As the author Himanshu Roy explains in his book, readers have been interested in learning more about the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) for decades. They want to know how it operates, who works there, and what their responsibilities are. Is it a regular government office, or is there something special about it? Above all, what is its power?

The chief executive officers of the Prime Minister’s Secretariat (PMS) in India also had designations and positions constantly changed by prime ministers. The Nehru administration changed the joint secretary’s position to Principal Private Secretary (PPS) in the early years. The designation was inherited from the British PMS. However, in India, the PPS was equivalent to the deputy secretary position, but in Britain, the position was called assistant secretary. The IAS/IFS officials already in service would hold the position.

PM Indira Gandhi adopted a new designation for P.N. Haksar when he retired, whereas former PM Shastri ji altered the PPS designation to secretary. He was then designated as the principal secretary, which is a rank that still continues.

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Despite being a coalition administration, the Vajpayee was the only non-Congress government with an active PMO. Within the PMO, it established a new substructure. In order to particularly collaborate with the ministries of defence, external affairs, and atomic energy, a new National Security Council (NSC) and a new position of National Security Advisor (NSA) were established.

Compared to other ministries, the PMO has a different working process. The PMO does not make notes on files when they are requested or received from other ministries, in contrast to other government departments. Instead, the ministries’ file is photocopied or produced as a new parallel file that matches the previous file that is already stored in the PMO. The choices made in the PMO are recorded in a file known as the ghost/shadow file, which is maintained within the organisation. Some of the prominent principal secretaries who changed the PMO are L.K. Jha, P.N. Haksar, P.C. Alexander and Brajesh Mishra.

Roy notes that Jawaharlal Nehru met informally with H.M. Patel, the cabinet secretary, and other officials on August 14, 1947, to talk about the establishment and function of the cabinet secretariat and the prime minister’s secretariat. Shastri had a better chance to examine the cabinet secretariat’s operations after Nehru’s heart attack in January 1964 because he was back in the cabinet as a minister without a portfolio. Following his appointment as prime minister, Shastri also redesigned the PMS. The PPS, who held the position of joint secretary in the Indian government, was originally renamed Secretary to the PM, a position that was raised to the level of cabinet secretary. Between 1965 and 1966, the PMS swelled to 229-35, which had been approximately 130 until 1962.

As to the author, Rajiv Gandhi saw public servants as facilitating the government’s delivery mechanisms because of their extensive field experience in providing citizens with goods, resources, and services. Mani Shankar Aiyar, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, and other individuals were brought into the PMO to introduce new governance practices and restructure the administration. During the term of P. V. Narasimha Rao, the focus of the PMO was on the liberalisation of the economy.

The secretary, who served as the PMS’s chief during the Shastri years or possibly even during Indira Gandhi’s first term, was later demoted to the second, third, and fourth ranks. His superiors were the retired officers. During the Shastri years, the secretary and the PMS had taken the cabinet secretary’s authority; now, the PS had done the same. The secretary’s position was further devalued by the appointment of the principal advisors and the NSA. The prime ministers, who effectively became the boss of the public servants and had greater authority than the cabinet secretary, selected retired civil officers as principal secretaries in the PMS-PMO. Shastri established the groundwork for changing the cabinet secretariat’s dominance by giving his PMS an advisory role and official standing equal to that of the cabinet secretariat. This was the first time the PMS achieved prominence by acting in an advisory capacity.

Many of these improvements from the Congress regimes were adopted by the non-Congress governments. Many characteristics of the Congress regimes in the PMO were adopted by the Janata Party government, the first non-Congress government at the centre, and later governments like the National Front and the National Democratic Alliance.

Following Morarji Desai’s appointment as PM, he renamed the PMS to PMO, cut staff and profile, and nominated Vidya Shankar as PS. Its policy unit was disbanded during the emergency because it was perceived as a malicious apparatus and because of the animosity that had grown towards it. The PMO stopped interfering as much; departmental autonomy and ministerial authority were respected. The PM might propose a policy, but if the majority did not agree, the proposal was withdrawn. Cabinet decisions were free and unanimous. This stood in stark contrast to the previous scenario, in which the PM made decisions.

Once again, the PMO, even though it was part of a coalition government, gained some power when the BJP-led government was formed in 1998. Brajesh Mishra, who was also the PS and was given the rank of MoS, was awarded the new position of NSA, which was a first for the Vajpayee regime. Free deliberations took place in Vajpayee’s cabinet meetings, but he summarised the final choices. During this time, the PM’s Economic Advisory Council was established.

Modi and past prime ministers have been accommodating in assigning advisers and support personnel to the PMO with varying designations and functions, according to their qualifications and the PMs’ needs. There is one noteworthy difference, though: Modi does not have a media advisor like many prime ministers do. These advisors engage with the media, answer questions, and explain the government’s or the PM’s stances. His officers, however, examine media reports and inform Modi of their findings.

The PMO currently employs about 300 people, which is significantly fewer than it did under Rajiv Gandhi or Vajpayee. Citizens from all around India exchange ideas on digital channels, which are then sent to the various ministries for analysis. Following endorsement of its viability, it is forwarded to the PMO for approval together with the Ministry’s compiled data. These concepts become applicable policies after they are accepted.

In order to comprehend the relative developments in India, the author concludes by comparing the roles and authority of PMOs in Britain, Canada, and Australia. The PMS-PMO has seen changes in its duties and organisational structure during the last 75 years. The PM did not get files directly from the cabinet office or ministries. These were designated for the joint secretaries, who thereafter received directives from the PMS secretary. After that, the PM would view the shadow notes that the PMS had taken. As a result, the cabinet secretary was no longer the PM’s primary counsellor. The way prime ministers operate has changed significantly over the past 50 years in all three liberal democracies—Britain, Canada, and India—and this influenced the PMO.

This book, Prime Minister’s Office (PMO): Through the Years, which is about 100 pages long, is suitable for anyone who wants to understand how the Prime Minister’s Office, one of the most important organisations in India, operates.