6. Appointments to State Administrative Tribunals and the Central Administrative Tribunal, UPSC, Election Commission, Appointment of members of statutory/constitutional Committees, Commissions attached to various Ministries;
  7. All policy matters relating to the administration of the Indian Administrative Service and other Civil Services and administrative reforms;
  8. Special Packages announced by the Prime Minister for States are monitored in the PMO and periodical reports submitted to Prime Minister; and

Parliament Questions

Parliament Questions relating to the Ministries and Departments of which Prime Minister is the Minister-in-charge are answered by a Minister of State nominated for the purpose or by Prime Minister himself.

PM's Funds

The Prime Minister's National Relief Fund (PMNRF) and the National Defence Fund (NDF) are operated directly from the PMO. The Prime Minister's National Relief Fund was established in January 1948 as Trust, by then Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, with public contributions to assist displaced persons from Pakistan, due to partition of India. In the year 2013–2014, the Fund received donations worth .[4]

The Office

The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) located in South Block, overlooking the grandeur of Rashtrapati Bhawan. Though in the 1990s I.K. Gujral and some of his predecessors, used Prime Minister's Residence (PMR) spread over a 10-acre complex as office.[5] It is sandwiched between the cabinet secretariat on one side and the ministries of external affairs and defence on the other. The 20-room PMO is equipped to provide both infrastructural and manpower support to the nation's chief executive. Hi-tech accessories and sophisticated communication devices were installed to monitor domestic and international developments.

Important officers in the PMO

Senior officials in the Office of the Prime Minister of India[6]
Name[7] Designation Rank
Cabinet Minister[8]
Ajit Kumar Doval, IPS, KC[9] Cabinet Minister[10]
T. V. Somanathan, IASCabinet secretaryCabinet Secretary[11]
Amit Khare, IASAdvisor to the PMSecretary to the Government of India
Tarun Kapoor, IASAdvisor to the PMSecretary to the Government of India
Arvind Shrivastava,IASAdditional Secretary, PMOAdditional Secretary to Government of India
Hari Ranjan Rao, IASAdditional Secretary, PMOAdditional Secretary to Government of India
Atish Chandra, IASAdditional Secretary, PMOAdditional Secretary to Government of India
Amit Singh Negi, IASAdditional Secretary, PMOAdditional Secretary to Government of India
C. Sridhar,IASJoint Secretary, PMOJoint Secretary to Government of India
Deepak Mittal,IFSJoint Secretary, PMOJoint Secretary to Government of India
Vivek Kumar, IFSPrivate Secretary to the PMJoint Secretary to Government of India
Hardik Satishchandra Shah, IAS[12] Private Secretary to the PMJoint Secretary to Government of India

Organisation

Department of Atomic Energy (DAE)

See main article: Department of Atomic Energy.

Department of Space

See main article: Department of Space. The Department of Space manages the following agencies and institutes:[13]

Project Monitoring Group

See main article: Performance Management Division. In June 2013, a cell within the Cabinet Secretariat called the Project Monitoring Group was created to track stalled investment projects, both in the public and private sectors and to remove the implementation bottlenecks in these projects on a fast-track basis.[15] An online portal open to the public was created where projects worth over were to be tracked.

The Project Monitoring Group was moved to the Prime Minister's Office in 2014.[16] [17]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Ministry of Home Affairs - Cabinet Secretariat. Ministry of Finance, Government of India. https://web.archive.org/web/20180119001032/http://www.indiabudget.gov.in/ub2017-18/eb/sbe47.pdf. 19 January 2018. dead. 18 January 2018.
  2. Web site: PMINDIA Multilingual Website now available in 13 languages Assamese and Manipuri versions of Prime Minister's Official Website launched . 2023-01-23 . pib.gov.in.
  3. Book: Handbook Of Public Relations in India. 1968. Allied Publishers. 9788170233343.
  4. http://pmindia.gov.in/en/pms-funds/ PM National Relief Fund
  5. Web site: Race Course Road: PMO Shifts to PMR . India Today . 8 September 1997 . 17 September 2014 . Prabhu Chawla . https://web.archive.org/web/20150924034338/http://www.india-today.com/itoday/08091997/prabhu.html . 24 September 2015 . dead .
  6. Web site: List of Officers (PMO). 11 September 2017. Prime Minister of India. 14 January 2018.
  7. Web site: List of Officers. PMO. 17 September 2014.
  8. Web site: Nripendra Mishra - Executive Record Sheet. Department of Personnel and Training, Government of India. 14 August 2017.
  9. News: डोवाल बने राष्ट्रीय सुरक्षा सलाहकार. 4 June 2014. BBC. 31 May 2014. hi. ...अजित कुमार डोवाल को प्रधानमंत्री नरेंद्र मोदी का राष्ट्रीय सुरक्षा सलाहकार.... live. https://web.archive.org/web/20150108114800/http://www.bbc.co.uk/hindi/india/2014/05/140530_ajit_doval_new_nsa_aa. 8 January 2015. Doval becomes National Security Advisor.
  10. Web site: Roche. Elizabeth. 3 June 2019. Ajit Doval to stay as NSA, gets cabinet rank with 5-year term. 15 September 2020. mint. en.
  11. Web site: Dr. Pramod Kumar Misra - Executive Record Sheet. Department of Personnel and Training, Government of India. 14 August 2017.
  12. News: Hardik Satishchandra Shah appointed Private Secretary to PM Modi . . 30 July 2020. 28 February 2021.
  13. Web site: DoS structure. Department of Space, Government of India. https://web.archive.org/web/20140927110830/http://dos.gov.in/structure.aspx. 27 September 2014. dead. 22 September 2014.
  14. Web site: NEC – North Eastern Council. Necouncil.nic.in. https://web.archive.org/web/20120225165210/http://necouncil.nic.in/index3.asp?sslid=72&subsublinkid=153. 25 February 2012. dead. 8 February 2013.
  15. Web site: Prime Minister sets up a Project Monitoring Group to Track Large Investment Projects. 13 June 2013. Press Information Bureau of India. 18 January 2018.
  16. News: Monitoring group under PMO to push 225 pending big-ticket projects worth Rs 13 lakh cr. Makkar. Sahil. 28 December 2014. Business Standard. New Delhi. 18 January 2018.
  17. Web site: India's Modi moves in to speed up $300 billion stuck projects. https://web.archive.org/web/20180118181758/https://uk.reuters.com/article/us-india-investment-modi/indias-modi-moves-in-to-speed-up-300-billion-stuck-projects-idUSKBN0JW0TD20141218. dead. 18 January 2018. Nair. Rupam Jain. Das. Krishna N.. 18 December 2014. Chalmers. John. Birsel. Robert. Reuters. New Delhi. 18 January 2018.

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