PM distributes portfolios among Ministers
NEW DELHI, May 31: BJP President Amit Shah was named the new Home Minister succeeding Rajnath Singh who was shifted to Defence in place of Nirmala Sitharaman who will be the country’s first full-time woman Finance Minister while former Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar, a surprise pick, got the External Affairs portfolio.
A day after Narendra Modi was sworn in as Prime Minister for a second consecutive term along with 57 Ministers, the portfolios were allocated that reflected a rejig of the top four Ministries—Home, Defence, Finance and External Affairs—for a new look Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) while other portfolios largely remained with those who held them in the outgoing Government.
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With the induction of Shah, who helped to craft his party’s recent landslide Lok Sabha poll victory, and Jaishankar, both of whom are making a debut in the Central Government, there are two new faces in the all-powerful CCS which is chaired by Prime Minister Modi. The CCS is the final decision-making body on matters related to country’s security, including defence policy and internal security.
Singh and Sitharaman, who also got Corporate Affairs, continue to be in the CCS though their portfolios have been changed. Singh has been moved across the road from North Block to South Block in Raisina hill while it was the reverse direction for Sitharaman.
The portfolios of 24 Cabinet Ministers, 9 Ministers of State (Independent charge) and 24 Ministers of State allocated by the Prime Minister were announced in a communiqué issued by the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Nearly 16 months after he retired as Foreign Secretary, Jaishankar’s induction is aimed at adding further strategic heft to India’s foreign policy. Jaishankar is not an MP and has to be a member within six months and he is likely to take the Rajya Sabha route.
Several Ministers took charge of their departments, hours after the portfolios were announced and outlined their broad plans and challenges. They later assembled in the Prime Minister’s Office(PMO) in South Block for the first meeting of the Modi 2.0 Cabinet.
“I am happy that there will be continuity in the work that we had begun in the first stint….Newer speed of implementing infra projects and customer satisfaction that is the new Indian Railways and new India that the PM has charted for us,” said Piyush Goyal, who retained the Railways portfolio.
Sitharaman, who did her Masters in Economics from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and is an alumnus of London School of Economics, steps into the shoes of Arun Jaitley who opted out of the new Government on health grounds. She has a deputy in Anurag Thakur, a first time Minister in the Modi Government. Both are considered close to Jaitley.
The Prime Minister retains the Department of Personnel and Training(DoPT), Atomic Energy and Space as well as all important policy issues and portfolios not allocated.
Nitin Gadkari, considered one of the best performers during the first term of Modi Government for his expeditious project implementation, continues to be the Minister for Road Transport and Highways and was also given charge of the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises.
Goyal, who presented the interim budget earlier this year and was expected to take over from Jaitley, was also given the Commerce and Industry portfolio.
However, the Coal Ministry has been taken away from him and given to Prahlad Joshi, a new entrant in Modi Government. Joshi is also the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Mines.
Giant killer Smriti Irani, who defeated Congress President Rahul Gandhi in his family bastion of Amethi, is the new Women and Child Development Minister and also retained the Textile Ministry.
BJP veteran Ravi Shankar Prasad got a bigger role in the Government as he regained the Telecom Ministry, adding it to his heavyweight portfolio of Information Technology (IT) and Law and Justice.
“I am grateful to the PM for entrusting me with such responsibility. In telecom, I will first hold meetings to take a long-term view, and also see how a greater synergy can be driven in IT and communications,” Prasad told reporters.
A new Ministry of Jal Shakti has been created and Gajendra Singh Shekhawat is its Cabinet Minister.
Prakash Javadekar, the outgoing Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister, has been given the Ministries of Information and Broadcasting as well as Environment, the two portfolios he had held in the initial years of the previous Modi Government.
Javadekar invoked the curtailment of press freedom during the Emergency under the Congress rule to assert that media freedom is the essence of democracy.
Speaking to the media after taking charge of I and B Ministry, he said the Government not only recognises freedom of press, but cherishes it.
Former Uttarakhand Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhariyal ‘Nishank’ is the new HRD Minister while Bihar ally and Lok Janshakti Party chief Ram Vilas Paswan remains Consumer Affairs minister.
The Agriculture Ministry has been allocated to Narendra Singh Tomar, who also gets the Rural Development and Panchayati Raj portfolio.
Ujjwala-man Dharmendra Pradhan retains his Petroleum portfolio and has also been given charge of the Steel Ministry.
D V Sadananda Gowda is the Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers and Narendra Singh Tomar the new Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development.
Akali Dal leader Harsimrat Kaur Badal continues to be the Minister of Food Processing Industries, Thawar Chand Gehlot is the new Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment.
Former Diplomat and Union Minister Hardeep Puri, who lost the elections, got more responsibility, as he is the new Minister of State with Independent charge of Civil Aviation besides retaining his portfolio of MoS (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.He was also named as the MoS in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
Eight-term BJP MP from Uttar Pradesh Santosh Kumar Gangwar is MoS with Independent charge for Labour and Employment.
Prahlad Singh Patel, a five-time lawmaker from Madhya Pradesh and known for supporting ban on cow slaughter, took charge as the Culture Minister (independent charge) and said he would work towards “correcting the malicious perception” created about the Indian culture. He will take charge as Tourism Minister (Independent charge) on Tuesday.
The Culture and Tourism portfolio, which was bifurcated in the previous Government with Mahesh Sharma and K J Alphons holding charge respectively, is now under the charge of one single Minister. (PTI)
Portfolios
Narendra Modi Prime Minister and also in-charge of:
Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions; Department of Atomic
Energy; Department of Space; and All
important policy issues; and All other
portfolios not allocated to any Minister.
Cabinet Ministers
Rajnath Singh Minister of Defence.
Amit Shah Minister of Home Affairs.
Nitin Jairam Gadkari Minister of Road Transport
and Highways; and Minister of Micro,
Small and Medium Enterprises.
D.V. Sadananda Gowda Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers.
Nirmala Sitharaman Minister of Finance; and
Minister of Corporate Affairs.
Ramvilas Paswan Minister of Consumer Affairs,
Food and Public Distribution.
Narendra Singh Tomar Minister of Agriculture and Farmers
Welfare; Minister of Rural Development;
and Minister of Panchayati Raj.
Ravi Shankar Prasad Minister of Law and Justice; Minister of
Communications; and Minister of
Electronics and Information Technology.
Harsimrat Kaur Badal Minister of Food Processing Industries.
Thaawar Chand Gehlot Minister of Social Justice and
Empowerment.
Dr. Subrahmanyam Minister of External Affairs.
Jaishankar
Ramesh Pokhriyal Minister of Human Resource
‘Nishank’ Development.
Arjun Munda Minister of Tribal Affairs.
Smriti Zubin Irani Minister of Women and Child Development;
and Minister of Textiles.
Dr. Harsh Vardhan Minister of Health and Family Welfare;
Minister of Science and Technology; and
Minister of Earth Sciences.
Prakash Javadekar Minister of Environment, Forest and
Climate Change; and Minister of
Information and Broadcasting.
Piyush Goyal Minister of Railways; and Minister of
Commerce and Industry.
Dharmendra Pradhan Minister of Petroleum and Natural
Gas; and Minister of Steel.
Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi Minister of Minority Affairs.
Pralhad Joshi Minister of Parliamentary Affairs;
Minister of Coal; and Minister of Mines.
Dr. Mahendra Nath Pandey Minister of Skill Development and
Entrepreneurship.
Arvind Ganpat Sawant Minister of Heavy Industries and Public
Enterprise.
Giriraj Singh Minister of Animal Husbandry, Dairying
and Fisheries.
Gajendra Singh Shekhawat Minister of Jal Shakti.
Ministers of State (Independent Charge)
Santosh Kumar Gangwar Minister of State (Independent Charge) of
the Ministry of Labour and Employment.
Rao Inderjit Singh Minister of State (Independent Charge)
of the Ministry of Statistics and
Programme Implementation; and
Minister of State (Independent Charge)
of the Ministry of Planning.
Shripad Yesso Naik Minister of State (Independent Charge)
of the Ministry of Ayurveda, Yoga and
Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and
Homoeopathy (AYUSH); and Minister
of State in the Ministry of Defence.
Dr. Jitendra Singh Minister of State (Independent Charge)
of the Ministry of Development of North
Eastern Region; Minister of State in the
Prime Minister’s Office; Minister of
State in the Ministry of Personnel,
Public Grievances and Pensions;
Minister of State in the Department of
Atomic Energy; and Minister of State in
the Department of Space.
Kiren Rijiju Minister of State (Independent Charge)
of the Ministry of Youth Affairs and
Sports; and Minister of State in the
Ministry of Minority Affairs.
Prahlad Singh Patel Minister of State (Independent Charge)
of the Ministry of Culture; and Minister
of State (Independent Charge) of the
Ministry of Tourism.
Raj Kumar Singh Minister of State (Independent Charge)
of the Ministry of Power;
Minister of State (Independent Charge)
of the Ministry of New and Renewable
Energy; and Minister of State in the
Ministry of Skill Development and
Entrepreneurship.
Hardeep Singh Puri Minister of State (Independent Charge)
of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs; Minister of State (Independent
Charge) of the Ministry of Civil
Aviation; and Minister of State in the
Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
Mansukh L. Mandaviya Minister of State (Independent Charge)
of the Ministry of Shipping; and Minister
of State in the Ministry of Chemicals and
Fertilizers.
Ministers of State
Faggansingh Kulaste Minister of State in the Ministry of Steel.
Ashwini Kumar Choubey Minister of State in the Ministry of Health
and Family Welfare.
Arjun Ram Meghwal Minister of State in the Ministry of
Parliamentary Affairs; and Minister of
State in the Ministry of Heavy Industries
and Public Enterprises.
General (Retd.) V. K. Minister of State in the Ministry of Road
Singh Transport and Highways.
Krishan Pal Minister of State in the Ministry of
Social Justice and Empowerment.
Danve Raosaheb Dadarao Minister of State in the Ministry of Consumer
Affairs, Food and Public Distribution.
G. Kishan Reddy Minister of State in the Ministry of Home
Affairs.
Parshottam Rupala Minister of State in the Ministry of
Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.
Ramdas Athawale Minister of State in the Ministry of
Social Justice and Empowerment.
Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti Minister of State in the Ministry of
Rural Development.
Babul Supriyo Minister of State in the Ministry of
Environment, Forest and Climate Change.
Sanjeev Kumar Balyan Minister of State in the Ministry of
Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries.
Dhotre Sanjay Shamrao Minister of State in the Ministry of
Human Resource Development; Minister
of State in the Ministry of Communications;
and Minister of State in the Ministry of
Electronics and Information Technology.
Anurag Singh Thakur Minister of State in the Ministry of
Finance; and Minister of State in the
Ministry of Corporate Affairs.
Angadi Suresh Minister of State in the Ministry of
Channabasappa Railways.
Nityanand Rai Minister of State in the Ministry of Home
Affairs.
Rattan Lal Kataria Minister of State in the Ministry of Jal
Shakti; and Minister of State in the
Ministry of Social Justice and
Empowerment.
V. Muraleedharan Minister of State in the Ministry of
External Affairs; and Minister of State
in the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs.
Renuka Singh Saruta Minister of State in the Ministry of
Tribal Affairs.
Som Parkash Minister of State in the Ministry of
Commerce and Industry.
Rameswar Teli Minister of State in the Ministry of Food
Processing Industries.
Pratap Chandra Sarangi Minister of State in the Ministry of Micro,
Small and Medium Enterprises; and
Minister of State in the Ministry of Animal
Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries.
Kailash Choudhary Minister of State in the Ministry of
Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.
Sushri Debasree Chaudhuri Minister of State in the Ministry of
Women and Child Development.
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