• Arjun Ram Meghwal assumed charge as the Minister of Law and Justice after Kiren Rijiju was removed from the high-profile ministry.

• President Droupadi Murmu, as advised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has reallocated portfolios among ministers in the Union Council of Ministers.

• According to Article 75 of the Constitution, the Prime Minister shall be appointed by the President and the other ministers shall be appointed by the President on the advice of the Prime Minister.

• The Council is collectively responsible to the Lok Sabha. It is the duty of the Prime Minister to communicate to the President all decisions of the Council of Ministers relating to administration of affairs of the Union and proposals for legislation and information relating to them.

• Meghwal is currently the Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs and the Minister of State for Culture.

• He has been assigned independent charge as Minister of State in the ministry of law and justice in addition to his existing portfolios.

• Rijiju will take over from Union Minister Jitendra Singh, who was holding charge of the ministry of earth sciences.

• S.P. Singh Baghel, the Minister of State for Law and Justice, was shifted to the health ministry in the same rank.

Bureaucrat-turned-politician

• Meghwal was born in Kishmidesar village in Rajasthan’s Bikaner on December 7, 1954.

• The three-term Lok Sabha member has played a key role in the BJP and the Narendra Modi government.

• He has been the chief whip of the party in Lok Sabha and later, a Minister of State handling portfolios such as finance, corporate affairs, heavy industry and public enterprises, water resources, parliamentary affairs and culture.

• Meghwal became a law graduate in 1977 and earned his master’s degree in political science. He obtained an MBA degree from the University of the Philippines.

• Meghwal started working as a telephone operator in the post and telegraph department in 1974 while pursuing his studies.

• He cleared the Rajasthan Administrative Service examination in 1980 and served in various capacities in the state government across different districts. Meghwal was promoted to the Indian Administrative Service in 1999 and he went on to serve in various administrative posts, including as the district magistrate of Churu.

• Meghwal sought voluntary retirement from the IAS in 2009 and took the political plunge by contesting the Lok Sabha elections the same year.

• Meghwal is known for donning traditional attire, a colourful Rajasthani turban and a dhoti.

• Meghwal was elected to the 15th Lok Sabha from Bikaner in 2009 and retained his seat in the 2014 and 2019 elections.

• He shot into the limelight as the chief whip of the BJP.

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