new-look Cabinet

portfolio allocations

Smriti Irani dropped as HRD minister in big Cabinet reshuffle

NEW DELHI: The announcement of portfolios for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’sthat came on Tuesday evening saw some big portfolio changes among the existing ministers. Prakash Javadekar was given charge of the Human Resources Development ministry, which has been held so far by an embattled Smriti Irani Irani, who had come under heavy fire in the controversies surrounding the suicide of Hyderabad University scholar Rohith Vemula and the sedition row at Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University, will now take charge as Textiles Minister.Otherwill see Sadananda Gowda moved to Statistics and Programme Implementation from Law and Justice. Ravi Shankar Prasad, who has held the Telecom portfolio, will now be the Law Minister.Venkaiah Naidu will take charge as the new Information and Broadcasting Minister, a portfolio that has so far been held as additional charge by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.Taking over from Naidu for the battles to come as Minister for Parliamentary Affairs will be Ananth Kumar, who has been the Minister for Chemicals and Fertilizers since the Modi government took charge in 2014. Vijay Goel will be the other Cabinet rank appointment, as the Sports Minister.Jayant Sinha will remain a Minister of State, but will move from the Finance Ministry to Civil Aviation. Other portfolios named for Ministers of State include SS Ahluwalia (Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Parliamentary Affairs), Ramdas Athawale (Social Justice and Empowerment), MJ Akbar (External Affairs), Arjun Ram Meghwal (Finance, Corporate Affairs), Santosh Kumar Gangwar (Finance), Anupriya Patel (Health and Family Welfare), Faggan Singh Kulaste (Health and Family welfare), Ajay Tamta (Textiles), Hansraj Gangaram (Home Affairs), Ramesh Chandappa Jigajinagi (Drinking water and Sanitation Department).19 new faces had been sworn in as ministers by President Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday morning. This was the second major reshuffle of the Modi government. The move has also expanded the Council of Ministers in an exercise that government sources have said is aimed at bringing in “doers and performers” into the government.