India is a Union of States. It is a Sovereign Socialist Democratic Republic with a parliamentary system of government.

The Republic is governed in terms of the Constitution of India which was adopted by the Constituent Assembly on 26th November 1949 and came into force on 26th January 1950 The Drafting Committee, under the Chairmanship of Dr. Ambedkar, embodied the decision of the Assembly with alternative and additional proposals in the form of a 'Draft Constitution of India which was published in February, 1948.The Constitution provides for a Parliamentary form of government which is federal in structure with certain unitary features. The constitutional head of the Executive of the Union is the President. As per Article 79 of the Constitution of India, the council of the Parliament of the Union consists of the President and two Houses to be known as the Council of States (Rajya Sabha) and the House of the People (Lok Sabha). Article 74(1) of the Constitution provides that there shall be a Council of Ministers with a Prime Minister as its head to aid and advise the President, who shall exercise his functions in accordance to the advice. The real executive power is thus vested in the Council of Ministers with the Prime Minister as its head.

 The Parliament of India, representing as it does all politically organized shades of public opinion at the national level, occupies a preeminent and pivotal position in the country's constitutional setup. It has also, over the years, carved out for itself a unique place in the esteem and affection of the people as the forum through which they articulate and realize their grievances and aspirations and seek solutions to their problems. The Constitution of India provides for a bicameral Parliament consisting of the President and two Houses known as the Council of States (Rajya Sabha) and the House of the People (Lok Sabha). Normally, three Sessions of Parliament are held in a year: (i) Budget Session (February-May); (ii) Monsoon Session (July-August); and (iii) Winter Session (November-December).

 The Rajya Sabha is to consist of not more than 250 members. Of these 12 are nominated by the President from amongst persons having special knowledge or practical experience in respect of such matters as literature, science, art or social service. The remaining seats are allocated to the various States and Union territories, roughly in proportion to their population; each State is, however, represented by at least one member. The representatives of a State are elected by the elected members of the Legislative Assembly of that State in accordance with the system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote. The minimum age for membership of the House is 30 years. The Rajya Sabha was constituted for the first time on 3 April 1952 and had its first Session on 13 May 1952. It is a permanent body and is not subject to dissolution, but one-third of its members retire every second year by rotation and are replaced by newly-elected members. The term of an individual member of Rajya Sabha is six years.The Rajya Sabha at present consists of 245 members: 233 represent the States and Union territories and 12 nominated members.

 The Lok Sabha is composed of representatives of the people chosen by direct election on the basis of adult suffrage. The maximum strength of the House envisaged by the Constitution is 552: upto 530 members to represent the States, up to 20 members to represent the Union territories and not more than two members of the Anglo-Indian community to be nominated by the President of India if the President is of opinion that the community is not adequately represented in the House. The total elective membership is distributed among the States in such manner that the ratio between the number of seats allotted to each State and the population of the State is, so far as practicable, the same for all States. The qualifying age for membership of the Lok Sabha is 25 years. The Lok Sabha, unless sooner dissolved, continues for five years from the date appointed for its first meeting and the expiration of the period of five years operates as dissolution of the House. However, while a Proclamation of Emergency is in operation, this period may be extended by Parliament by law for a period not exceeding one year at a time and not extending in any case beyond a period of six months after the Proclamation has ceased to operate.

S NO

STATES Andaman & Nicobar

CHIEF MINISTERS

GOVERNORS Lt. Gen. (Retd.) Bhopinder Singh, PVSM, AVSM

2
3 4 5 6

Andhra Pradesh

Nallari Kiran Kumar Reddy

Shri. E. S. L. Narasimhan
General (Rtd.) J.J. Singh Shri. Janaki Ballav Pattanaik Sh Devanand Konwar Shri Shivraj V. Patil

Arunachal Pradesh Nabam Tuki Assam Bihar Chandigarh Shri Tarun Gogoi Shri Nitish Kumar

S NO

STATES Chhattisgarh Goa Gujarat Haryana Himachal Pradesh

CHIEF MINISTERS Dr. Raman Singh Shri Digambar Kamat Shri Narendra Modi Shri Bhupinder Singh Hooda Prof. Prem Kumar Dhumal

GOVERNORS Shri Shekhar Dutt K. Sankaranarayanan Dr. Kamla Beniwal Shri Jagannath Pahadia Urmila Singh

7 8 9 10 11

12
13 14 15

Jammu Kashmir
Jharkhand Kerala Karnataka

Omar Abdullah
Arjun Munda Shri Oommen Chandy Shri D V Sadananda Gowda

Sh. N. N. Vohra
Dr. Syed Ahmed M. O. Hasan Farook Maricar Shri H R Bhardwaj

S NO

STATE Madhya Pradesh Maharashtra Manipur Meghalaya Mizoram Nagaland New Delhi Orissa

CHIEF MINISTERS Shri Shivraj Singh Chouhan Shri Prithviraj Chavan Shri Okram Ibobi Singh Mukul Sangma Lal Thanhawla Shri Neiphiu Rio Smt Sheila Dikshit Sh. Naveen Patnaik

GOVERNORS Ram Naresh Yadav K. Sankaranarayanan Sh. Gurbachan Jagat Sh. Ranjit Shekhar Mooshahary Shri Vakkom Purushothaman Shri Nikhil Kumar Mr. Tejendra Khanna Shri Murlidhar Chandrakant Bhandare

16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23

24

Puducherry

Shri N. Rangasamy

Sh. Iqbal Singh

S NO 25 26 27 28 29 30 31

STATE Punjab Rajasthan Sikkim Tamil Nadu Tripura Uttar Pradesh Uttarakhand

CHIEF MINISTER Shri Parkash Singh Badal Shri Ashok Gehlot Shri Pawan Chamling

GOVERNOR Shri Shivraj Patil Shri Shivraj Patil Sh. Balmiki Prasad Singh

Sushree J. Jayalalithaa Konijeti Josiah Shri Manik Sarkar Kumari Mayawati Bhuwan Chandra Khanduri Dr. D Y Patil Shri B L Joshi Smt. Margaret Alva

32
33

West Bengal
Dadra and Nagar Haveli

Km. Mamata Banerjee

Shri M. K Narayanan
Shri Satya Gopal

34
35

Daman and Diu

Lakshadweep Shri B V Selvarj (Administrator)

Shri Satya Gopal

Shri J.K. Dadoo

S NO 1

PRESIDENT Dr. Rajendra Prasad

VICE PRESIDENT Dr.S Radhakrishnan

TENURE 26-Jan-1950 - 13-May-1962

2
3

Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan
Zakir Hussain

Zakir Hussain
Varahagiri Venkata Giri

13-May-1962 13-May-1967
13-May-1967 5-Mar-1969

Varahagiri Venkata Giri

Muhammad Hidayatullah 4 Varahagiri Venkata Giri

ACTING PRESIDENT
ACTING PRESIDENT Gopal Swarup Pathak

3-May-1969 20-Jul-1969
20-Jul-1969 24-Aug-1969

24-Aug-1969 24-Aug-1974

S NO

PRESIDENT Basappa Danappa Jatti

VICE PRESIDENT ACTING PRESIDENT Basappa Danappa Jatti Muhammad Hidayatullah Ramaswamy Venkataraman

TENURE 11-Feb -1977 25-Jul-1977 24-Aug-1974 11-Feb-1977 25-Jul-1977 - 25-Jul-1982 25-Jul-1982 25-Jul-1987

5 6 7

Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed Neelam Sanjiva Reddy Giani Zail Singh

8
9 10 11 12

Ramaswamy Venkataraman
Shankar Dayal Sharma Kocheril Raman Narayanan A. P. J. Abdul Kalam Pratibha Patil

Shankar Dayal Sharma

Kocheril Raman Narayanan Krishan Kant Bhairon Singh Shekhawat Mohammad Hamid Ansari

25-Jul-1987 25-Jul-1992
25-Jul-1992 -25-Jul-1997 25-Jul-1997 -25-Jul-2002 25-Jul-2002 - 25-Jul-2007 25-Jul-2007 - TILL

S NO
1

PRIME MINISTERS IF INDIA

Dr. Manmohan Singh

TENURE
May 22, 2004 till date

2
3

Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee

Shri Inder Kumar Gujral

March 19, 1998 May 22, 2004

April 21, 1997 March 19, 1998

4
5

Shri H. D. Deve Gowda

Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee

June 1, 1996 April 21, 1997

May 16, 1996 June 1, 1996

6
7

Shri P. V. Narasimha Rao

Shri Chandra Shekhar

June 21, 1991- May 16, 1996

November 10, 1990 June 21, 1991

Shri Vishwanath Pratap Singh

December 2, 1989 November 10, 1990

S NO 9 10 11

PRIME MINISTERS OF INDIA Shri Rajiv Gandhi Mrs. Indira Gandhi Shri Charan Singh

TENURE October 31, 1984 December 2, 1989 January 14, 1980 October 31, 1984 July 28, 1979 January 14, 1980

12
13 14 15 16

Shri Morarji Desai

Mrs. Indira Gandhi Shri Gulzari Lal Nanda Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri Shri Gulzari Lal Nanda

March 24, 1977 July 28, 1979

January 24, 1966 March 24, 1977 January 11, 1966 January 24, 1966 June 9, 1964 January 11, 1966 May 27, 1964 June 9, 1964

17

Shri Jawaharlal Nehru

August 15, 1947 May 27, 1964

First President of India - Rajendra Prasad (19501962) First Women President of India - Pratibha Patil(2007-till date) First Vice-President of India - Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan First Prime Minister of India - Jawaharlal Nehru (19471964) First Deputy Prime Minister of India - Vallabhbhai Patel (19471950) First Prime Minister from South India - P. V. Narasimha Rao, 1991 First Governor General of Independent India - Lord Mountbatten, 1947 First Indian Governor-General of Indian Union - C Rajagopalachari, 1948 First Chief Justice of India - H. J. Kania (19471951) First Sikh Prime Minister of India - Manmohan Singh(2004Till date) First Muslim President of India - Zakir Hussain (19671969) First Sikh President of India - Giani Zail Singh First Indian ICS Officer of India -Satyendranath Tagore, 1863 First Speaker of Lok Sabha - G.V. Mavlankar (19521956) First Finance Minister of Independent India - R.K. Shanmukhan Chetty (19471949),

 Presentation of First Budget after India's Independence : R. K. Shanmukhan Chetty on Nov 26, 1947 First Home Minister of India: Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel First Woman Cabinet Minister in India - Rajkumari Amrit Kaur First Woman Minister in India - Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit First Woman Chief Minister in India - Sucheta Kriplani First Female Home Minister in India - Sabitha Indra Reddy in Andhra Pradesh Govt.. Youngest ever Chief Minister in India - Prafulla Kumar Mahanta, Assam, at the age of 32 First Woman Speaker of the Lok Sabha - Meira Kumar First Woman Finance Minister of State Government in India - Dr Upinderjit Kaur, in Punjab Govt. India held its first constitutional elections in 1952 after which he was re-elected