Performance parameter in Cabinet revamp

Team News Riveting

New Delhi, July 7

The Prime Minister, Narendra Modi went for a major overhaul of his Cabinet but those dropped made the headlines rather than those inducted.

Putting a new team in place with young faces that would drive the government into the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the Prime Minister inducted 36 new members and rewarded seven Ministers of State with a promotion.

The bigger political message of the reshuffle, however, is in the ministers that the Prime Minister had dropped. Senior ministers including Dr Harsh Vardhan, Prakash Javadekar, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Santosh Gangwar and Ramesh Pokhriyal have been dropped. It was an overt signal; performance was the main parameter for the change.

The COVID crises had directly impacted two ministers; Dr Harsh Vardhan and Pokhriyal. The pandemic was reportedly not handled effectively, especially when the second wave hit. Probably, the ministry’s performance had propelled the Prime Minister to personally take charge and hold meetings with state governments over vaccine and oxygen supply.

As the education went online during the lockdown, Pokhriyal was in a state of confusion to make arrangements for holding Board examinations and other competitive exams second year in a row with the students left in a lurch. Similarly, the Prime Minister was believed to be less satisfied with the functioning of various ministries under Prasad and Javadekar.

The mid-term revamp saw several surprise entries spanning the caste, region, and gender. It is a young council with 14 Ministers below the age of 50. With six doctors, 13 lawyers, seven former bureaucrats, and five engineers, the average age of the Cabinet is said to be 58 years.

The Prime Minister had also tried to give a new dimension to the BJP known for its upper-caste credentials, while balancing experience with freshness and talent by inducting 27 OBC, 12 SCs, eight ST ministers,

Political observers feel that a whole lot of planning and arithmetic had gone into the exercise in finalising the list, taking into consideration a host of issues ranging from upcoming challenges amid the COVID pandemic, perceptions, and state elections, including Uttar Pradesh.

The Portfolios allotted thereafter:

The President of India, as advised by the Prime Minister, has directed the allocation of portfolios among the following members of the Council of Ministers :-

Shri Narendra Modi

Prime Minister and also in-charge of: Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions; Department of Atomic Energy; Department of Space; All important policy issues; and All other portfolios not allocated to any Minister

CABINET MINISTERS

1.	Shri Raj Nath Singh	Minister of Defence
2.	Shri Amit Shah	Minister of Home Affairs; and Minister of Cooperation
3.	Shri Nitin Jairam Gadkari	Minister of Road Transport and Highways
4.	Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman	Minister of Finance; and Minister of Corporate Affairs
5.	Shri Narendra Singh Tomar	Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare
6.	Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar	Minister of External Affairs
7.	Shri Arjun Munda	Minister of Tribal Affairs
8.	Smt. Smriti Zubin Irani	Minister of Women and Child Development

CABINET MINISTERS (CONTD.)

9.	Shri Piyush Goyal	Minister of Commerce and Industry; Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution; and Minister of Textiles
10.	Shri Dharmendra Pradhan	Minister of Education; and Minister of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship
11.	Shri Pralhad Joshi	Minister of Parliamentary Affairs; Minister of Coal; and Minister of Mines
12.	Shri Narayan Tatu Rane	Minister of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises
13.	Shri Sarbananda Sonowal	Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways; and Minister of AYUSH
14.	Shri Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi	Minister of Minority Affairs
15.	Dr. Virendra Kumar	Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment
16.	Shri Giriraj Singh	Minister of Rural Development; and Minister of Panchayati Raj
17.	Shri Jyotiraditya M. Scindia	Minister of Civil Aviation
18.	Shri Ramchandra Prasad Singh	Minister of Steel
19.	Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw	Minister of Railways; Minister of Communications; and Minister of Electronics and Information Technology

CABINET MINISTERS (CONTD.)

20.	Shri Pashu Pati Kumar Paras	Minister of Food Processing Industries
21.	Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat	Minister of Jal Shakti
22.	Shri Kiren Rijiju	Minister of Law and Justice
23.	Shri Raj Kumar Singh	Minister of Power; and Minister of New and Renewable Energy
24.	Shri Hardeep Singh Puri	Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas; and Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs
25.	Shri Mansukh Mandaviya	Minister of Health and Family Welfare; and Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers
26.	Shri 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.	Shri Parshottam Rupala	Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying
29.	Shri G. Kishan Reddy	Minister of Culture; Minister of Tourism; and Minister of Development of North Eastern Region
30.	Shri 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.	Shri Shripad Yesso Naik	Minister of State in the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways; and Minister of State in the Ministry of Tourism
2.	Shri Faggansingh Kulaste	Minister of State in the Ministry of Steel; and Minister of State in the Ministry of Rural Development