Smriti Irani Retains Textiles Ministry, Nirmala Sitharaman Becomes First Woman Finance Minister

Trade & Policy

Smriti Irani Retains Textiles Ministry, Nirmala Sitharaman Becomes First Woman Finance Minister

BJP president Amit Shah is the new Union Home Minister and former Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman the fresh Finance and Corporate Affairs Minister. Former Home Minister Rajnath Singh takes over Defence and former Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar will take care of External Affairs. The allocation of portfolios to newly sworn-in members of the Council of Ministers, announced on Friday, shows more of a juggle in the top four ministries, with other portfolios largely remaining with those who held them in the outgoing government. Smriti Irani has been allotted Women and Child Development in addition to Textiles which she held earlier. Ravi Shankar Prasad, Dharmendra Pradhan and Piyush Goyal have retained Law, Petroleum and Railways respectively. Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, who was a Minister of State in the last government, is now a Cabinet Minister for “Jal Shakti”, which will — as pointed out by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the BJP’s manifesto launch in April — be a priority area for the new government. The crucial Agriculture Ministry has been allotted to Narendra Singh Tomar. He will also hold Rural Development and Panchayati Raj. Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ is the new Minister for Human Resources, while Prakash Javadekar has been made the Environment and Forests Minister. The allocation appears to be a mix of bold change in the top four of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) with a status quo in the rest. Here is the list of Ministers and their portfolios: Prime Minister Narendra Modi - Prime Minister and in charge of Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions; Department of Atomic Energy; Department of Space; all important policy issues; and all other portfolios not allocated to any Minister.

Rajnath Singh - Minister for Defence.
Amit Shah - Minister for Home Affairs.
Nitin Jairam Gadkari - Minister for Road Transport and Highways; and Minister for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises.
D.V. Sadananda Gowda - Minister for Chemicals and Fertilizers.
Nirmala Sitharaman - Minister for Finance; and Minister for Corporate Affairs.
Ram Vilas Paswan - Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution.
Narendra Singh Tomar - Minister for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare; Minister for Rural Development; and Minister for Panchayati Raj.
Ravi Shankar Prasad - Minister for Law and Justice; Minister for Communications; and Minister for Electronics and Information Technology.
Harsimrat Kaur Badal - Minister for Food Processing Industries.
Thaawar Chand Gehlot - Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment.
Jaishankar - Minister for External Affairs.
Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ - Minister for Human Resources Development.
Arjun Munda- Minister for Tribal Affairs.
Smriti Irani - Minister for Women and Child Development; and Minister for Textiles.
Dr. Harsh Vardhan - Minister for Health and Family Welfare; Minister for Science and Technology; and Minister for Earth Sciences.
Prakash Javadekar - Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change; and Minister for Information and Broadcasting.
Piyush Goyal - Minister for Railways; and Minister for Commerce and Industry.
Dharmendra Pradhan - Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas; and Minister for Steel.
Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi - Minister for Minority Affairs.
Pralhad Joshi - Minister for Parliamentary Affairs; Minister for Coal; and Minister for Mines.
Dr. Mahendra Nath Pandey - Minister for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship.
Arvind Sawant - Minister for Heavy Industries and Public Enterprise.
Giriraj Singh - Minister for Animal Husbandry, Dairy and Fisheries.
Gajendra Singh Shekhawat - Minister for 'Jal Shakti'.

Ministers of State (Independent Charge)

Santosh Kumar Gangwar - Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Labour and Employment.
Rao Inderjit Singh - Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation; and Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Planning.
Shripad Yesso Naik - Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (AYUSH); and Minister of State in the Ministry of Defence.
Dr. Jitendra Singh - Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region; Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office; Minister of State in the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions; Minister of State in the Department of Atomic Energy; and Minister of State in the Department of Space.
Kiren Rijiju - Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports; and Minister of State in the Ministry of Minority Affairs.
Prahalad Singh Patel - Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Culture; and Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Tourism.
Raj Kumar Singh - Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Power; Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy; and Minister of State in the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship.
Hardeep Singh Puri - Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs; Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Civil Aviation; and Minister of State in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
Mansukh L. Mandaviya - Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Shipping; and Minister of State in the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers.

Ministers of State

Faggansingh Kulaste - Minister of State in the Ministry of Steel.
Ashwini Kumar Choubey- Minister of State in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
Shri Arjun Ram Meghwal - Minister of State in the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs; and Minister of State in the Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises.
General (Retd.) V. K. Singh - Minister of State in the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.
Krishan Pal - Minister of State in the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.
Raosaheb Danve - Minister of State in the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution.
Kishan Reddy - Minister of State in the Ministry of Home Affairs.
Purushottam Rupala - Minister of State in the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.
Ramdas Athawale -Minister of State in the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.
Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti - Minister of State in the Ministry of Rural Development.
Babul Supriyo - Minister of State in the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.
Sanjeev Kumar Balyan - Minister of State in the Ministry of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries.
Dhotre Sanjay Shamrao - Minister of State in the Ministry of Human Resource Development; Minister of State in the Ministry of Communications; and Minister of State in the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.
Anurag Thakur - Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance; and Minister of State in the Ministry of Corporate Affairs.
Suresh Angadi - Minister of State in the Ministry of Railways.
Nityanand Rai - Minister of State in the Ministry of Home Affairs.
Ratanlal Kataria - Minister of State in the Ministry of Jal Shakti; and Minister of State in the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.
Muraleedharan - Minister of State in the Ministry of External Affairs; and Minister of State in the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs.
Renuka Singh Saruta - Minister of State in the Ministry of Tribal Affairs.
Som Parkash - Minister of State in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
Rameswar Teli - Minister of State in the Ministry of Food Processing Industries.
Pratap Chandra Sarangi - Minister of State in the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises; and Minister of State in the Ministry of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries.
Kailash Choudhary - Minister of State in the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.
Debasree Chaudhuri - Minister of State in the Ministry of Women and Child Development.