AGENCIES
In a major reshuffle of cabinet portfolios at the Centre where 36 new faces have been inducted, North Goa MP and Ayush Minister Shripad Naik has been named Minister of State in the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways and Minister of State in the Ministry of Tourism.
As part of the rejig by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, 43 ministers have taken oath. Thirty-six new faces have been inducted, while there have been 12 exits.
Thirty-six new ministers joined the government and four high-profile ministers quit in Modi’s mega cabinet reboot to offset criticism as the country emerges from a fierce second wave of Covid ahead of key elections.
PM Modi now has 77 ministers, nearly half of them new. Anurag Thakur and Hardeep Puri are among 15 new cabinet ministers.
Sarbananda Sonowal, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Narayan Rane, Bhupender Yadav and Ashwini Vaishnaw were also sworn in as cabinet ministers.
But the exits of IT and Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, Health Minister Harsh Vardhan and Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar stood out on a day resignations made bigger news than new ministers.
This is PM Modi’s first major overhaul of the Union Cabinet since he took office for a second term in 2019.
After the oath-taking ceremony, PM Modi tweeted, “I congratulate all the colleagues who have taken oath today and wish them the very best for their ministerial tenure. We will continue working to fulfil aspirations of the people and build a strong and prosperous India.”
