Being a central executive body of the government the cabinet performs wide ranging functions which make its role critical and decisive. The entire administration and even the Parliament rotates around it and seeks its leadership in resolving conflicts and managing the affairs of government.
These functions can be enumerated as under:
(1) Formulation, execution, evaluation and revision of public policy in various spheres which the party in power seeks to progress and practice.
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(2) Coordination among various ministries and other organs of the government which might indulge in conflicts, wastefulness, duplication of functions and empire building.
(3) Preparation and monitoring of the legislative agenda which translated the policies of the government in action through statutory enactments.
(4) Executive control over administration through appointments, rule making powers and handling of crises and disasters – natural as well as political.
(5) Financial management through fiscal control and operation of funds like Consolidated Fund and Contingency Funds of India.
(6) Review the work of planning and Planning Commission.
These functions are all pervading and interdependent. The members individually as well as collectively and through the Prime Minister perform these functions within the parameters of the Constitution. The council of ministers exercises the executive authority of the Union Government. It is the cabinet which steers the ship of the state. Under our Constitution, the cabinet can issue directives to state government under certain circumstances and under the state of emergency it can virtually control the working of the state governments.
Policy Making Functions:
The cabinet is a policy-formulating body. All kinds of policies, national, internal, external and international are thrashed out in the cabinet, which then presents them to the Parliament for approval. Once the policy has been determined by the cabinet, it is for the ministry/department concerned to carry it out.
A cabinet minister is in-charge of a specific ministry or department and it is his duty to administer the subjects included in his portfolio. In addition, he also shares a collective responsibility with other members of the cabinet for the overall policy for anything of high importance that is done in every branch of public business besides his own.