Cabinet Committee On Security Remains Unchanged; Rajnath, Amit Shah, Sitharaman, Jaishankar Retain Portfolios

The allocation of portfolios to the Union Council of Ministers on Monday reflected change with continuity with several senior leaders retaining their portfolios of the previous BJP-led NDA government and some new faces also getting key ministries that have a direct impact at the grassroots.

The composition of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) remains unchanged in the new NDA government with Union Ministers Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, Nirmala Sitharaman and S Jaishankar retaining their portfolios of Defence, Home, Finance and External Affairs.

The four BJP leaders had the same portfolios as the previous NDA government. The cabinet formation and portfolio allocation also reflected the reality of numbers in the NDA government with BJP's allies having greater representation.

The new faces include BJP leaders JP Nadda, Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Manohar Lal Khattar. Some ministers of the previous NDA government saw a change in portfolios. These include Mansukh Mandaviya, Pralhad Joshi, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and Kiren Rijiju.

JP Nadda will handle the Health portfolio in the Modi 3.0 Cabinet apart from Chemicals and Fertilisers. Shivraj Singh Chouhan has been appointed as Minister for Agriculture and Farmers and Rural Development.

The portfolios were announced on Monday in a press communique by the President's Secretariat, a day after the swearing-in of the council of ministers at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. The portfolios were allocated on the advice of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Like in the previous term, PM Modi is in charge of the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, the Department of Atomic Energy and the Department of Space. PM Modi will also supervise important policy issues and is in charge of portfolios not allocated to any minister.

Ministers who have retained their portfolios include Nitin Gadkari who continues to be Road Transport and Highways Minister, Sarbananda Sonowal (Ports, Shipping and Waterways), Bhupendra Yadav (Environment, Forest and Climate Change) and Virendra Kumar (Social Justice and Empowerment).

Ashwini Vaishnaw continues to be Minister of Railways and Electronics and Information Technology and has a new portfolio of Information and Broadcasting and Electronics.

Piyush Goyal retains Commerce and Industry portfolio, Dharmendra Pradhan continues to be Union Minister for Education and Hardeep Singh Puri of Petroleum and Natural Gas.

As in the previous NDA government, Home Minister Amit Shah is also the Minister of Cooperation and Finance Minister Sitharaman also has the Corporate Affairs portfolio.

Among the BJP's allies in NDA, Telugu Desam Party's Kinjarapu Ram Mohan Naidu has been made the Minister of Civil Aviation, Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) chief Chirag Paswan is the Minister of Food Processing Industries.

Shiv Sena's Jadhav Prataprao Ganpatrao has been made Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Ayush and Minister of State in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

Janata Dal (Secular) leader HD Kumaraswamy, a former Chief Minister, has been entrusted with the responsibility of the Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises and the Ministry of Steel.

Manohar Lal Khattar has been appointed Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs and Minister of Power.

Mansukh Mandaviya has been assigned Ministry of Labour and Employment along with the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports.

Hindustani Awam Morcha leader Jitan Ram has been allocated Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises.

Janata Dal (United) leader Rajiv Ranjan Singh (Lalan Singh) has been allocated the Ministry of Panchayati Raj and the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying.

Jayant Chaudhary from Rashtriya Lok Dal has been given the independent charge of the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship. He is also the Minister of State in the Ministry of Education.

Pralhad Joshi has been assigned Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution and Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.

Jyotiraditya Scindia has been given the charge of the Ministry of Communications and the Ministry of Development of the North Eastern Region.

Gajendra Singh Shekhawat has been allocated the Ministry of Culture and Ministry of Tourism.

Kiren Rijiju is the new Union Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Minister of Minority Affairs.

Jual Oram is the Union Minister of Tribal Affairs, Annapurna Devi has been allocated Women and Child Development Ministry, G Kishan Reddy has portfolios of Coal and Mines and CR Patil of Jal Shakti.

As in the previous NDA government, Rao Inderjit Singh, Jitendra Singh and Arjun Ram Meghwal continue to be Ministers of State (Independent Charge).

Meghwal continues to be Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Law and Justice and Minister of State in the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs.

Rao Inderjit Singh will continue as Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation and Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Planning. He will also be Minister of State in the Culture Ministry.

Apart from his previous portfolios, Jitendra Singh will also be Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Earth Sciences. He continues to be Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Science and Technology, Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office, Minister of State in the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions and Minister of State in the Department of Atomic Energy and Minister of State in the Department of Space.

The two Ministers of State in the External Affairs Ministry are Kirtivardhan Singh and Pabrita Margherita. Pankaj Chaudhary continues to be Minister of State for Finance and Nityanand Rai MoS in the Home Ministry. Bandi Sanjay Kumar will also be MoS (Home) and Sanjay Seth MoS in the Defence Ministry.

Anupriya Patel from Apna Dal (S) is the Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare and MoS Chemicals and Fertilisers. Ramdas Athawale from the Republican Party of India will continue to be Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment.

TDP's Pemmasani Chandra Sekhar has been appointed Minister of State for Rural Development and Communications and Ram Nath Thakur from Janata Dal (United) Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.

Among the first-time MPs, BJP's Suresh Gopi is MoS (Petroleum and Natural Gas) and MoS (Tourism) and Ravneet Singh Bittu MoS (Food Processing Industries) and MoS (Railways).
Raksha Nikhil Khadse is the Minister of State for Youth Affairs and Sports.

PM Modi and 71 members of his ministerial team took the oath of office at Rashtrapati Bhavan on Sunday. The team has 30 cabinet ministers, five ministers of state (Independent Charge) and 36 Ministers of State.

BJP-led NDA scored a hat-trick victory in the results of Lok Sabha polls declared earlier this month and won 293 seats. (ANI)