Narendra Modi gets 19 New “Doers” as Ministers

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today expanded his cabinet second time after forming the government on the 26th of May 2016. The present cabinet expansion and reshuffle is kept with an eye on the upcoming assembly elections in the state of Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and Punjab.

Prime Minister promoted Prakash Javadekar to Cabinet rank and included 19 new Ministers of State. PM can at the most have 82 ministers as per the Constitution of India.

Here is the list of the ministers who were sworn in today at the ceremony held at Rashtrapati Bhavan in the presence of President Pranab Mukherjee.

Prakash Javadekar got a promotion as he was made a Union Cabinet Minister from Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Environment, Forest and Climate Change. He has been rewarded for his work in the Environment Ministry, especially his pro-active role in the climate change talks in Paris.

Hailing from Pune, Javadekar, who is a commerce graduate, was one of the most visible faces of BJP on television before the BJP government came to power. He was BJP spokesperson and party's incharge of Andhra Pradesh at the time of his inclusion in the Council of Ministers.

He was also instrumental in striking a deal with Chandrababu Naidu's TDP to bring it into the NDA-fold. Javadekar had also played a role in unearthing cash for vote scam.

The promotion this time has been a turnaround for Javadekar, who was earlier stripped of the charge of two key departments of Information and Broadcasting and Parliamentary Affairs as a Minister of State.

Between them the 19 ministers represent 10 states and there are two women ministers among those who were sworn in today.

Those who took oath as Minister of State are:

1. Faggan Singh Kulaste who represents the Mandla constituency of Madhya Pradesh and is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party.
2. Surendrajeet Singh Ahluwalia is BJPs National Vice President. He is the MP representing Darjeeling Lok Sabha constituency in West Bengal. He is a member of BJP. He is fluent in Bengali, Bhojpuri, Hindi, English and of course Punjabi. Going through heaps of papers, making notes and finding ammunition to target the rival have been his forte. As chairman of Joint Parliamentary Committee on the contentious land bill, the Asansol-born politician has ensured that the political divide in the panel does not disrupt the proceedings. After joining BJP, he has often proved to be an asset for the party.
   
3. Ramesh Jigajinagi represents the Bijapur constituency of Karnataka and is a member of the BJP.
4. Vijay Goel is BJP MP in Rajya Sabha from Rajasthan.
5. Ramdas Bandu Athawale is a member RS representing Maharashtra and is Dalit. Athawale's RPI party, joined the Shivsena-Bharatiya Janata Party alliance in 2011 and contested Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation elections together. He represents Maharashtra.
6. Rajen Gohain is currently an MP from the Lok Sabha from in Nagaon, Assam. He is member of Bharatiya Janata Party.
7. Anil Madhav Dave is a Bharatiya Janata Party politician. He is a Member of Parliament, representing Madhya Pradesh in the RS.
8. Parsottambhai Rupala is a member of RS representing the Indian state of Gujarat. He is a popular leader of Bharatiya Janata Party from Gujarat.
9. Mobashar Jawad "M.J." Akbar is BJP's Rajya Sabha MP from Jharkhand. He has been a leading Indian journalist and author besides being the national spokesperson of the Bharatiya Janata Party.
10. Arjun Ram Meghwal belongs to the BJP and was party Chief Whip in 16th Lok Sabha. He has been elected to the 16th Lok Sabhas from Bikaner constituency, Rajasthan. He was awarded the Best Parliamentarian Award in 2013. He is a former bureaucrat and it is said that he doesn't use the car provided by the government in commuting for work. He uses his environment friendly push-bike as a means of transport.
11. Jasvantsinh Sumanbhai Bhabhor is an Indian politician and a member of parliament to the 16th Lok Sabha from Dahod (Lok Sabha constituency), Gujarat. He won the Indian general election, 2014 being a Bharatiya Janata Party candidate. He is farmer and social worker by profession.
12. Dr Mahendra Nath Pandey is a member of the BJP and has won the Indian general elections, 2014 from the Chandauli, UP. He has completed M.A. and PhD.in Hindi.
13. Ajay Tamta is a politician from Uttarakhand, India. He is MP from Almora constituency after being elected in the General Elections of 2014.
14. Krishna Raj is a politician from BJP. She won 2014 Lok Sabha elections from Shahjahanpur seat of Uttar Pradesh.
15. Mansukh Mandaviya is member of BJP and member of RS from Gujarat. He resides at Palitana, Bhavnagar, Gujarat.
16. Anupriya Patel is an MP in Lok Sabha elected from Mirzapur in the state of Uttar Pradesh. She has a Master's degrees in Psychology and also Masters in Business Administration (MBA), and has taught at Amity.
17. Chhotu Ram Chaudhary is a member of the BJP and has won the Indian general elections, 2014 from the Nagaur, Rajashthan.
18. P.P. Chaudhary is Lok Sabha MP from Pali, Rajsthan. He is currently the Chairperson of the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Offices of Profit and is also a member of the Committee on Subordinate Legislation and the Standing Committee on Personnel, Committee on Public Grievances, Law and Justice.
19. Subhas Bhamare represents the Dhule constituency of Maharashtra in Lok Sabha. He is from BJP.