Central Secretariat: The work of the govt.of India is divided into ministries and departments which together constitute the Central Secretariat. Administrative Machinery at the Central Level: Central Secretariat may be defined as a common name for all the ministries and departments of the Central Government. The political head of the ministry is the minister and the administrative head is the Secretary. The department consists of two or more wings. A wing consists of two or more divisions and a division consists of two or more branches. At the lowest level is the office which may consist of a number of secretariates. A ministry may be composed of one department or more than one department. The main function of the secretariat is to advise the minister concerned in matters of policy and administration. Each minister is aided by the secretariat staff. The hierarchical position of the staff members is given in following chart:

Organisation Chart of the Secretariat

— Ministry

— Department

— Wing

— Division

— Branches

— Head Minister (Political)

— Addl./If Secretary

— Dy. Secretary

— Under Secretary

— Secretary(Administrative Head)

The three essential components of the government. At the centre are: the minister who decides upon policy, the secretary, who provides material and advice with which to reach such decisions and to oversee the implementation of decisions, and the executive head, who carries the decisions into effect. The secretaries are the secretaries to the Union Govt. as a whole but not to any particular minister. The secretariat is a policy - framing, coordinating and supervising agency of the Government. The secretariat's primary responsibility is to assist and advise the ministers in respect to several matters.