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Rediff.com  » News » Nirmala Sitharaman gets defence, Piyush Goyal gets railways

Nirmala Sitharaman gets defence, Piyush Goyal gets railways

Source: PTI
Last updated on: September 03, 2017 18:22 IST
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In the third reshuffle since coming to power, Prime Minister Modi raised the strength of his Council of Ministers from 73 to 76. 

With a focus on delivery as he prepares for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday handed key portfolios to ministers with “proven” track record and sprang a surprise by elevating Nirmala Sitharaman as the first full-time woman defence minister.

In a major rejig of his council of ministers, he also promoted three other junior ministers -- Piyush Goyal, Dharmendra Pradhan and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi -- to cabinet rank and inducted nine new faces, including four former government officers, as ministers of state.

 

The exercise raised the strength of the Union Council of Ministers from 73 to 76.

Goyal, who has been praised for his work in the power sector, was given the railways ministry, which has been facing criticism over a spate of accidents, prompting Modi to shift Suresh Prabhu to Commerce and Industry Ministry. Goyal will continue to head the coal ministry.

In an overhaul of infrastructure ministries, Modi handed important portfolios to two former IAS officers and one former diplomat, giving them independent charge and brought Nitin Gadkari in place of Uma Bharti in the water resources and Ganga rejuvenation ministry.

Gadkari retained the charge of road transport and highways, where his work has earned him praise. Bharti’s performance was under scrutiny due to lack of visible progress in Modi’s pet Clean Ganga programme.

Bharti will take care of the ministry of drinking water and sanitation. 

Government sources said the prime minister carried out the reshuffle considering performance and rewarding those with a proven track record.     

Sitharaman, who was the minister of state with an independent charge of the commerce ministry, emerged the biggest gainer.

She became the first full-time woman defence minister and the second woman to take charge of the key portfolio. Indira Gandhi, as then Prime Minister, had also held the portfolio in the seventies.

As the Defence Minister, Sitharaman will be a member of the crucial Cabinet Committee on Security whose members include the prime minister, home minister, external affairs minister and the finance minister.

Pradhan and Naqvi retained their portfolios of Oil and Gas and Minority Affairs respectively. Pradhan was given the additional charge of the skill development ministry, which was earlier held by Rajiv Pratap Rudy who quit the post a few days ago.

Former diplomat Hardeep Puri and former IAS officer Alphons Kannanthanam were made MoS (Independent charge) of Housing and Urban Development and Tourism respectively.

R K Singh, former Home Secretary, was given charge of power and new and renewable energy portfolios. Former Mumbai police commissioner Satyapal Singh has been made minister of state in HRD, Water Resources and Ganga Rejuvination.

Six ministers -- Rudy, Kalraj Mishra, Bandaru Dattatreya, Sanjiv Kumar Balyan, Faggan Singh Kulaste and Mahendra Nath Pandey -- had resigned ahead of the reshuffle, in which nine ministers were inducted.

While Modi has focussed on governance, he has also taken care of the BJP’s political considerations.

Pradhan, now a cabinet minister, has emerged as the BJP’s face in Odisha and become one of its prominent leaders as the party has highlighted the “success” of his ministry’s scheme of giving free LPG connections to the poor in its political campaigns.

Odisha is among the states high on the priority list of party chief Amit Shah for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. 

Alphons is a Christian from Kerala, a state where the BJP has been trying hard to emerge as a potent force. The saffron party has also been wooing Christians and his induction is likely to help this cause.

Cabinet Minister Harsh Vardhan, who was given the additional charge of environment ministry following the demise of Anil Dave in May, continues to hold the portfolio.

Similarly, Smriti Irani, who was given the additional charge of information and broadcasting ministry in July after M Venkaiah Nadu was made vice presidential nominee of the National Democratic Alliance, too retained the ministry.

Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore replaced Vijay Goel in the sports ministry, while also remaining the MoS in the I&B ministry.

Goel, who earlier held independent charge, has been shunted as the minister of state for parliamentary affairs and statistics and programme implementation.

New inductee Shiv Pratap Shukla has been made MoS in the finance ministry, replacing Arjun Ram Meghwal, while Ashwini Kumar Choubey has been appointed MoS in Health and Virendra Kumar MoS in women and child development. Meghwal now has been shifted to Parliamentary Affairs.

Another new face Anant Kumar Hegde has been made MoS in the skill development ministry, while Gajendra Singh Shekhawat was made MoS in the agriculture ministry.

Two ministers Santosh Gangwar and Giriraj Singh have also seen a promotion as they are now MoS with independent charge of labour and employment and the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises respectively. 

Here’s a full list of ministers and the portfolios they hold:

Cabinet Ministers

1. Rajnath Singh Minister of Home Affairs
2. Sushma Swaraj Minister of External Affairs
3. Arun Jaitley Minister of Finance; and
Minister of Corporate Affairs
4. Nitin Jairam Gadkari Minister of Road Transport and Highways;
Minister of Shipping; and
Minister of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation
5. Suresh Prabhu Minister of Commerce and Industry
6. DV Sadananda Gowda Minister of Statistics and Programme Implementation
7. Uma Bharti Minister of Drinking Water and Sanitation
8. Ramvilas Paswan Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution
9. Maneka Sanjay Gandhi Minister of Women and Child Development
10. Ananthkumar Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers; and Minister of Parliamentary Affairs
11. Ravi Shankar Prasad Minister of Law and Justice; and
Minister of Electronics and Information Technology
12. Jagat Prakash Nadda Minister of Health and Family Welfare
13. Ashok Gajapathi Raju Pusapati Minister of Civil Aviation
14. Anant Geete Minister of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises
15. Harsimrat Kaur Badal Minister of Food Processing Industries
16. Narendra Singh Tomar Minister of Rural Development;
Minister of Panchayati Raj; and
Minister of Mines
17. Chaudhary Birender Singh Minister of Steel
18. Jual Oram Minister of Tribal Affairs
19. Radha Mohan Singh Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare
20. Thaawar Chand Gehlot Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment
21. Smriti Zubin Irani Minister of Textiles; and
Minister of Information and Broadcasting
22. Dr Harsh Vardhan Minister of Science and Technology;
Minister of Earth Sciences; and
Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change
23. Prakash Javadekar Minister of Human Resource Development
24. Dharmendra Pradhan Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas; and
Minister of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship
25. Piyush Goyal Minister of Railways; and
Minister of Coal
26. Nirmala Sitharaman Minister of Defence
27. Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi Minister of Minority Affairs

Ministers of State (Independent Charge)

1. Rao Inderjit Singh Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Planning; and
Minister of State in the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers
2. Santosh Kumar Gangwar Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Labour and Employment
3. Shripad Yesso Naik Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Ayurveda,
Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (AYUSH)
4. 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
5. Dr Mahesh Sharma Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Culture; and
Minister of State in the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change
6. Giriraj Singh Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Micro,
Small and Medium Enterprises
7. Manoj Sinha Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Communications; and
Minister of State in the Ministry of Railways
8. Col Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Youth Affairs
and Sports; and Minister of State in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting
9. Raj Kumar Singh Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Power; and
Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy
10. Hardeep Singh Puri Minister of State (Independent Charge) of
the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs
11. Alphons Kannanthanam Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Tourism; and
Minister of State in the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology

Ministers of State

1. Vijay Goel Minister of State in the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs; and
Minister of State in the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation
2. Radhakrishnan P Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance; and
Minister of State in the Ministry of Shipping
3. S S Ahluwalia Minister of State in the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation
4. Ramesh Chandappa Jigajinagi Minister of State in the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation
5. Ramdas Athawale Minister of State in the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment
6. Vishnu Deo Sai Minister of State in the Ministry of Steel
7. Ram Kripal Yadav Minister of State in the Ministry of Rural Development
8. Hansraj Gangaram Ahir Minister of State in the Ministry of Home Affairs
9. Haribhai Parthibhai Chaudhary Minister of State in the Ministry of Mines; and
Minister of State in the Ministry of Coal
10. Rajen Gohain Minister of State in the Ministry of Railways
11. General (Retd. VK Singh Minister of State in the Ministry of External Affairs
12. Parshottam Rupala Minister of State in the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare; and
Minister of State in the Ministry of Panchayati Raj
13. Krishan Pal Minister of State in the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment
14. Jaswantsinh Sumanbhai Bhabhor Minister of State in the Ministry of Tribal Affairs
15. Shiv Pratap Shukla Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance
16. Ashwini Kumar Choubey Minister of State in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare
17. Sudarshan Bhagat Minister of State in the Ministry of Tribal Affairs
18. Upendra Kushwaha Minister of State in the Ministry of Human Resource Development
19. Kiren Rijiju Minister of State in the Ministry of Home Affairs
 20. Dr Virendra Kumar Minister of State in the Ministry of Women and Child Development; and
Minister of State in the Ministry of Minority Affairs
21. Anantkumar Hegde Minister of State in the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship
22. MJ Akbar Minister of State in the Ministry of External Affairs
23. Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti Minister of State in the Ministry of Food Processing Industries
24. YS Chowdary Minister of State in the Ministry of Science and Technology; and
Minister of State in the Ministry of Earth Sciences
25. Jayant Sinha Minister of State in the Ministry of Civil Aviation
26. Babul Supriyo Minister of State in the Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises
27. Vijay Sampla Minister of State in the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment
28. Arjun Ram Meghwal Minister of State in the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs; and
Minister of State in the Ministry of Water Resources,
River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation
29. Ajay Tamta Minister of State in the Ministry of Textiles
30.  Krishna Raj Minister of State in the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare
31. Mansukh  L Mandaviya Minister of State in the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways;
Minister of State in the Ministry of Shipping; and
Minister of State in the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers
32. Anupriya Patel Minister of State in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare
33. CR Chaudhary Minister of State in the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution; and
Minister of State in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry
34. PP Chaudhary Minister of State in the Ministry of Law and Justice; and
Minister of State in the Ministry of Corporate Affairs
35. Dr Subhash Ramrao Bhamre Minister of State in the Ministry of Defence
36. Gajendra Singh Shekhawat Minister of State in the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare
37. Dr Satyapal Singh Minister of State in the Ministry of Human Resource Development; and
Minister of State in the Ministry of Water Resources,
River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation

Photographs: Press Information Bureau, PTI Photo

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