PM Narendra Modi did a cabinet reshuffle and expansion on Wednesday. He also released the portfolio of his ministries. This reshuffling and expansion included 43 ministers. Fifteen of the ministers were inducted into the cabinet. The rest will be in charge as Ministers of State. There was a new Ministry called the “Ministry of Cooperation” before Cabinet Expansion. Amit Shah who is currently the Home Minister will be in charge of this ministry. New and Junior ministers have got a number of key Portfolios.
Newly Appointed Ministers
- Shri. Mansukh Mandaviya: Minister of Health and Family Welfare. Also, Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers.
- Shri. Ashwini Vaishnaw: Minister of Railways, Communications, and Minister of Electronics and Information Technology.
- Shri Kiren Rijiju : Minister of Law and Justice.
- Shri Jyotiraditya M. Scindia: Minister of Civil Aviation.
- Shri Ramachandra Prasad Singh: Minister of Steel.
- Shri . Anurag Singh Thakur: Minister of Information and Broadcasting. Also, Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports
- Shri Sarbananda Sonowal: Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways. Also, Minister of AYUSH.
- Shri. Dharmendra Pradhan: Minister of Education, Minister of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship.
- Meenakshi Lekhi: Minister of State in External Affairs and the Culture Ministry.
- Parshottam Rupala: Dairies and Fisheries portfolios.
- Hardeep Singh Puri: Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Housing and Urban Affairs.
- Pashupati Paras: Food Processing.
- Bhupender Yadav: Environment, Forest and Climate Change. Also, Labour and Employment ministries.
- G Kishan Reddy: Culture, tourism and Development of the North Eastern Region portfolios.
Ministers Who Resigned
This cabinet reshuffle and expansion includes 36 new ministers. Hence, the total strength of the council of ministers is 78. So, it also required of few of the current ministers to resign. Hence, 12 ministers resigned from the council. In addition, the Ministers who resigned were Santosh Gangwar, D V Sadananda Gowda, Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, Sanjay Dhotre, Debasree Chaudhuri, Babul Supriyo, Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Pratap Sarangi, Ratan Lal Kataria, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Prakash Javadekar while Thawar Chand Gehlot was made Karnataka Governor.
In the council, at least 16 of them were MPs for the first time. Accordingly, the focus of the cabinet reshuffle has been on improving governance in the administration. Also, the new Cabinet includes highly qualified professionals. Among the 36 new ministers, eight are lawyers, four are doctors, two are former IAS officers, and four MBA degree holders, besides several engineers, making it an overall qualified ministry.
