Prime Minister Narendra Modi has begun his third term in office by retaining many of his close lieutenants in top ministries in the Union cabinet. Heavyweights Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh, Nirmala Sitharaman, and Nitin Gadkari retained their portfolios of home and co-operation, defence, finance and corporate affairs, and road transport and highways, respectively. S. Jaishankar and Piyush Goyal, too, retained their ministries of external affairs and commerce, respectively.
There are some new faces as well in the cabinet this time. BJP chief J.P. Nadda is the new minister of health, and chemicals and fertilizers; former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has been given charge of agriculture and rural development; and former Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal is now minister of housing and urban affairs, and power.
At the same time, the PM also included several allies of the NDA (National Democratic Alliance) coalition in his 30-member strong Union cabinet. Kinjarapu Rammohan of Telegu Desam Party is the new civil aviation minister, while Janata Dal Secular leader H.D. Kumaraswamy has been allocated the ministries of heavy industries and steel. Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan Singh of Janata Dal United is the new minister of panchayati raj and also minister of fisheries, animal husbandry and dairy. Jitan Ram Manjhi of Hindustani Awam Morcha has been allocated the ministry of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), while Chirag Paswan, the national president of Lok Janshakti Party, is the new minister of food processing industries.
The swift formation of the cabinet without any controversy signals that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the coalition partners may be keen to avoid any perception of instability arising from the structure of the new government, where the majority BJP is relying on its allies for a majority in Parliament. Sanjiv Puri, president of industry body Confederation of Indian Industries (CII), emphasized on the need to usher in “the next phase of reforms to make the most of the global opportunities and build on the robust fundamentals of the Indian economy”, in a statement issued by the CII.
In an apparent cue to coalition partners and to critics, Modi defended the way of functioning of the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) during an address to officials and staff earlier in the day, saying he was not interested in harnessing power. In a video clip of his address shared by the PMO, Modi likened the PMO as a place that radiates power rather than as a centre of power. “It has been my effort to make the PMO a centre of service; PMO should be People’s PMO, and it cannot be Modi’s PMO,” the prime minister said in his address.
For the new government, the immediate priority is to present the full budget for FY25 (an interim budget was announced on 1 February). It is also expected to announce welfare measures that may be required and lay down medium-term policy priorities. Already, on Monday, the Union cabinet gave its approval to a plan to build 30 million houses for the rural and urban poor under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana.
Meanwhile, some key personnel movements also happened. Erswhile civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya M. Scindia will now helm the ministry for communications and the ministry for development of North Eastern region. Former coal, mines and parliamentary affairs minister Pralhad Joshi is the minister for new & renewable energy and consumer affairs. Mansukh Mandaviya, who was the health and family welfare minister in the previous government, will now hold the portfolios of labour & employment, and youth affairs and sports.
Kiren Rijiju, who in the previous government led the ministry for earth sciences and food processing, will now be the cabinet minister for parliamentary affairs and minority affairs. Ashwini Vaishnaw who held the railways, communnications and electronics & IT, has retained railways and IT. As earlier, the prime minister retains the ministry of personnel, departments of atomic energy and space, and all other important policy issues and ministries not allocated to anyone else.
Besides Modi, the cabinet includes 30 cabinet ministers, five ministers of state with independent charge, and 36 ministers of state. While the total count of 72 members in the council of ministers is the same as in the NDA’s previous term in office, the number of cabinet ministers was a tad lower at 26 in the previous government.
For finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman , who would present the FY25 full budget in July, the major task is to lay down the fiscal consolidation roadmap, signal the government’s commitment to sustain capital expenditure till private investment picks up, and offer any welfare scheme the new government may be keen on. The opposition Congress party, which improved its strength in the lower house of the Parliament in the election, had made inflation and unemployment a campaign issue.
For commerce minister Piyush Goyal, concluding free trade agreement with the UK and EU would be priorities. For Nitin Gadkari, who retains ministry of road transport and highways, the immediate challenge is to get government approval for a Vision 2047 plan that entails construction of 50,000 km of access-controlled highways. As road minister, Gadkari will also likely bring in a new insurance scheme for road accident victims while promoting construction of green highways that support vehicles driven by alternate fuel.
Pralhad Joshi, who held the portfolios of coal, mines and parliamentary affairs in the previous government, will now be the cabinet minister for consumer affairs, food and public distribution. He would also helm the ministry of new and renewable energy, a key focus area of the previous NDA government, which is likely to have prominence in this government, too, given India’s ambitious net-zero targets.
Former Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar , the next union minister for housing and urban affairs and power, succeeds Hardeep Singh Puri in the housing ministry and has the task to implement the cabinet decision to build more houses under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, in both urban and rural areas. He would also have to oversee the formulation and implementation of the much anticipated interest subvention scheme to provide houses to urban poor and the middle-class, a scheme first announced by the prime minister on 15 August last year. As the power minister, the former Haryana chief minister’s immediate task would be to ensure adequate power availability in the country amid rising temperatures.
Manas Pimpalkhare contributed to this story.
