Also: duties of the Prime Minister, Prime Minister's duty to inform the President
Definition
The article that sets out the Prime Minister's duties towards the President: to communicate all Cabinet decisions on administration and legislative proposals, to furnish information the President calls for, and to submit for the Council's consideration any matter decided by a single minister if the President so requires.
In the British parliamentary system that India adopted, the monarch is the formal head of state, while the Prime Minister and Cabinet govern. Walter Bagehot famously described the monarch's rights as the right to be consulted, the right to encourage and the right to warn. The framers wanted the President to be similarly informed, so that the head of state could advise and caution the government even while acting on ministerial advice.
Article 78 makes the Prime Minister the channel of communication between the President and the Council of Ministers. Ambedkar explained in the Constituent Assembly that the President would be kept informed so that he could exercise his influence, though he would not have the power to override the ministry. The 42nd and 44th Amendments, which made ministerial advice binding under Article 74, did not change Article 78 but reinforced its role as a channel of information rather than control.
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