The Modi Government announced a Cabinet Reshuffle. This change comes against the backdrop of a massive review, which has stretched for weeks, undertaken by the BJP top brass. The cabinet reshuffle of the Modi government is going to result in a massive change in the composition of the union ministry. As many as 43 new ministers have taken oath on 7th July at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, 14 existing ministers have resigned from the government till now.
Ministers Dropped
- Ravi Shankar Prasad, Union Minister of Law and Justice, Electronics and Information Technology & Communications
- Prakash Keshav Javadekar, Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Information & Broadcasting; Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises
- Harsh Vardhan, Minister of Health and Family Welfare
- Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, Minister of Human Resource Development
- Santosh Gangwar, Minister of State with independent charge in the Ministry of Labour and Employment
- Sadananda Gowda, Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers
- Debasree Chaudhuri, Minister of State for Woman and Child Development
- Danve Raosaheb, Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution
- Sanjay Dhotre, Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology
- Thawar Chand Gehlot, Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment
- Ashwini Kumar Choubey, Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare
- Babul Supriyo, Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change
- Pratap Sarangi, Minister of State for Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises
- Rattan Lal Kataria, Minister of State for Jal Shakti
Several positions in the Cabinet were vacant due to the exit of Shiv Sena and Shiromani Akali Dal from the NDA, and the demise of Ramvilas Paswan of Jan Lokshakti Party. The Government, concerned about the upcoming Uttar Pradesh assembly election and its perception after the Coronavirus second wave, hopes to use this as an image makeover. This reorganization will also aid in reducing the burden on some ministers. Some were handling multiple key portfolios due to the deaths and resignations of their predecessors.
A point to note is that the ministers primarily responsible for the Pandemic response, Dr. Harsh Vardhan and his deputy Ashwini Kumar Choubey along with Santosh Gangwar responsible for managing the migrant crisis have resigned. A surprise came in form of Ravi Shankar Prasad & Prakash Javadekar, both of them held 3 important portfolios each. The former made headlines for his feud with Twitter.
Many have touted this as a progressive move with a relatively young and well-educated cabinet. While the exercise has improved the representation amongst Scheduled Castes and OBC’s, many point out the lack of women representation overall.
The new Union cabinet will have seven PHDs, three MBAs, thirteen lawyers, six doctors, five engineers, seven civil servants and 68 ministers with graduate degrees — showcasing the level of emphasis that has been placed on the educational qualifications of the new team Modi. This will be in addition to a anticipated 12 minsters from the Dalit community and about 27 from OBC Communities. The complete list is attached below
Cabinet Ministers
- Shri Narayan Tatu Rane
- Shri Sarbananda Sonowal
- Dr. Virendra Kumar
- Shri Jyotiraditya M Scindia
- Shri Ramchandra Prasad Singh
- Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw
- Shri Pashu Pati Kumar Paras
- Shri Kiren Rijiju
- Shri Raj Kumar Singh
- Shri Hardeep Singh Puri
- Shri Mansukh Mandaviya
- Shri Bhupender Yadav
- Shri Parshottam Rupala
- Shri G. Kishan Reddy
- Shri Anurag Singh Thakur
Ministers of state
- Shri Pankaj Choudhary
- Smt. Anupriya Singh Patel
- Dr. Satya Pal Singh Baghel
- Shri Rajeev Chandrasekhar
- Sushri Shobha Karandlaje
- Shri Bhanu Pratap Singh Verma
- Smt. Darshana Vikram Jardosh
- Smt. Meenakshi Lekhi
- Smt. Annpurna Devi
- Shri A. Narayanaswamy
- Shri Kaushal Kishore
- Shri Ajay Bhatt
- Shri B. L. Verma
- Shri Ajay Kumar
- Shri Chauhan Devusinh
- Shri Bhagwanth Khuba
- Shri Kapil Moreshwar Patil
- Sushri Pratima Bhoumik
- Dr. Subhas Sarkar
- Dr. Bhagwat Kishanrao Karad
- Dr. Rajkumar Ranjan Singh
- Dr. Bharati Pravin Pawar
- Shri Bishweswar Tudu
- Shri Shantanu Thakur
- Dr. Munjapara Mahendrabhai
- Shri John Barla
- Dr. L. Murugan
- Shri Nisith Pramanik