After a landslide victory for the BJP-NDA with 350 seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, all eyes were on the cabinet allocation, and now, they have arrived. While there are new additions like S Jaishankar, an ex-IFS in the Ministry of External Affairs, others like Arun Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj have opted out of the new government, citing health reasons. Let us examine 10 important Union Cabinet positions and their respective ministers, in this article.
1) Narendra Modi – Prime Minister
With the slogan “Phir Ek Baar Modi Sarkar,” Narendra “Chowkidar” Modi was the face of the BJP campaign this time, just as in 2014, and will enjoy a second term as PM. He believes the next 5 years will be the time for India to regain its lost position in the world. His style of decisive leadership is expected to continue, spearheading the party’s stances on key issues like nationalism, terrorism and so on.
2) Amit Shah – Home Minister
Amit Shah, often dubbed as the “Chanakya” of politics, had an incredibly successful run as the BJP president, leading the party to victory in the state assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Haryana, and many other states. As for being the Home Minister, he had held a similar role in Gujarat with Modi as the Chief Minister. Holding elections in Jammu and Kashmir, completion of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam, etc. are some of the challenges he is expected to face during his tenure.
3) Dr Subrahmanyam Jaishankar – Minister Of External Affairs
Subramanyam Jaishankar is the first former Foreign Secretary to head the Ministry of External Affairs at the cabinet level and this ex-foreign servant has played several important roles, having served as the Indian Ambassador to the US, China, and the Czech Republic. Five years back, the Modi government faced the challenge of repairing the US-India relations, which had been compromised due to issues like the climate crisis, and now again, Jaishankar’s first task will be to solve the growing trade dispute between the two countries.
4) Nirmala Sitaraman – Minister Of Finance
While Indira Gandhi did hold the additional charge of the Finance Ministry while being the Prime Minister, Nirmala Sitaraman is the first female full-time Finance Minister, having held a similar portfolio in 2014, as the Minister of State for Commerce and Industry. Sitaraman is expected to present the budget on July 5 and has already met notable economists like finance secretary Subhash Chandra Garg, chief economic adviser KV Subramanian for budget suggestions.
5) Rajnath Singh – Minister Of Defence
With the past five years bearing witness to the most dreadful terrorist attacks – Pathankot, Uri and Pulwama and also the countering by India in the form of surgical strikes, there is no need to emphasize the daunting nature of this portfolio, and will require more than just “kadi ninda” (strong criticism) which the former Home Minister was quite eager to give in the past. Singh has also reviewed the Navy’s preparations for cyclone Vayu.
6) Nitin Gadkari – Minister Of Road Transport And Highways, Micro, Small And Medium Enterprises
This stalwart of the BJP has retained his position in Road Transport and Highways, while Ministry of Shipping and Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation were replaced. He has a stellar track record as a project manager, having overseen numerous projects like metro rail across cities. During his tenure, the pace of road building reached a high of 30 km a day in 2018-2019, and now, he aims for the 40 km a day mark.
7) Smriti Irani – Minister Of Women And Child Development, Textiles
After defeating the Congress President Rahul Gandhi in the family bastion of Amethi, Smriti Irani took charge of Women and Child Development and retained her Textiles Ministry. She has met with officials of the ministries and also her predecessor Maneka Gandhi to discuss important issues.
8) Piyush Goyal – Minister Of Railways, Commerce And Industry
Piyush Goyal presented the budget for 2019, when he held the finance ministry in the absence of Arun Jaitley, and has held many portfolios in his political career. As the railway minister, he has many achievements under his belt. It was during his tenure, India had it’s first home-built and engine-less high-speed train – the Vande Bharat Express, its first Railway University and so on. Currently, he has asked companies to submit their concerns on the government’s draft e-commerce policy, which the industry representatives felt was not sufficiently consultative.
9) Ravi Shankar Prasad – Minister Of Law And Justice, Telecommunications, IT
A three-time Raya Sabha MP and the new Lok Sabha MP from Patna, Prasad has been appointed as the new Minister of Telecommunications, while he has retained Law and IT. He played a crucial role in implementing Modi’s Make in India initiative, which fetched multi-crore investments from the top companies across the world. During his tenure, India became the second largest mobile phone producer in the world in 2019. For the next five years, he wants India’s digital economy to reach a trillion and has finalized a new data protection law.
10) Prakash Javadekar – Minister of Environment, Information And Broadcasting
Previously, as the HRD Minister, Javadekar took steps to make changes in the engineering curriculum, reduce the NCERT syllabus. As the Environment Minister, he stated that only BS-6 fuel vehicles will be available from next year, to curb pollution. He also announced India will host the 14th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 14) to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), in September, to address the issues of land degradation and desertification.