.jpg?downsize=1080:607 "Blog: Modi’s New Look Cabinet")
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi reshuffles his cabinet
- 19 new faces inducted into the council of ministers
- Prakash Javadekar made human resource development minister
- Jayant Sinha made minister of state for civil aviation
- Piyush Goyal given additional independent charge of mines ministry
One of the big changes in Tuesday’s reshuffle was at the information and broadcasting ministry. Charge of the ministry was taken away from Arun Jaitley and given to Venkaiah Naidu.
Taking charge as I&B Minister... pic.twitter.com/qV3fujJvY1
— M Venkaiah Naidu (@MVenkaiahNaidu) July 6, 2016
The parliamentary affairs ministry, which was earlier handled by Naidu, will now be under Anant Kumar.
SS Ahluwalia, who is one of the 19 new faces in Modi’s council of ministers, took charge as minister of state for parliamentary affairs.
Taking charge as MoS Parliamentary Affairs pic.twitter.com/kwQ2q2EE6y
— SS Ahluwalia (@SSAhluwaliaMP) July 6, 2016
Smriti Irani, the outgoing Human Resource Minister, tweeted that her primary focus over the last two years was to improve quality of education.
In last 2 years all initiatives of @HRDMinistry have been towards increasing learning outcomes for students & improving quality of education
— Smriti Z Irani (@smritiirani) July 6, 2016
Irani added that she’s looking forward to the challenge of strengthening the textile sector. She will take over as textiles minister from Santhosh Kumar Gangwar, who has been made the minister of state for finance.
Look forward to working with officials at @TexMinIndia for strengthening the very important Textile & Apparel Sector of our country.
— Smriti Z Irani (@smritiirani) July 6, 2016
On June 22, the Modi government had cleared a Rs 6,000 crore package to revive the textiles sector and boost employment.
Rajen Gohain, the newly appointed minister of state for railways, said that expanding railway infrastructure and improving passenger amenities will be his top priorities.
Prakash Javadekar, who has made the Human Resource Development Minister, said he’d take forward the policies initiated by his predecessor Smriti Irani.
The new minister of state for finance Santhosh Kumar Gangwar told BloombergQuint that he’s confident of the government’s ability to pass the Goods and Services Tax Bill in the monsoon session of Parliament.
In a major reshuffle in the Union Cabinet on Tuesday, Jayant Sinha was moved out of the ministry of finance, while Power Minister Piyush Goyal got additional independent charge of mines.
Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inducted 19 new faces, elevating Prakash Javadekar to cabinet rank and dropping five junior ministers.
Here are the portfolios of the Union council of ministers.
- Prakash Javadekar replaces Smriti Irani as Union HRD minister.
- Santosh Kumar Gangwar replaces Jayant Sinha as minister of state, finance.
- Arjun Ram Meghwal will now be minister of state, finance and corporate affairs
- Jayant Sinha moves to civil aviation ministry.
- Smriti Irani loses HRD ministry, gets textile portfolio.
- Piyush Goyal, the power, coal and renewable energy energy minister, gets additional independent charge of mines.
- Ravi Shankar Prasad gets charge of law and justice, electronic and information technology.
- Sadananda Gowda loses the law ministry, moved to statistics & programme Implementation.
- Manoj Sinha gets independent charge of communications.
- Venkaiah Naidu will now be minister of information and broadcasting, a portfolio held by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley as an additional charge. He retains the urban development ministry but loses parlimentary affairs.
- Anil Madhav Dave will be minister of state, environment, forest and climate change (independent charge).
- Narendra Singh Tomar loses mines and steel ministry, gets rural development portfolio.
Bloomberg reports that President Pranab Mukherjee has accepted the resignation of the five ministers from Modi’s council of ministers.
Prime Minister Modi congratulated the new members of his council of ministers on Twitter.
Congrats to newly sworn-in colleagues. Lets work together to bring a positive difference & for #TransformingIndia. pic.twitter.com/Xo8naAyd0S
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) July 5, 2016
Government officials have told BloombergQuint that an announcement of portfolios will be done at 5 pm today.
Post the cabinet expansion, the Press Trust of India reported that Prime Minister Modi will drop 5 members from his council of ministers.
Here’s the list as reported by PTI.
- Nihalchand: Minister of State, Panchayati Raj
- Ram Shankar Katheria: MoS, Human Resource Development
- Sanwar Lal Jat: MoS, Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation
- Manuskhbhai D Vasva: MoS, Tribal Affairs
- MK Kundariya: MoS Agriculture
The upcoming state elections in Uttar Pradesh were expected to play a role in the expansion. Here are the ministers from the crucial poll-bound state.
- Mahendra Nath Pandey: Lok Sabha MP from Uttar Pradesh
- Krishna Raj: Lok Sabha MP from Uttar Pradesh
- Anupriya Singh Patel: Lok Sabha MP from Uttar Pradesh
Four new ministers of state have been inducted from Gujarat, of which only one is from the Lok Sabha.
- Jasvantsinh Sumanbhai Bhabhor: Lok Sabha MP from Gujarat
- Mansukh Mandaviya: Rajya Sabha MP from Gujarat
There are four new ministers from BJP-ruled Rajasthan, of which three are members of the lower house.
- CR Chaudhary: Lok Sabha MP from Rajasthan
- PP Choudhary: Lok Sabha MP from Rajasthan
- Arjun Ram Meghwal: Lok Sabha MP from Rajasthan
Here’s a list of Lok Sabha members who have been sworn in so far.
- Ramesh Chandappa: Lok Sabha MP from Karnataka
- Faggan Singh Kulaste: Lok Sabha MP from Madhya Pradesh
- Rajen Gohain: Lok Sabha MP from Assam
- Subhash Ramrao Bhamre: Lok Sabha MP from Maharashtra
Journalist and BJP national spokesperson MJ Akbar has also been inducted into the council of ministers, with a minister of state rank.
- MJ Akbar: Rajya Sabha MP from Madhya Pradesh
- Parshottam Rupala: Rajya Sabha MP from Gujarat
As was reported earlier by the Press Trust of India, members of the upper house of parliament are being inducted into the council of ministers.
- Ramdas Athavle: Rajya Sabha member from Maharashtra
- Vijay Goel: Rajya Sabha member from Rajasthan
- Anil Dave: Rajya Sabha member from Madhya Pradesh
- SS Ahluwalia: Rajya Sabha MP from West Bengal
Prakash Javadekar has been sworn in as a cabinet minister. Javadekar was previously the minister of state with independent charge for environment, forest and climate change.
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