After power transformation, on 15 August 1947, Jawaharlal Nehru assumed office as the first Prime Minister of India and chose fifteen ministers to form the First Nehru ministry.
Background The Constituent Assembly was set up while India was still under British rule, following negotiations between Indian leaders and members of the 1946 Cabinet Mission to India from the United Kingdom. The provincial assembly elections had been conducted early in 1946. The Constituent Assembly members were elected to it indirectly by the members of these newly elected provincial assemblies, and initially included representatives for those provinces which came to form part of Pakistan, some of which are now within Bangladesh. The Constituent Assembly had 299 representatives, including nine women.
The Interim Government of India was formed on 2 September 1946 from the newly elected Constituent Assembly. The Indian National Congress held a large majority in the Assembly, with 69 percent of all of the seats, while the Muslim League held almost all of the seats reserved in the Assembly for Muslims. There were also some members from smaller parties, such as the Scheduled Caste Federation, the Communist Party of India, and the Unionist Party. In June 1947, the delegations from the provinces of Sindh, East Bengal, Baluchistan, West Punjab, and the North West Frontier Province withdrew, to form the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan, meeting in Karachi. On 15 August 1947, the Dominion of India and Dominion of Pakistan became independent nations, and the members of the Constituent Assembly who had not withdrawn to Karachi became India's Parliament. Only 28 members of the Muslim League finally joined the Indian Assembly. Later, 93 members were nominated from the princely states. The Congress thus secured a majority of 82%
Jawaharlal Nehru took charge as the first Prime Minister of India on 15 August 1947, and chose 15 other members for his cabinet. Vallabhbhai Patel served as the first Deputy Prime Minister until his death on 15 December 1950. Lord Mountbatten, and later C. Rajagopalachari, served as Governor-General until 26 January 1950, when Rajendra Prasad was elected as the first President of India. Ramachandra Guha, "India After Gandhi", Picador India, 2007.
Cabinet members
There were members from Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Sikh and Parsi communities represented in India's first ministry. There were two members from the Dalit community represented as well. Rajkumari Amrit Kaur was the only female Cabinet minister. The following is a list of the ministers in the first Cabinet.
Key Died in office Resigned
Deputy Ministers S.noNamePeriod1.Deputy Minister of Works, Mines and PowerSurendranath Buragohain14 August 195026 December 1950134 daysDeputy Minister of Works, Production and Supply26 December 195013 May 19521 year 139 days2.Deputy Minister of Information and Broadcasting R. R. Diwakar7 October 194826 January 19501 year 111 days3.Deputy Minister of Finance Mahavir Tyagi16 February 195113 May 19524.Minister of State for RailwaysK. Santhanam1 October 194810 March 19523 years, 241 daysMinister of Road Transport and Highways1 October 194817 April 19523 years 199 days5.Deputy Minister of RailwaysB. V. Keskar10 March 195213 May 195264 daysDeputy Minister of External Affairs and Commonwealth Relations 7 December 194826 January 19501 year, 50 daysDeputy Minister of External Affairs31 January 195013 May 19522 years, 103 days6.Deputy Minister of DefenceKumar Shree Himmatsinhji Jadeja14 August 195029 February 19521 year, 199 days7.Deputy Minister of Food and AgricultureMosalikanti Thirumala Rao21 August 195013 May 19521 year, 266 days8.Deputy Minister of Communications Khurshed Lal1 October 194829 January 19512 years, 120 days9.Deputy Minister of Communications Raj Bahadur29 January 195113 May 19521 year, 105 days10.Deputy Minister of Commerce and IndustryDattatraya Parashuram KarmarkarAugust13 May11.Deputy Minister of Parliamentary AffairsSatya Narayan Sinha1 October 194826 February 1949148 days12.Deputy Minister of Home Affairs Rustom Khurshedji Sidhwa11 October 195113 May 1952215 days
References
Further reading Josy Joseph (5 June 2008) Star wars in Nehru cabinet – DNA