“This Government will function as a Cabinet and will be jointly responsible for its decisions” –  Nehru wrote to to Viceroy Lord Wavell 

Definition of Cabinet: Role in National Decision-Making

• The Cabinet is the core of the Council of Ministers. It consists of 15 to 18 members, who are the senior most and in fact most effective ministers of the council. 
• The PM along with the cabinet ministers deliberate and decide on various policies of national importance. 
• The cabinet ministers hold the key and important portfolios such as Home, Defence, External Affairs, Atomic Energy, Petroleum inter alia. 
• As the cabinet ministers jointly form the central decision-making authority of the nation, the Prime Minister selects them with much caution. 
• The meetings of the cabinet under the chairmanship of the Prime Minister are held once in a week and in the case of necessity, more than once in a week and even in a day. 

Role of Cabinet Ministers in Shaping Indian Governance

• Cabinet is the highest decision-making authority in the Indian politico- administrative system. 
• Cabinet envisages as chief policy formulating body of the Central government. 
• It is the supreme executive authority of the Central government. 
• PM is the chief coordinator of the Central administration. 
• It is an advisory body to the president and its advice is binding on him (president can return advice for reconsideration only at once)
• Cabinet is the chief crisis manager and thus deals with all emergencies. 
• It deals with all major legislative and financial matters. 
• Cabinet exercises control over higher appointments like constitutional authorities and senior secretariat administrators. 
• Cabinet deals with all foreign policies and foreign affairs.

Why is the Cabinet system important in Government?

• It is easier to build consensus 
• More effective discussion and efficient time utilization
• Less burden on public exchequer – Economic efficiency
• More priority to secrecy 
• More rational division of work – Large size Council of Ministers ties up too many tongues and less viewpoint is available. 

How is Executive power checked?

• Legislative check
• Judicial check through mechanism of judicial review
• Opinion of media and public 
• Opinion of International community
• Ensure global constitutionalism (like treaties, conventions etc.) 

Perspectives from Cabinet on its role and significance in Governance:

• Walter Begehot: 
  • “The Cabinet, in a word, is a board of control chosen by the legislature, out of persons whom it trusts and knows, to rule the nation.”
  •  “The Cabinet is a hyphen that joins, the buckle that binds the executive and legislative departments together”.
• Ramsay Muir: “The Cabinet is the steering wheel of the ship of the state.” 
• Lowell: “The Cabinet is the keystone of the political arch”. 
• Sir John Marriott: “The Cabinet is the pivot around which the whole political machinery revolves”. 
• Gladstone: “The Cabinet is the solar orb around which the other bodies revolve”. 
• Barker: “The Cabinet is the magnet of policy”. 
• Sir Ivor Jennings: “The Cabinet is the core of the British Constitutional System. It provides unity to the British system of Government”. 
• L.S. Amery: “The Cabinet is the central directing instrument of Government” 

What role does the ‘Kitchen Cabinet’ play in Indian Politics?

• Kitchen Cabinet is the informal and non-constitutional body (extra-constitutional), unlike CoM which has constitutional status.
• Every Prime Minister in India has had his ‘Inner Cabinet’–a circle within a circle. During the era of Indira Gandhi, the ‘Inner Cabinet’ which came to be called the ‘Kitchen Cabinet’ was particularly powerful. 
• The Kitchen Cabinet consists of an informal body of the Prime Minister and 2-4 influential colleagues in whom he has faith and with whom he can discuss every problem.
• Outsiders like friends and family members of the Prime Minister can also be included.
• Members of the kitchen cabinet advise the Prime Minister on important political and administrative issues and assist him in making crucial decisions. 
• The philosophy of ‘kitchen cabinet’ also exists in the USA and Britain, it is not unique to the Indian politico- administrative system.
• Various notations to Kitchen Cabinet:
  • ‘Kitchen Cabinet’ – by Indira Gandhi.
  • ‘Dehradun Brigade’ – by Rajiv Gandhi.
  • ‘Grand Council of India’ – by L. B. Shastri.
    

What are the merits and demerits of an Inner Cabinet System?

What distinguishes the Cabinet from the Council of Ministers in a Government?