Current Affairs 18, July 2016
By: D.K Choudhary
PM Narendra Modi’s Cabinet Expansion : Complete List
As we all know that yesterday Prime Minister Narendra Modi has inducted 19 news ministers in his Cabinet and carried out a reshuffle of the portfolios of his ministers. So let’s more about it. As it is very important to know the facts and figure of this reshuffling not only in terms of exams but also as an Indian. We should know about the happening in our country. So guys let’s know more about it.
Ahead of the next session of Parliament which is scheduled to start at the end of this month, the Union Government has inducted 19 new ministers into the Council of Ministers, with an aim that will strengthen the Modi-led team with “experience, expertise, and energy”. The new inductees were administered the oath of office and secrecy at the Rashtrapati Bhavan by President Pranab Mukherjee.
The major change during the reshuffling was of current environment minister Prakash Javadekar, who was the minister of state level, was elevated to Cabinet minister rank. While, the rest have been sworn in as ministers of state. Five ministers were also dropped from the Union Council of Ministers, according to government sources. Those five ministers who were dropped from the Council of Ministers, they are- Minister of State (MoS) for Chemicals and Fertilizers Nihal Chand Meghwal, MoS HRD Ram Shankar Katheria, MoS Water Resources Sanwar Lal Jat, MoS Tribal Affairs Manuskhbhai D Vasva and MoS Agriculture MK Kundariya.
Out of the inductees, three each are from Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat. Rajasthan has got four berths in expansion while Maharashtra two. There is one Minister each from West Bengal, Assam, Karnataka and Uttarakhand. Of the nineteen new ministers, 17 are from the BJP, one each from Apna Dal and RPI. There are two minority leaders – MJ Akbar and SS Ahluwalia and two women Anupriya Singh Patel and Krishna Raj.
With this second expansion of the NDA government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi the total number of ministers in the Union Council went up to 83. However, as per Constitutional provisions mentioned in Article 75, the total number cannot exceed 82 (i.e. 15% of the total number of members of Lok Sabha) and it may require the dropping of some ministers to keep the number within the prescribed cap. This provision of constitutional cap for total number of Ministers in the Union Council was added by the 91st Constitutional Amendment Act, 2003.
The complete list of reshuffles :-
| Name of the Ministers | Constituency | In charge of |
| Faggan Singh Kulaste | A prominent tribal leader and Member of Parliament from Barbati in Madhya Pradesh. | Health & Family Welfare |
| Surendrajeet Singh Ahluwalia | From Darjeeling. | Agriculture & Farmer Welfare, Parliamentary Affairs |
| Ramesh Chandappa Jigjinagi | A Dalit leader and Lok Sabha MP (five times) from Bijapur, Karnataka | Drinking Water & Sanitation |
| Vijay Goel | He is a BJP leader from Delhi and was elected to Rajya Sabha from Rajasthan. | Youth Affairs and Sports (Independent Charge), Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation |
| Ramdas Athawale | He is the chief of Republican Party of India (Athawale) and is a seasoned Dalit leader and a vocal Ambedkarite. He is the lone Rajya Sabha member from Maharastra. | Social Justice & Empowerment |
| Rajen Gohain | He is a BJP MP (4th term in Lok Sabha) from Nawgong, Assam. | Railways |
| Anil Madhav Dave | He is a Rajya Sabha MP from Madhya Pradesh and is an environmentalist. He has written several books on the subject. | Environment, Forest and Climate Change (Independent Charge) |
| Parshottam Rupala | He is a Rajya Sabha MP from Gujarat and this is his second term as a Rajya Sabha member. | Agriculture & Farmer Welfare, Panchayati Raj |
| MJ Akbar | Rajya Sabha MP from Madhya Pradesh. | External Affairs |
| Arjun Ram Meghwal | He is a Lok Sabha MP from Bikaner, Rajasthan. | Finance, Corporate Affairs |
| Jaswant Sinh Bhabhor | He is a tribal leader and a Member of the Parliament from Dahod constituency in Gujarat. | Tribal Affairs |
| Dr Mahendra Nath Pandey | He is a BJP Lok Sabha MP from Chandauli, Uttar Pradesh. | Human Resource Development |
| Ajay Tamta | He is also a Dalit leader from the hill state of Uttarakhand. He is a Lok Sabha member from the Almora constituency. | Textiles |
| Krishna Raj | She is a Dalit leader from UP’s Rohilkhand region and a Lok Sabha member from UP’s Shahjahanpur. | Women & Child Development |
| Mansukh Mandaviya | A native of Bhavnagar in Gujarat and a prominent leader from the Patel community is a Rajya Sabha MP from Gujarat. | Road Transport & Highways, Shipping, Chemicals & Fertilisers |
| Anupriya Singh Patel | She is the daughter of the late Sone Lal Patel, a Kurmi leader with significant influence in Uttar Pradesh. She is a Lok Sabha MP from Mirzapur in Uttar Pradesh. | Health & Family Welfare |
| C R Chaudhary | He is a BJP MP from Nagaur, Rajasthan. | Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution |
| P P Chaudhary | He Lok sabha MP from Pali, Rajasthan. He is a recipient of the Sansad Ratna award twice in his stint at the Lok sabha. | Law & Justice, Electronics & Information Technology |
| Dr. Subhash Bhamre | He is an oncologist and a practicing doctor. He is BJP Lok Sabha MP from Dhule, Maharashtra. | Defence |
While some changes in Union Cabinet Ministry :-
- Prakash Javadekar- Constituency: Member of Rajya Sabha from Madhya Pradesh- Now taken charge as : New HRD minister – moved from Environment.
- Ravishankar Prasad selected as new law minister – loses Telecom.
- Venkaiah Naidu is the new I&B minister and retains Urban Development – loses Parliamentary Affairs.
- Smriti Irani – loses HRD – gets Textiles.
- Sadananda Gowda – loses Law and Justice – gets Statistics and Programme Implementation.
- Birendra Singh – loses Rural Development, Panchayati Raj, Drinking Water and Sanitation – gets Steel.
- Arun Jaitley – loses I & B – retains Finance.
- Ananth Kumar – gains Parliamentary Affairs and retains Chemical & Fertilisers.
- Narendra Singh Tomar – loses Steel – gains Rural Development, Panchayati Raj, Drinking Water and Sanitation.
While some major changes in existing Minister of States cadre :-
- Mahesh Sharma – loses Civil Aviation – retains Independent charge of Culture and Tourism.
- Manoj Sinha – gets independent charge of Communications – retains Railways.
- Hansraj Ahir – loses Chemical and Fertilisers – gets home ministry.
- Santosh Gangwar – loses Independent charges of Textiles – gets Finance.
- Rao Inderjit Singh – loses Defence – gets UD and HUPA – retains Independent charge of planning.
- Rajiv Pratap Rudy – loses Parliamentary Affairs – retains Independent charge of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship.
- V K Singh – loses Independent charge of Statistics and Programme implementation – retains External Affairs.
- Haribhai Parthibhai Chaudhary – loses Home – gets MSME.
- Upendra Kushwaha : loses Drinking Water and Sanitation – retains HRD.
- Sanjeev Balyan – loses Agriculture – gets Water Resources, River Development, and Ganga Rejuvenation.
- Vishnu Deo Sai – loses Mines – retains Steel.
- Sudarshan Bhagat – loses Rural Development – gets Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.
- Jayant Sinha – loses Finance – gets Civil Aviation.
