list of new cabinet ministers

Modi’s Cabinet: Six With Rs 100 Cr+, 28 With Criminal Cases From Murder to Crimes Against Women

Bandi Kumar Sanjay, Minister of State for Home Affairs, has 42 cases against him with at least 30 serious charges while Shantanu Thakur, junior minister for ports, has 23 cases and 37 serious charges.

New Delhi: Six of the newly sworn-in ministers in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government have assets exceeding Rs 100 crore, according to a report put together by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) along with National Election Watch.

As per the report, 28 ministers have declared criminal cases against themselves in their election affidavits, with 19 accused of serious crimes under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including crimes against women. Furthermore, two BJP MPs from West Bengal are facing murder charges.

The report is based on the self-sworn affidavits of 71 of the 72 ministers sworn in on Sunday (June 9). The details of George Kurien were not analysed as he is not currently a member of either house and has not contested the Lok Sabha election, ADR said in a statement.

Ministers accused of crimes against women include Bandi Sanjay Kumar, Shantanu Thakur, Sukanta Majumdar, Suresh Gopi and Jual Oram, all from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Eight ministers have been accused of hate speech. They include: Amit Shah, Shobha Karandlaje, Dharmendra Pradhan, Giriraj Singh, Nityanand Rai, Bandi Sanjay Kumar, Shantanu Thakur and Sukanta Majumdar.

According to the report, 70 of the 71 ministers are ‘crorepatis‘ or have assets worth at least Rs 1 crore. Six with the highest declared wealth include: Dr Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani at Rs 5,705 crore, Jyotiraditya M. Scindia at Rs 424 crore, H.D. Kumaraswamy at Rs 217 crore, Ashwini Vaishnaw at Rs 144 crore, Rao Inderjit Singh with Rs 121 crore and Piyush Goyal with Rs 110 crore.

Criminal cases

Non bailable offences; offences with a maximum punishment of five years or more; electoral offences; offence related to loss to exchequer, those related with assault, murder, rape or kidnapping; crimes against women and offences mentioned in the Representation of the People Act (Section8) have been categories as serious offences in the report.

Bandi Kumar Sanjay, Minister of State for Home Affairs, has 42 cases against him with at least 30 ‘serious charges’ while Shantanu Thakur, junior minister for ports, shipping and waterways, has 23 cases and 37 serious charges. Minister of State for education, Sukanta Majumdar, has 16 cases with 30 serious charges.

Modi Set to Name Amit Shah as New Finance Minister: Reports

Shah is tipped to replace Arun Jaitley, who wrote to Modi on Wednesday asking not to be considered for a ministerial position because of health problems.

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to name Amit Shah, president of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), as the new finance minister after taking his oath of office for the second time on Thursday, according to several media reports.

As Modi’s right-hand man and long-time strategist, Shah would be in a powerful position to direct financial policy in Asia’s third-largest economy in his first role as a federal lawmaker.

Shah masterminded the BJP‘s landslide victory in the April-May general election, but there are questions about his lack of Central government experience and financial background, especially at a time of growing signs of weakness in the economy.

Modi is expected to announce his ministers’ departments on Friday, after all of them were sworn in on Thursday evening at an open-air ceremony with some 8,000 guests including Bollywood stars and leaders of neighbours Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

The 54-year-old Shah, among 57 new and old ministers who will join Modi in the next government, pledged to give his best to create a strong and prosperous India.

“This team is a blend of youthful energy and administrative experience,” Modi said on Twitter. “It has people who have excelled as parliamentarians and those who have had distinguished professional careers. Together, we will work for India’s progress.”

The BJP swept to victory in the general election, held over 39 days, and increased its majority in the lower house of parliament.

Shah is tipped to replace Arun Jaitley, who wrote to Modi on Wednesday asking not to be considered for a ministerial position because of health problems.

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi gestures towards supporters after his oath during a swearing-in ceremony at the presidential palace in New Delhi, India May 30, 2019. Credit: Reuters/Adnan Abidi

Shah would be taking over the finance portfolio at a sensitive time. He will probably need to move quickly to stimulate an economy beset by weak farm incomes, slow jobs growth and falling sales of key consumer goods including cars and motorbikes.

This week, two major industrial bodies called on the new government to take steps to bolster a growth rate that slowed to 6.6% in the three months to December – the lowest in five quarters – and is expected to have dropped further to 6.3% between January and March.

‘Gets things done’

Several investors and traders said they did not expect Indian markets to react much if Shah’s appointment was confirmed, believing his ability to get things done would offset his lack of financial experience.

“The hallmark of this government is that there’s more PMO (prime minister’s office)-driven strategy and guidance,” said Jayesh Shroff, co-founder of investment advisory firm Cask Capital. “So, to that extent, you don’t need a proper technocrat to run the finance ministry – you need someone who can get things done.”

Others were more wary.

“We have no clue of what this guy knows or his financial knowledge,” said a trader at a private bank, who declined to be identified. “The market will take some time to understand his views.”

In the election campaign, Shah helped galvanise the BJP‘s nationalist base and make up for the loss of key state elections in December. Part of his strategy included deftly exploiting national security fears.

“He’s a very hard taskmaster even as party president,” political analyst Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay said. “Very soon he acquires this ability to be one step ahead of the people who are part of his team. The finance ministry or whichever ministry he handles is going to be run with an iron fist.”

India will also have a new foreign minister, with incumbent Sushma Swaraj, who has had health issues, sitting among the audience but not on the dais with Modi’s new ministerial team.

In the federal Indian system of appointments, ministers are sworn in before their specific positions are announced.

A potential replacement for Swaraj could be former foreign secretary, S. Jaishankar, who took an oath as a cabinet minister. A former ambassador to the United States and China, Jaishankar led India’s diplomatic corps during Modi’s first term before retiring in early 2018 and subsequently joining the Tata Group conglomerate.

Shah and Jaishankar were not available for comment.

Many other ministers who are also senior members of the ruling coalition are expected to retain their cabinet jobs.

The BJP controls 303 of the 545 seats in the lower house, which might tempt Modi to push for controversial land and labour reforms to help stimulate the economy.

(Reuters)

As Amit Shah, S. Jaishankar Enter Cabinet, Modi Drops Suresh Prabhu, Maneka Gandhi

In the absence of Sushma Swaraj, Jaishankar may get MEA portfolio; Piyush Goyal may step in for Arun Jaitley as finance minister.

New Delhi: President Ramnath Kovind on Thursday administered the oath to Narendra Modi as Prime Minister of India in the forecourt of the Rashtrapati Bhawan in the presence of a large number of dignitaries, including heads of other countries.

Notable among those who took oath for the first time and as cabinet ministers were BJP president Amit Shah and former foreign secretary S. Jaishankar. On the other hand, two prominent ministers of the Modi government’s first reign did not figure in the government this time. They were Sushma Swaraj, who was earlier external affairs minister and did not contest the elections on health grounds, and Arun Jaitley, who held the finance portfolio earlier, and who wrote to Modi on Wednesday asking to be exempted for health reasons too. Jaitley underwent a kidney transplant last year and his condition has not yet stabilised.

A total of 58 ministers took oath, of which 25 are cabinet rank, nine are ministers of state (independent charge) and 24 are ministers of state (MoS).

Among former ministers, Arun Jaitley had announced his unavailability due to health, as had Sushma Swaraj, even before the elections. But eyebrows were raised when several high profile ministers from Modi’s first tenure failed to make the cut this time: Suresh Prabhu, Maneka Gandhi, Jayant Sinha and Mahesh Sharma.

After Modi took oath, former BJP president Rajnath Singh, who held the home portfolio previously, was sworn-in, indicating that he would remain the second most important person, at least officially, in the new Modi government.

After Singh, it was Shah who was sworn in. He won his first Lok Sabha election from Gandhinagar. The seat was earlier represented by BJP’s senior leader L.K. Advani. Shah would now be moving from the Rajya Sabha to the Lok Sabha.

Amit Shah being sworn in on May 30, 2019, at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi. Source: Twitter

A number of other senior cabinet ministers of Modi’s first government returned. Nitin Gadkari, who held the shipping, road transport and highways portfolios in the previous government, was also sworn-in.

Former Karnataka chief minister D.V. Sadanand Gowda, who was minister of statistics and programme implementation in the previous government, was also sworn in as a cabinet minister.

Nirmala Sitharaman, who earlier had the defence portfolio, was the first woman to be sworn in on Thursday.

With Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley not in the cabinet, the Cabinet Committee on Security will have two new faces this time.

Piyush Goyal, a confidant of Modi, who was minister of state (independent charge) for power, coal and new and renewable energy initially before taking over as the railway minister, was also sworn in. It is widely believed that in the absence of Jaitley, he may be given the finance ministry. Incidentally, he had also presented the interim budget earlier this year.

Attendees watch ministers of the Bharatiya Janata Party being sworn in on May 30, 2019, at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi. Source: Twitter

The first non-BJP NDA leader to be sworn in was Ram Vilas Paswan of the Lok Janshakti Party. He was previously the minister for consumer affairs, food and public distribution. He is an eight time Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha MP, who first became a minister in the V.P. Singh government in 1989.

Narendra Singh Tomar was also sworn in as cabinet minister. He was minister of rural development, minister of parliamentary affairs, panchayati raj and mines in the previous government.

Ravi Shankar Prasad, who defeated BJP-rebel Shatrughan Sinha in Patna Sahib, was again sworn in as a cabinet minister. He was the law minister in the earlier government.

From the Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) – BJP’s oldest ally in the NDA – Harsimrat Kaur Badal, who had the food processing portfolio earlier, was re-inducted as a cabinet minister.

The BJP’s Madhya Pradesh leader Thawar Chand Gehlot also took oath as a cabinet minister. He was minister of social justice and empowerment in the earlier government.

Former Uttarakhand chief minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank was also sworn in as a cabinet minister for the first time.

Former Jharkhand chief minister Arjun Munda was also inducted into the Union cabinet for the first time.

The third woman to be inducted into the Union Cabinet was Smriti Zubin Irani. She held the textiles portfolio in the previous government and had also defeated Congress president Rahul Gandhi in his family bastion of Amethi.

Smriti Irani being sworn in on May 30, 2019, at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi. Source: Twitter

Senior Delhi politician Harsh Vardhan, who was minister for environment and forests and science and technology in the earlier government, was also given the cabinet rank.

Former BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar, who held the human resource development portfolio in the previous government, was also sworn in.

Dharmendra Pradhan, who was minister of petroleum and natural gas and skill development in the previous government, also took oath.

The BJP has also retained Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, who was minister for minority affairs.

Former president of the BJP’s Karnataka unit, Prahlad Joshi, was also administered oath by the president.

Former minister in the Modi government and president of UP BJP, Mahendra Nath Pandey, was also inducted into the cabinet.

Arvind Ganpat Sawant of the Shiv Sena, who was chosen to represent his party in the government, also took oath.

Giriraj Singh, who was minister of state for micro, small and medium enterprises in the previous government, has also been given a cabinet rank.

Former minister of state for agriculture and farmer welfare Gajendra Singh Shekhawat has also been promoted to the Cabinet rank.

In May 2014, a total of just 46 ministers were sworn in. The council then comprised 24 cabinet ministers, ten ministers of state with independent charge and 12 MoS.

By the time the term ended, Modi seemed to move away from the slogan of ‘minimum government, maximum governance’. The size of his council ballooned to 70. At the last count, the first Modi government had 25 cabinet ministers, 11 MoS (independent charge) and 34 MoS.

This time, 25 cabinet ministers have been sworn in.