The first and major reshuffle has been carried out in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cabinet since the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led NDA came to power for the second time in 2019. At least 21 new faces, including Jyotiraditya Scindia, Sarbananda Sonowal, Narayan Rane, Sushil Modi and West Bengal BJP chief Dilip Ghosh have been inducted into the new cabinet. A total of 43 leaders took the oath of office and secrecy today at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Health minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan resigned from the cabinet amid huge criticism of the handling of the COVID-19 crisis, especially the second wave of the pandemic that killed more than 200,000 people in just four months.
Minister for Law, and Electronics and IT – Ravi Shankar Prasad – also quit his position. Prasad had recently engaged in a bitter feud with social media giants, especially Twitter.
Environment minister Prakash Javadekar and education minister Ramesh Pokhriyal also resigned.
There are no changes in the Finance, Home, Defence and Foreign Affairs portfolios of the government.
The Modi government’s rejig comes ahead of assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur, that are likely to be held early next year.
Former Congress leader turned BJP Rajya Sabha MP Jyotiraditya Scindia, has also been assigned a chance to work at the Centre.
Pashupati Kumar Paras, who was the mastermind behind the LJP coup last month, has also been included in the Modi cabinet as the party representative.
According to reports, at least 8 ministers are from the ST community, 12 from the SC community and 27 from the OBC. A total of 11 women have also been included in Modi’s new cabinet.
List Of Members
Cabinet Ministers
| 1. | Raj Nath Singh | Minister of Defence |
| 2. | Amit Shah | Minister of Home Affairs; and
Minister of Cooperation |
| 3. | Nitin Jairam Gadkari | Minister of Road Transport and Highways |
| 4. | Nirmala Sitharaman | Minister of Finance; and
Minister of Corporate Affairs |
| 5. | Narendra Singh Tomar | Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare |
| 6. | Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar | Minister of External Affairs |
| 7. | Arjun Munda | Minister of Tribal Affairs |
| 8. | Smriti Zubin Irani | Minister of Women and Child Development |
| 9. | Piyush Goyal | Minister of Commerce and Industry;
Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution; and Minister of Textiles |
| 10. | Dharmendra Pradhan | Minister of Education; and
Minister of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship |
| 11. | Pralhad Joshi | Minister of
Parliamentary Affairs; Minister of Coal; and Minister of Mines |
| 12. | Narayan Tatu Rane | Minister of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises |
| 13. | Sarbananda Sonowal | Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways; and
Minister of AYUSH |
| 14. | Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi | Minister of Minority Affairs |
| 15. | Dr. Virendra Kumar | Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment |
| 16. | Giriraj Singh | Minister of Rural Development; and
Minister of Panchayati Raj |
| 17. | Jyotiraditya M. Scindia | Minister of Civil Aviation |
| 18. | Ramchandra Prasad Singh | Minister of Steel |
| 19. | Ashwini Vaishnaw | Minister of Railways;
Minister of Communications; and Minister of Electronics and Information Technology |
| 20. | Pashu Pati Kumar Paras | Minister of Food Processing Industries |
| 21. | Gajendra Singh Shekhawat | Minister of Jal Shakti |
| 22. | Kiren Rijiju | Minister of Law and Justice |
| 23. | Raj Kumar Singh | Minister of Power; and
Minister of New and Renewable Energy |
| 24. | Hardeep Singh Puri | Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas; and
Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs |
| 25. | Mansukh Mandaviya | Minister of Health and Family Welfare; and
Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers |
| 26. | Bhupender Yadav | Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change; and
Minister of Labour and Employment |
| 27. | Dr. Mahendra Nath Pandey | Minister of Heavy Industries |
| 28. | Parshottam Rupala | Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying |
| 29. | G. Kishan Reddy | Minister of Culture;
Minister of Tourism; and Minister of Development of North Eastern Region |
| 30. | Anurag Singh Thakur | Minister of Information and Broadcasting; and
Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports |
Ministers of State (Independent Charge)
| 1. | Rao Inderjit Singh | Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation;
Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Planning; and Minister of State in the Ministry of Corporate Affairs |
| 2. | Dr. Jitendra Singh | Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Science and Technology;
Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Earth Sciences; 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 |
Ministers of State
| 1. | Shripad Yesso Naik | Minister of State in the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways; and
Minister of State in the Ministry of Tourism |
| 2. | Faggansingh Kulaste | Minister of State in the Ministry of Steel; and
Minister of State in the Ministry of Rural Development |
| 3. | Prahalad Singh Patel | Minister of State in the Ministry of Jal Shakti; and
Minister of State in the Ministry of Food Processing Industries |
| 4. | Ashwini Kumar Choubey | Minister of State in the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution; and
Minister of State in the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change |
| 5. | Arjun Ram Meghwal | Minister of State in the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs; and
Minister of State in the Ministry of Culture |
| 6. | General (Retd.) V. K. Singh | Minister of State in the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways; and
Minister of State in the Ministry of Civil Aviation |
| 7. | Krishan Pal | Minister of State in the Ministry of Power; and
Minister of State in the Ministry of Heavy Industries |
| 8. | Danve Raosaheb Dadarao | Minister of State in the Ministry of Railways;
Minister of State in the Ministry of Coal; and Minister of State in the Ministry of Mines |
| 9. | Ramdas Athawale | Minister of State in the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment |
| 10. | Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti | Minister of State in the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution; and
Minister of State in the Ministry of Rural Development |
| 11. | Dr. Sanjeev Kumar Balyan | Minister of State in the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying |
| 12. | Nityanand Rai | Minister of State in the Ministry of Home Affairs |
| 13. | Pankaj Chaowdhary | Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance |
| 14. | Anupriya Singh Patel | Minister of State in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry |
| 15. | Prof. S. P. Singh Baghel | Minister of State in the Ministry of Law and Justice |
| 16. | Rajeev Chandrasekhar | Minister of State in the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship; and
Minister of State in the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology |
| 17. | Sushri Shobha Karandlaje | Minister of State in the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare |
| 18. | Bhanu Pratap Singh Verma | Minister of State in the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises |
| 19. | Darshana Vikram Jardosh | Minister of State in the Ministry of Textiles; and
Minister of State in the Ministry of Railways |
| 20. | V. Muraleedharan | Minister of State in the Ministry of External Affairs; and
Minister of State in the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs |
| 21. | Meenakashi Lekhi | Minister of State in the Ministry of External Affairs; and
Minister of State in the Ministry of Culture |
| 22. | Som Parkash | Minister of State in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry |
| 23. | Renuka Singh Saruta | Minister of State in the Ministry of Tribal Affairs |
| 24. | Rameswar Teli | Minister of State in the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas; and
Minister of State in the Ministry of Labour and Employment |
| 25. | Kailash Choudhary | Minister of State in the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare |
| 26. | Annpurna Devi | Minister of State in the Ministry of Education |
| 27. | A. Narayanaswamy | Minister of State in the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment |
| 28. | Kaushal Kishore | Minister of State in the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs |
| 29. | Ajay Bhatt | Minister of State in the Ministry of Defence; and
Minister of State in the Ministry of Tourism |
| 30. | B. L. Verma | Minister of State in the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region; and
Minister of State in the Ministry of Cooperation |
| 31. | Ajay Kumar | Minister of State in the Ministry of Home Affairs |
| 32. | Devusinh Chauhan | Minister of State in the Ministry of Communications |
| 33. | Bhagwanth Khuba | Minister of State in the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy; and
Minister of State in the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers |
| 34. | Kapil Moreshwar Patil | Minister of State in the Ministry of Panchayati Raj |
| 35. | Sushri Pratima Bhoumik | Minister of State in the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment |
| 36. | Dr. Subhas Sarkar | Minister of State in the Ministry of Education |
| 37. | Dr. Bhagwat Kishanrao Karad | Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance |
| 38. | Dr. Rajkumar Ranjan Singh | Minister of State in the Ministry of External Affairs; and
Minister of State in the Ministry of Education |
| 39. | Dr. Bharati Pravin Pawar | Minister of State in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare |
| 40. | Bishweswar Tudu | Minister of State in the Ministry of Tribal Affairs; and
Minister of State in the Ministry of Jal Shakti |
| 41. | Shantanu Thakur | Minister of State in the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways |
| 42. | Dr. Munjapara Mahendrabhai | Minister of State in the Ministry of Women and Child Development; and
Minister of State in the Ministry of AYUSH |
| 43. | John Barla | Minister of State in the Ministry of Minority Affairs |
| 44. | Dr. L. Murugan | Minister of State in the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying; and
Minister of State in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting |
| 45. | Nisith Pramanik | Minister of State in the Ministry of Home Affairs; and
Minister of State in the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports |
Ministers Who Left The Modi Government
Before the cabinet expansion, a dozen ministers including the union education minister Ramesh Pokhriyal and health minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan resigned. Apart from Pokhriyal and Vardhan, Ministers of State (MoS) for Health Ashwini Choudhary, Women and Child Development Minister Debosree Chowdhury, Fertilizers and Chemicals Minister Sadananda Gowda, MoS for Labor Santosh Gangwar, MoS for Education Sanjay Dhotre, Babul Supriyo, MoS for Animal Husbandry Pratap Sarangi and MoS for Jal Shakti and Social Justice and Empowerment Ratan Lal Kataria were among the ministers who resigned from the Modi cabinet.
Union Social Justice Minister Thawar Chand Gehlot quit his position on Tuesday itself. He has been appointed as the Governor of Karnataka.
Opposition’s Reaction
The Congress reacted amid Modi’s cabinet reshuffle saying that if performance is criteria for resignation, then the PM should resign too. Congress national spokesperson Randeep Surjewala took a jibe at the government and said that if performance and governance were the criteria of the rejig then Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Home Minister Amit Shah and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman too should be fired.
“The resignations of the Union Health Minister and the MoS (Minister of State) Health is a candid confession that the Modi government has utterly failed in managing the pandemic,” tweeted senior congress leader P. Chidambaram.
