Modi 2.0 Cabinet reshuffle: New portfolios assigned

New Delhi: Hours after 43 leaders took oath as ministers in the Rashtrapati Bhavan on Wednesday evening as a part of the Cabinet reshuffle exercise, the Centre allocated portfolios to the newly inducted ministers. While Home Minister Amit Shah will be in charge of the newly created Ministry of Cooperation, Ashwini Vaishnaw has been given ministries of Railways, Communications and Electronics and Information Technology. Kiren Rijiju will be the new Minister of Law and Justice. The reshuffle follows a protracted review exercise by the Prime Minister and the BJP top brass in a series of meetings with ministers. These were held in the wake of the devastating second Covid wave that has set off widespread criticism of the Central government for utter mismanagement of the crisis.

The massive Cabinet reshuffle also bears the techno-managerial imprint of the Prime Minister.

It also marks the realisation that multiple portfolios with one minister may not be a very efficient ploy and representation needs to be given to different regions and for administrative efficiency, adequate numbers are required.

As the Modi government gets a makeover, the new Council of Ministers is being shaped in terms of experience and qualification.

In the new Council of Ministers, there are four former Chief Ministers in the Cabinet, 18 former state ministers, 39 former MLAs and 23 MPs who have been elected for three or more terms.

This demonstrates the wealth of experience in the new Cabinet as the government has been criticised for lack of bench strength and not enough heft in administrative experience.

The new ministers will also be an eclectic mix of distinguished qualifications including 13 lawyers, 6 doctors, 5 engineers, 7 former civil servants, 46 ministers with experience in the Central government.

This is also a young-looking Cabinet with an average age of 58 and 14 ministers will now be below 50.

Apart from being a five-term MP, new Civil Aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia has been a Cabinet minister in earlier Congress governments. He has an MBA from Stanford University and BA from Harvard University.

Mansukh Mandavia has been made the new Health minister and bureaucrat-turned-politician Ashwini Vaishnaw the new Railways minister.

Mandavia has also been given the Chemicals and Fertilizers ministry, whereas Vaishnaw will also be the Communications, Electronics and Information Technology minister, a Rashtrapati Bhavan communique said.

Union Home minister Amit Shah has been given the additional charge of the newly-created Ministry of Cooperation. Piyush Goyal will now be the Minister of Textiles, besides being the Minister of Commerce and Industry; and the Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution.

Dharmendra Pradhan will be the new Education minister and the Minister of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship.

Ramchandra Prasad Singh will be the new Steel minister while Pashupati Kumar Paras has been made the Minister of Food Processing Industries.

Kiren Rijiju will be the Minister of Law and Justice while Hardeep Singh Puri will be the Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas and Housing and Urban Affairs Minister.

Anurag Thakur replaced Rijiju as the country's Sports minister with just over two weeks left for the Tokyo Olympics.

The 46-year-old former Cricket Board president was given charge of sports along with the Information and Broadcasting ministry after he took oath as a Cabinet minister.

Maratha face, Shiv Sena critic Narayan Rane has been given the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises.

Sarbananda Sonowal, the former Chief Minister of Assam who handled the Sports and Youth Affairs ministry in the first NDA government, has been given charge of the Ports, Shipping and Waterways portfolio. He will also handle the Ayush ministry.

Smriti Zubin Irani continues to head the Women and Child Development Ministry in the refreshed Union Cabinet.

Pralhad Joshi will be the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs; Minister of Coal; and Minister of Mines.

Union Minister Jitendra Singh will be the Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Science and Technology and MoS (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Earth Sciences.

Ajay Bhatt will be the Minister of State in the Ministry of Defence; and Minister of State in the Ministry of Tourism.

Meenakshi Lekhi will be the Minister of State in External Affairs and the Culture Ministry.

Parshottam Rupala will handle the Dairies and Fisheries portfolios.

Pashupati Kumar Paras, who leads the splinter group of Chirag Paswan's Lok Janshakti Party, has been given the Food Processing portfolio.

The Environment, Forest and Climate Change and the Labour and Employment ministries have gone to Bhupender Yadav.

G Kishan Reddy will handle the Culture, Tourism and Development of the North Eastern Region portfolios.

Forty-four ministers took oath on Wednesday as part of the first reshuffle in the second stint of the Modi government. Fifteen of them became part of the Union Cabinet. It was preceded by exits of 12 ministers, including high-profile names like Ravi Shankar Prasad, Harsh Vardhan and Prakash Javadekar, who were seen to be among the core team of the Prime Minister.

"I congratulate all the colleagues who have taken oath today and wish them the very best for their ministerial tenure. We will continue working to fulfil aspirations of the people and build a strong and prosperous India," the Prime Minister tweeted after the oath ceremony on Wednesday evening.