Ministers take charge, spell out priorities

Apart from Irani, Ravi Shankar Prasad and Ananth Kumar also took over as Law and Parliamentary Affairs ministers, respectively. Prakash Javadekar, the lone minister to be elevated who has been given charge of the HRD Ministry, is scheduled to take up his new job on Thursday.

Taking up his new assignment, Prasad said he would strive to find a “common ground” between the government and the judiciary on the issue of appointment of judges to the Supreme Court and 24 high courts.

Newly appointed Ministers of State (MoS) for Health Faggan Singh Kulaste and Anupriya Patel also assumed charge. Both the ministers were welcomed by Health Minister JP Nadda, who said they would work together to serve the people.

Kulsate and Patel thanked PM Narendra Modi for the responsibility and vowed to work to increase the reach of healthcare to the common masses. “Making this our priority, we would try to take this to every common man of the country,” Patel said.

Besides, MJ Akbar, Anil Madhav Dave, Santosh Gangwar and Rajen Gohain assumed office as MoS for External Affairs, Environment, Finance and Railways, respectively.

Taking over as Information and Broadcasting minister from his Cabinet colleague Arun Jaitley, M Venkaiah Naidu justified the latest expansion of the Union Council of ministers, saying that 78 ministers for a country as large and diverse as India was certainly not large, rebutting Opposition’s charge of “maximum government, minimum governance”.

Claiming that the whole country is in favour of the GST Bill, Ananth Kumar, who has got Parliamentary Affairs Ministry in addition to his earlier portfolio of Chemicals & Fertilisers, stressed that his priority would be the passage of this “very important”, for which the government would talk to all political parties.

Gangwar also expressed confidence over getting the much-delayed GST Bill passed in the upcoming Monsoon session of Parliament. He assumed charge along with Arjun Ram Meghwal, who has also been sworn-in as MoS in the Finance Ministry.

Asserting that development and environment go hand-in-hand, Dave said all projects undertaken by his predecessor would continue, although he would need a week’s time to understand the functioning of the department.

Gohain, who is among the new faces in the Union Cabinet, said the safety and security of passengers as well as expansion of rail connectivity in the entire North-East region would be his top priority. SS Ahluwalia, who took charge as the MoS for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, said his focus would be to accelerate development of the agriculture sector and reach out to farmers.

Jayant Sinha, who has been shifted from the Finance Ministry, took charge as MoS for Civil Aviation.

Narendra Singh Tomar, after taking charge as Minister for Rural Development, said that the real development of the country was linked to the development of rural India.

Newly appointed MoS in the HRD Ministry Mahendra Nath Pandey said his priority was to make quality education accessible to all citizens. Assuming charge as MoS in the Law Ministry, PP Choudhary, said it would be an opportunity for him to work for the common man in ensuring timely justice.

Rajya Sabha MP from Maharashtra, Ramdas Athawale, who has been appointed MoS for Social Justice and Empowerment, said ensuring the welfare of Dalits was his only priority.

Ajay Tamta took charge as MoS for Textiles, while Vijay Goel took over as MoS (Independent Charge) Sports and Youth Affairs. CR Chaudhary, who has been appointed MoS Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, said proper marketing mechanism was the need of hour to save farmers from losses.