Prime Minister is the Head of Government in Parliamentary democracy. PMO consists of immediate staff of the Prime Minister as well as multiple levels of support staff reporting to the Prime Minister. The head of PMO is Principle Secretary of PM. The PMO was originally called the Prime Minister’s Secretariat until 1977 when it was renamed.
‘Marginalisation’ of the PMO during the last decade where decision-making ‘lay with those outside the government.’ –> policy paralysis
last decade under Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was a “wasted decade” like that of 1970s and 1980s because decision-making ‘shifted out’ of the PMO. “The political model of governance in India had got skewed because the Prime Ministerial Office itself, which should be the last decision-making body in the country and must have the final say, had been marginalised.