Indian New Cabinet: Meet The New Faces

Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the expansion of his cabinet followed by portfolios of the ministers. A number of key portfolios have gone to new & junior ministers who got a promotion.

July 13, 2021 | 19:32

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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. (Photo: Times of India)

43 new ministers took oath in the major cabinet expansion-cum-reshuffle drive. 15 ministers were inducted into the cabinet, while 28 lawmakers were given union MoS berths. A new ministry - Ministry of Cooperation - was also carved out before the reshuffle.

However, there has been no change in the composition of the country’s highest decision-making body on security affairs — the Cabinet Committee on Security — and the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet, which takes a call on all important government appointments in the rank of joint secretary and above, according to the Financial Express.

The members of the Cabinet Committee on Security are Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Home Minister Amit Shah, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, and External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar. The two-member Appointments Committee of the Cabinet comprises the prime minister and the home minister. The reconstituted Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs comprises the prime minister, and Union ministers Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, Nitin Gadkari, Nirmala Sitharaman, Narendra Singh Tomar, Smriti Irani, Piyush Goyal, Pralhad Joshi, Sarbananda Sonowal, Giriraj Singh, Mansukh Mandaviya, and Bhupender Yadav.

The composition of the Appointment Committee of the Cabinet, which takes calls on all important appointments in the government from the rank of Joint Secretary and above also remains the same. Both Modi and Shah are members of the mentioned committee.

The government reconstituted the powerful cabinet committees, bringing in Union ministers Smriti Irani, Bhupender Yadav, and Sarbananda Sonowal as the new members of the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs (Photo: IE)

Union ministers Anurag Singh Thakur, Kiren Rijiju, and Virendra Kumar have been included in the new Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs led by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh. This panel will chalk out the schedule of the Parliament sessions, scrutinize non-government business, and decide on the bills and resolutions to be presented in the House, reported the Hindustan Times.

The Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, will comprise 12 Union ministers – Rajnath Singh, Home Minister Amit Shah, Transport minister Nitin Gadkari, Women, and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, Union minister Piyush Goyal, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi, Environment minister Bhupender Yadav and Minister of Ports Sarbananda Sonowal, according to Scroll.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has nine members: PM Modi, Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, Nitin Gadkari, Nirmala Sitharaman, Narendra Singh Tomar, S Jaishankar, Piyush Goyal and Dharmendra Pradhan, according to the notification. Earlier, former ministers D V Sadananda Gowda and Ravi Shankar Prasad were also part of this committee.

The reshuffled Cabinet Committee on Investment and Growth comprises PM Modi, Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, Nitin Gadkari, Nirmala Sitharaman, Piyush Goyal, Narayan Rane, Jyotiraditya Scindia, and Ashwini Vaishnaw. Mr. Rane, Mr. Scindia, and Mr. Vaishnaw are the new members, said NDTV.

The members of the Cabinet Committee on Employment and Skill Development are PM Modi, Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, Nirmala Sitharaman, Narendra Singh Tomar, Piyush Goyal, Dharmendra Pradhan, Ashwini Vaishnaw, Hardeep Singh Puri, and Bhupender Yadav. The special invitees to this committee are Nitin Gadkari, RCP Singh, and G Kishan Reddy. Ashwini Vaishnaw and Bhupender Yadav are the new members while RCP Singh and G Kishan Reddy are new special invitees. Earlier, former union ministers Ramesh Pokhriyal ''Nishank'' and Santosh Kumar Gangwar and union minister Mahendra Nath Pandey were members of this committee while Smriti Irani and Prahalad Singh Patel were special invitees.

The members of the Cabinet Committee on Accommodation are Amit Shah, Nitin Gadkari, Nirmala Sitharaman, Piyush Goyal and Hardeep Singh Puri while Jitendra Singh is a special invitee. Earlier, Mr Puri was a special invitee.