Narendra Modi

What they do

• Heading the Union Council of Ministers — advising the President on who is made a minister, who is dropped, and which portfolio each minister gets (Article 75).
• Chairing the Union Cabinet, setting the government's overall agenda, and coordinating all central ministries through the Prime Minister's Office.
• Being the main link between the Council of Ministers and the President, communicating Union decisions and proposals for legislation (Article 78).
• Directly running the subjects the PM keeps — by convention the PMO, Personnel and Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space — plus anything not allocated to another minister.
• Chairing top decision bodies — the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet, the NITI Aayog Governing Council, and the National Security Council — and recommending senior appointments.
• Steering national policy across Union List subjects — defence, foreign affairs, national security, and the broad direction of the economy and the Union Budget — through the ministers.
• Advising the President on major constitutional steps — summoning and proroguing Parliament, dissolving the Lok Sabha, and issuing ordinances.
• Advising the President on senior appointments the Union government controls — such as State Governors and the Attorney-General — and sitting on the statutory panels that select key watchdog posts (for example the CBI Director, the Chief Election Commissioner, the Lokpal and the Central Vigilance Commissioner).
• Representing India abroad — foreign policy, summits, and relations with other countries and international bodies (carried out with the External Affairs Ministry).
• Coordinating the centre's response in emergencies, disasters and major centre–State matters at the national level.

Not their job — ask instead

• Everyday law and order and the police — in the States this is a State subject run by the State government and its Chief Minister/Home Minister, not the PM, so ask your State government and local police. The exception is the Union Territories, such as Delhi, where the police answer to the Centre through the Union Home Ministry and the Lieutenant Governor.
• Local services like city roads, water supply, drains and garbage — these are run by your municipal corporation or panchayat and elected councillors/Mayor, under the State government.
• Court verdicts and judicial decisions — decided by independent courts (Supreme Court and High Courts); the PM cannot change a court's ruling.
• Conducting and declaring elections — run by the independent Election Commission of India, not the government or the PM.
• Being Head of State or formally enacting laws — that is the President's constitutional role; the PM only tenders advice. Bills become law with the President's assent.
• Most schools, hospitals, farming support and electricity distribution — largely run by State governments; contact your MLA and State ministers.
• Another representative's constituency work — the PM does not handle your local MP's or MLA's grievances; approach that MP or MLA directly.

What they do

• Debating and voting on central laws and Bills on Union List and Concurrent List subjects (for example defence, foreign affairs, railways, telecom, citizenship, criminal law).
• Approving the Union Budget, taxes and government spending — including Money Bills, which can be introduced only in the Lok Sabha (Articles 109–110), and voting the government's Demands for Grants.
• Questioning the government — Question Hour, Zero Hour, Calling Attention notices and Short Duration Discussions to get answers from ministers.
• Moving and voting on motions — including the no-confidence motion, which only the Lok Sabha can use to remove the Council of Ministers, plus adjournment and censure motions.
• Recommending local development works under the MPLAD Scheme (about ₹5 crore a year) — such as community buildings, roads, and water and sanitation assets — for execution by the district administration.
• Serving on parliamentary committees (standing, select and joint committees) that examine Bills, budgets and government performance in detail.
• Introducing Private Members' Bills and Resolutions to propose new laws or raise policy issues.
• Representing the constituency — raising local problems, projects and grievances with central ministries and pressing for central schemes.
• Helping pass Constitutional Amendment Bills, which need a special majority of Parliament (Article 368).
• Approving or ending proclamations of National Emergency, President's Rule in a State, and Financial Emergency, which must be approved by Parliament to continue (Articles 352, 356 and 360).
• Taking part in electing the President and Vice-President, and in the removal of Supreme Court and High Court judges and the impeachment of the President.
• Raising matters of public importance and presenting petitions on behalf of citizens.

Not their job — ask instead

• Everyday civic services — city roads, water supply, garbage collection, streetlights, drainage and building approvals. Ask your municipal corporator/councillor and the urban local body (Municipal Commissioner); in villages, the Gram Panchayat and Sarpanch.
• Police, crime and law-and-order — in the States this is a State subject, so ask the State Government (State Home Department) and the local police/SP; in Union Territories such as Delhi and Chandigarh the police come under the central government. Either way, an MP has no command over the police.
• State laws, state welfare schemes, land and most day-to-day governance where you live — these belong to your MLA and the State Government (in some Union Territories, such as Delhi, land is with the central government), not to a Union MP.
• Court cases and verdicts — the judiciary is independent; an MP cannot decide, speed up or interfere in cases.
• Running schools and hospitals or appointing teachers or doctors — public health is mainly a State subject and education is a Concurrent subject, handled largely by State Government departments.
• Physically building MPLAD works or choosing contractors — the District Authority (Collector/DM) sanctions and carries out the works; the MP only recommends them.
• Day-to-day running of a ministry — unless the MP is themselves the Minister in charge, this is run by the Union Minister concerned and civil servants, not by an ordinary MP.