Cabinet Reshuffle: Ten Top Takeaways

On Sunday Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government undertook its third ministerial reshuffle. Here are the top 10 highlights.

1. India’s Second Woman Defence Minister
Nirmala Sitharaman has been promoted to cabinet rank and becomes the second woman minister in the history of independent India to be given charge of the defence portfolio. The first time was when Prime Minister Indira Gandhi held additional charge of defence.

2. Goyal Promoted To Railways
Piyush Goyal has also been promoted to cabinet rank and given charge of the important and gigantic railways ministry. Of his previous portfolio he retains coal, but hands over power, new and renewable energy to Raj Kumar Singh (new minister) and mines to Narendra Singh Tomar.

3. Prabhu Gets Downsized
Former railways minister Suresh Prabhu retains his cabinet position but will now manage the much smaller yet, some say, equally challenging portfolio of commerce and industry.

4. Finance Ministry Changes
Finance and Corporate Affairs Minister Arun Jaitley has been relieved of the defence charge and gets two new ministers of state in the finance ministry - Radhakrishnan P and Shiv Pratap Shukla (new minister), a new minister of state in the corporate affairs ministry - PP Chaudhary.

5. Labour Loses Dattatreya, Gains Gangwar
Former minister of state for finance Santosh Kumar Gangwar is now minister of state with independent charge in the labour and employment ministry, with incumbent Bandaru Dattatreya no longer a minister. Arjun Ram Meghwal, also a minister of state for finance, is now minister of state for parliamentary affairs and water resources, river development and Ganga rejuvenation.

6. Uma’s Glass Half Empty?
Uma Bharati remains cabinet minister but loses the important portfolio of water resources, river development and Ganga rejuvenation. She now is in charge of drinking water and sanitation.

7. River Interlinking Plan Gets New Leader
Besides Bharati, the two ministers of state in charge of water resources, river development and Ganga rejuvenation have also lost the portfolio. Vijay Goel now is minister of state for parliamentary affairs and statistics and programme implementation. Sanjeev Kumar Balyan, an accused in the Muzaffarnagar riots, is no longer a minister.

The water resources, river development and Ganga rejuvenation ministry is now Nitin Gadkari’s responsibility. Alongwith his earlier portfolio of road transport and highways and shipping. He has help from Arjun Ram Meghwal and Satya Pal Singh (new minister).

8. More Promotions

• Dharmendra Pradhan gets cabinet rank with an additional portfolio - skill development and entrepreneurship.
• Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi is also a cabinet minister now but his portfolio has been trimmed to just minority affairs.
• Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore has been bumped up - from minister of state for information and broadcasting to minister of state with independent charge in the youth affairs and sports ministry. Rathore is a professional shooter and an Olympic silver medallist.
• Alphons Kannanthanam, a reputed civil servant, not only is one of the nine new ministers inducted in this reshuffle but has also been given independent charge of the ministry of tourism. The Kerala connection seems to be working twice as hard.
• Career diplomat Hardeep Singh Puri debuts as minister of state with the important portfolio of housing and urban affairs.

9. Bye, Bye
While four ministers were promoted to cabinet rank and nine new ones inducted, this reshuffle also saw heads roll. One cabinet minister and six ministers of state resigned ahead of the reshuffle.

• Kalraj Mishra: Cabinet Minister - Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises
• Rajiv Pratap Rudy: Minister of State - Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (Independent Charge)
• Bandaru Dattatreya: Minister of State - Labour and Employment (Independent Charge)
• Faggan Singh Kulaste: Minister of State - Health and Family Welfare
• Sanjeev Kumar Balyan: Minister of State - Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation
• Mahendra Nath Pandey: Minister of State - Human Resource Development

10. Allies Out In The Cold
Despite days of speculation on who among the JD(U) and AIADMK will make it to Prime Minister Modi’s cabinet, neither party got any ministerial berths. Old ally Shiv Sena was also left complaining.

(Corrects an earlier version which said Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore is a 2004 Olympic gold medallist. He won a gold medal at the 2003 World Cup in Sydney.)