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{{Short description|none}}
{{Distinguish|List of union Indian governments}}
{{See also|List of central agencies in India}}
The [[Government of India]] exercises its [[executive authority]] through several [[Ministry (government department)|government ministries]] or departments of state. A [[ministry (government department)|ministry]] is composed of employed officials, known as [[Civil Services|civil servants]], and is politically accountable through a [[Minister (government)|minister
]].
Most major ministries are headed by a Cabinet Minister, who sits in the Union Council of Ministers, and is typically supported by a team of junior ministers called the Ministers of State. A union minister is also known as a cabinet minister.

Some ministries have subdivisions called departments. For example, the [[Ministry of Communications (India)|Ministry of Communications]] has two departments - the [[Department of Telecommunications]] and [[Department of Posts|the Department of Posts]].

== Current Ministries ==
There are {{wd|qualifier|edit|P360|Q192350|P1114}} Union ministries and {{wd|qualifier|edit|P360|Q643589|P1114}} departments in India.<ref>{{Cite web |date=10 June 2024 |title=Portfolios of the Union Council of Ministers |url=https://www.pmindia.gov.in/en/news_updates/portfolios-of-the-union-council-of-ministers-2/?comment=disable |website=www.pmindia.gov.in/en/}}</ref>
{{static row numbers}}{{sort under}}
{| class="sortable wikitable static-row-numbers" style="width:100%;"
|- style="background:#CCCC;"
!Ministry
!Established
!Cabinet Minister
|-
|[[Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare|Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare]]
|1947
|[[Shivraj Singh Chouhan]]
|-
|[[Ministry of Ayush|Ayush]]
|2014
|[[Prataprao Jadhav]]
|-
|[[Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers|Chemicals and Fertilizers]]
|1991
|[[J. P. Nadda]]
|-
|[[Ministry of Civil Aviation (India)|Civil Aviation]]
|1947
|[[Kinjarapu Ram Mohan Naidu]]
|-
|[[Ministry of Coal (India)|Coal]]
|1973
|[[G. Kishan Reddy]]
|-
|[[Ministry of Commerce and Industry (India)|Commerce and Industry]]
|1947
|[[Piyush Goyal]]
|-
|[[Ministry of Communications (India)|Communications]]
|2016
|[[Jyotiraditya Scindia]]
|-
|[[Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution|Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution]]
|1946
|[[Pralhad Joshi]]
|-
|[[Ministry of Co-operation|Co-operation]]
|2021
|[[Amit Shah]]
|-
|[[Ministry of Corporate Affairs|Corporate Affairs]]
|2003
|[[Nirmala Sitharaman]]
|-
|[[Ministry of Culture (India)|Culture]]
|1999
|[[Gajendra Singh Shekhawat]]
|-
|[[Ministry of Defence (India)|Defence]]
|1947
|[[Rajnath Singh]]
|-
|[[Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region|Development of North Eastern Region]]
|2003
|[[Jyotiraditya Scindia]]
|-
|[[Ministry of Earth Sciences|Earth Sciences]]
|2006
|[[Jitendra Singh (politician, born 1956)|Dr. Jitendra Singh]] (Independent Charge)
|-
|[[Ministry of Education (India)|Education]]
|1947
|[[Dharmendra Pradhan]]
|-
|[[Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology|Electronics and Information Technology]]
|2016
|[[Ashwini Vaishnaw]]
|-
|[[Ministry of Environment and Forests (India)|Environment, Forests and Climate Change]]
|1985
|[[Bhupender Yadav]]
|-
|[[Ministry of External Affairs (India)|External Affairs]]
|1946
|[[S. Jaishankar]]
|-
|[[Ministry of Finance (India)|Finance]]
|1946
|[[Nirmala Sitharaman]]
|-
|[[Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying|Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying]]
|2019
|[[Rajiv Ranjan Singh|Lalan Singh]]
|-
|[[Ministry of Food Processing Industries|Food Processing Industries]]
|1988
|[[Chirag Paswan]]
|-
|[[Ministry of Health and Family Welfare|Health and Family Welfare]]
|1947
|[[J. P. Nadda]]
|-
|[[Ministry of Heavy Industries|Heavy Industries]]
|2021
|[[H. D. Kumaraswamy]]
|-
|[[Ministry of Home Affairs (India)|Home Affairs]]
|1947
|[[Amit Shah]]
|-
|[[Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs|Housing and Urban Affairs]]
|2017
|[[Manohar Lal Khattar]]
|-
|[[Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (India)|Information and Broadcasting]]
|1947
|[[Ashwini Vaishnaw]]
|-
|[[Ministry of Jal Shakti|Jal Shakti]]
|2019
|[[C. R. Patil]]
|-
|[[Ministry of Labour and Employment (India)|Labour and Employment]]
|1947
|[[Mansukh Mandaviya]]
|-
|[[Ministry of Law and Justice (India)|Law and Justice]]
|1947
|[[Arjun Ram Meghwal]] (Independent Charge)
|-
|[[Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises|Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises]]
|2007
|[[Jitan Ram Manjhi]]
|-
|[[Ministry of Mines (India)|Mines]]
|1957
|[[G. Kishan Reddy]]
|-
|[[Ministry of Minority Affairs|Minority Affairs]]
|2006
|[[Kiren Rijiju]]
|-
|[[Ministry of New and Renewable Energy|New and Renewable Energy]]
|1992
|[[Pralhad Joshi]]
|-
|[[Ministry of Panchayati Raj|Panchayati Raj]]
|2004
|[[Lalan Singh]]
|-
|[[Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs (India)|Parliamentary Affairs]]
|1949
|[[Kiren Rijiju]]
|-
|[[Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions|Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions]]
|1970
|[[Narendra Modi]] (Additional Charge)
|-
|[[Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas|Petroleum and Natural Gas]]
|1991
|[[Hardeep Singh Puri]]
|-
|[[Ministry of Planning (India)|Planning]]
|2014
|[[Rao Inderjit Singh]] (Independent Charge)
|-
|[[Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways|Ports, Shipping and Waterways]]
|1947
|[[Sarbananda Sonowal]]
|-
|[[Ministry of Power (India)|Power]]
|1992
|[[Manohar Lal Khattar|Manohar Lal]]
|-
|[[Prime Minister's Office (India)|Prime Minister's Office]]
|1977
|[[Narendra Modi]] (Additional Charge)
|-
|[[Ministry of Railways (India)|Railways]]
|1947
|[[Ashwini Vaishnaw]]
|-
|[[Ministry of Road Transport and Highways|Road Transport and Highways]]
|1942
|[[Nitin Gadkari]]
|-
|[[Ministry of Rural Development (India)|Rural Development]]
|1980
|[[Shivraj Singh Chouhan]]
|-
|[[Ministry of Science and Technology (India)|Science and Technology]]
|1971
|[[Jitendra Singh (politician, born 1956)|Dr. Jitendra Singh]] (Independent Charge)
|-
|[[Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship|Skill Development and Entrepreneurship]]
|2014
|[[Jayant Chaudhary]]
|-
|[[Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment|Social Justice and Empowerment]]
|1985
|[[Virendra Kumar Khatik]]
|-
|[[Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation|Statistics and Programme Implementation]]
|1999
|[[Rao Inderjit Singh]] (Independent Charge)
|-
|[[Ministry of Steel|Steel]]
|1957
|[[H. D. Kumaraswamy]]
|-
|[[Ministry of Textiles (India)|Textiles]]
|1958
|[[Giriraj Singh]]
|-
|[[Ministry of Tourism (India)|Tourism]]
|1999
|[[Gajendra Singh Shekhawat]]
|-
|[[Ministry of Tribal Affairs|Tribal Affairs]]
|1999
|[[Jual Oram]]
|-
|[[Ministry of Women and Child Development|Women and Child Development]]
|1985
|[[Annpurna Devi]]
|-
|[[Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports|Youth Affairs and Sports]]
|2000
|[[Mansukh Mandaviya]]
|}

== Former ministries ==
The following ministries once functioned, but have since become defunct, generally because of a merger with another ministry or division into new ministries.
{{static row numbers}}{{sort under}}
{| class="sortable wikitable static-row-numbers" style="width:100%;"
|- style="background:#CCCC;"
!Ministry name
!Established
!Defunct
!Fate
|-
|Agriculture
| August 1947
| rowspan="2" |1 February 1951
| rowspan="2" |Merged to constitute the Ministry of Food and Agriculture.<ref name="dfpd">{{cite web|title=History|url=http://dfpd.nic.in/history.htm#|website=dfpd.nic.in|access-date=6 June 2016}}</ref>
|-
|Food
|29 August 1947
|-
|Food and Agriculture
|1 February 1951
|October 1956
|Bifurcated into the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Food.
|-
|Agriculture
| rowspan="2" |October 1956
| rowspan="2" |17 April 1957
| rowspan="2" |Merged once again to form the Ministry of Food and Agriculture.<ref name="dfpd"/>
|-
|Food
|-
|Food and Agriculture
|17 April 1957
|January 1966
|Merged with the Ministry of Community Development and Cooperation to form the Ministry of Food, Agriculture, Community Development and Cooperation. The new ministry was renamed the Ministry of Agriculture in 1971, with four departments.<ref name="dfpd"/>
|-
|Agriculture
|January 1966
|1983
|The Department of Food was separated from the ministry and elevated to the new Ministry of Food and Civil Supplies.<ref name="dfpd"/>
|-
|Food and Civil Supplies
|1983
|June 1991
|Bifurcated into the Ministry of Food and the Ministry of Civil Supplies.<ref name="dfpd"/>
|-
|Food
| rowspan="2" |June 1991
| rowspan="2" |4 June 1997
| rowspan="2" |Merged to form Ministry of Food and Consumer Affairs with three departments - Department of Food & Civil Supplies, Department of Sugar and Edible Oils and Department of Consumer Affairs. On 15 October 1999, the new ministry was renamed as the Ministry of Consumer Affairs & Public Distribution, having the same three departments. On 17 July 2000, the Ministry of Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution was renamed as the [[Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution]], with two departments - Department of Food & Public Distribution and Department of Consumer Affairs.<ref name="dfpd"/>
|-
|Civil Supplies
|-
|National Resources and Scientific Research
|1951
|
|<ref name = "wrmin"/>
|-
|Irrigation and Power
|1952
|November 1974
|Bifurcated into a separate Department of Irrigation under the reconstituted Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation, and a separate ministry.<ref name = "wrmin"/>
|-
|Agriculture and Irrigation
|November 1974
|22 July 1980
|Following the formation of the Ministry of Irrigation in June 1980, three items of work were transferred from the ministry to the new ministry, and the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation was renamed the Ministry of Agriculture.<ref name = "wrmin"/>
|-
|Energy and Irrigation
|January 1980
|9 June 1980
|Bifurcated into the Ministry of Energy and the Department of Irrigation (which was brought under the ministry in January 1980) was elevated to the new Ministry of Irrigation.<ref name = "wrmin"/>
|-
|Irrigation
|9 June 1980
|January 1985
|Merged with the Ministry of Power to once again, form the Ministry of Irrigation and Power.<ref name = "wrmin"/>
|-
|Irrigation and Power
|January 1985
|September 1985
|Bifurcated into the Ministry of Power and the Department of Irrigation was re-constituted as the Ministry of Water Resources. On 31 July 2014, the Ministry of Water Resources was renamed as Ministry of Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation.<ref name = "wrmin">{{Cite web|url=http://wrmin.nic.in/forms/list.aspx?lid=277|title=Ministry of Water Resources, Government of India|website=wrmin.nic.in|access-date=2016-06-06}}</ref>
|-
|[[Ministry of Surface Transport|Surface Transport]]
|22 October 1986
|17 November 2000
|Bifurcated into the [[Ministry of Shipping (India)|Ministry of Shipping]] and the [[Ministry of Road Transport and Highways]].
|-
|Small Scale Industries and Agro and Rural Industries
|October 1999
|September 2001
|Bifurcated into the Ministry of Agro and Rural Industries and the Ministry of Small Scale Industries.
|-
|[[Ministry of Agro and Rural Industries|Agro and Rural Industries]]
|September 2001
|2007
|Merged with the Ministry of Small Scale Industries to form the [[Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises]].
|-
|[[Ministry of Small Scale Industries|Small Scale Industries]]
|September 2001
|2007
|Merged with the Ministry of Agro and Rural Industries to form the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises.
|-
|[[Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs|Overseas Indian Affairs]]
|May 2004
|7 January
2016
|Merged with the [[Ministry of External Affairs (India)|Ministry of External Affairs]]
|-
|[[Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (India)|Communications and Information Technology (India)]]
|August 1947
|5 July 2016
|Bifurcated into the [[Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology]] and the [[Ministry of Communications (India)]]
|-
|[[Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation|Drinking Water and Sanitation]]
|2011
|30 May 2019
|Merged with the [[Ministry of Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation]] and formed [[Ministry of Jal Shakti]]
|-
|[[Ministry of Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation|Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation]]
|September 1985
|30 May 2019
|Merged with [[Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation]] to form [[Ministry of Jal Shakti]] constituted with Department of Water Resources and Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation
|-
|Ministry of Urban Development
|
|7 July 2017
|[[Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs]]
|-
|Minister of Urban Development and Poverty Alleviation
|7 July 2017
|7 July 2017
|[[Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs|Ministry Of Housing and Urban Affairs]]
|}

== Independent departments ==
These are independent departments working under the direct supervision of the Prime Minister's Office.

* [[Department of Atomic Energy]]
* [[Department of Space]]

==See also==
* [[List of agencies of the government of India]]
* [[Union Council of Ministers]]

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Union ministries of India}}

[[Category:Government ministries of India| ]]
[[Category:Lists of government agencies in India|Ministries]]

List of ministries of India - Revision history

Averma at 12:00, 20 February 2026