• Mansukh Mandaviya and Anurag Thakur will be the new ministers for Health and Information & Broadcasting respectively replacing Harsh Vardhan and Prakash Javedekar who were among the 12 dropped in a major revamp of the Union Cabinet.

• Besides 15 Cabinet ministers, 28 Ministers of State, comprising new faces and those elevated, were sworn in at a ceremony held in the Durbar Hall of the Rashtrapati Bhavan. President Ram Nath Kovind administered the oath of office and secrecy to the 43 ministers including the seven elevated to the Cabinet.

• The total strength of the Council of Ministers now stands at 78, including the Prime Minister. The PM can have up to 81 members in his Union Council (15 per cent of the Lok Sabha strength).

• Kiren Rijiju, Raj Kumar Singh, Hardeep Puri, Mansukh Mandaviya, G. Kishan Reddy, Parshottam Rupala and Anurag Singh Thakur were elevated as Cabinet ministers.

• The newly-created ministry of cooperation will be under the additional charge of Union Home Minister Amit Shah. 

• At least 16 entrants to the Council of Ministers are first time MPs.

• Seven women were among the 43 who took oath, taking the total number of women ministers in the government to 11.

• Among the 36 new faces, eight are lawyers, four are doctors, two are former IAS officers and four MBA degree holders, besides several engineers, making it an eclectic mix of professionals.

The Union Executive

• The Union executive consists of the President, the Vice-President and the Council of Ministers with the Prime Minister as the head to aid and advise the President.

• The President of India is the constitutional head of executive of the Union.

• Article 74 and 75 deals with the Council of Ministers.

• Article 74(1) states that: “There shall be a Council of Ministers with the Prime Minister at the head to aid and advise the President who shall, in the exercise of his functions, act in accordance with such advice.”

• Article 75(1) states that: “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 of Ministers is collectively responsible to the House of the People (Lok Sabha).

• The Prime Minister is appointed by the President who also appoints other ministers on the advice of 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 Council of Ministers relating to administration of affairs of the Union and proposals for legislation and information relating to them.

• The Council of Ministers comprises ministers who are members of Cabinet, Ministers of State (independent charge), Ministers of State and Deputy Ministers.

Council of Ministers and portfolios

• Narendra Modi: Prime Minister and also 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 of Defence

• Amit Shah - Minister of Home Affairs and Minister of Cooperation

• Nitin Gadkari - Minister of Road Transport and Highways

• Nirmala Sitharaman - Minister of Finance and Minister of Corporate Affairs

• Narendra Singh Tomar - Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare

• S. Jaishankar - Minister of External Affairs

• Arjun Munda - Minister of Tribal Affairs

• Smriti Irani - Minister of Women and Child Development

• Piyush Goyal - Minister of Commerce and Industry, Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution and Minister of Textiles

• Dharmendra Pradhan - Minister of Education and Minister of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship

• Pralhad Joshi - Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, Minister of Coal and Minister of Mines

• Narayan Rane - Minister of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises

• Sarbananda Sonowal - Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways and Minister of AYUSH

• Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi - Minister of Minority Affairs

• Virendra Kumar - Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment

• Giriraj Singh - Minister of Rural Development and Minister of Panchayati Raj

• Jyotiraditya M. Scindia - Minister of Civil Aviation

• Ramchandra Prasad Singh - Minister of Steel

• Ashwini Vaishnaw - Minister of Railways, Minister of Communications and Minister of Electronics and Information Technology

• Pashupati Kumar Paras - Minister of Food Processing Industries

• Gajendra Singh Shekhawat - Minister of Jal Shakti

• Kiren Rijiju - Minister of Law and Justice

• Raj Kumar Singh - Minister of Power and Minister of New and Renewable Energy

• Hardeep Singh Puri - Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas and Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs

• Mansukh Mandaviya - Minister of Health and Family Welfare and Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers

• Bhupender Yadav - Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change and Minister of Labour and Employment

• Mahendra Nath Pandey - Minister of Heavy Industries

• Parshottam Rupala - Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying

• G. Kishan Reddy - Minister of Culture, Minister of Tourism and Minister of Development of North Eastern Region

• Anurag Singh Thakur - Minister of Information & Broadcasting and Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports.

Ministers of State (Independent Charge)

• Rao Inderjit Singh - Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Planning and Minister of State in the Ministry of Corporate Affairs

• Jitendra Singh - Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Science and Technology, Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Earth Sciences, 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

Ministers of State

• Shripad Yesso Naik - Minister of State in the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways and Minister of State in the Ministry of Tourism

• Faggansingh Kulaste - Minister of State in the Ministry of Steel and Minister of State in the Ministry of Rural Development

• Prahalad Singh Patel - Minister of State in the Ministry of Jal Shakti and Minister of State in the Ministry of Food Processing Industries

• Ashwini Kumar Choubey - Minister of State in the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution and Minister of State in the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change

• Arjun Ram Meghwal - Minister of State in the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs and Minister of State in the Ministry of Culture

• General (Retd.) V. K. Singh - Minister of State in the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways and Minister of State in the Ministry of Civil Aviation

• Krishan Pal - Minister of State in the Ministry of Power and Minister of State in the Ministry of Heavy Industries

• Danve Raosaheb Dadarao - Minister of State in the Ministry of Railways, Minister of State in the Ministry of Coal and Minister of State in the Ministry of Mines

• Ramdas Athawale - Minister of State in the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment

• Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti - Minister of State in the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution and Minister of State in the Ministry of Rural Development

• Sanjeev Kumar Balyan - Minister of State in the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying

• Nityanand Rai - Minister of State in the Ministry of Home Affairs

• Pankaj Chaowdhary - Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance

• Anupriya Singh Patel - Minister of State in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry

• S.P. Singh Baghel - Minister of State in the Ministry of Law and Justice

• Rajeev Chandrasekhar - Minister of State in the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship and Minister of State in the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology

• Sushri Shobha Karandlaje - Minister of State in the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare

• Bhanu Pratap Singh Verma - Minister of State in the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises

• Darshana Vikram Jardosh - Minister of State in the Ministry of Textiles and Minister of State in the Ministry of Railways

• V. Muraleedharan - Minister of State in the Ministry of External Affairs and Minister of State in the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs

• Meenakashi Lekhi - Minister of State in the Ministry of External Affairs and Minister of State in the Ministry of Culture

• Som Parkash - Minister of State in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry

• Renuka Singh Saruta - Minister of State in the Ministry of Tribal Affairs

• Rameswar Teli - Minister of State in the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas and Minister of State in the Ministry of Labour and Employment

• Kailash Choudhary - Minister of State in the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare

• Annpurna Devi - Minister of State in the Ministry of Education

• A. Narayanaswamy - Minister of State in the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment

• Kaushal Kishore - Minister of State in the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs

• Ajay Bhatt - Minister of State in the Ministry of Defence and Minister of State in the Ministry of Tourism

• B. L. Verma - Minister of State in the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region and Minister of State in the Ministry of Cooperation

• Ajay Kumar - Minister of State in the Ministry of Home Affairs

• Devusinh Chauhan - Minister of State in the Ministry of Communications

• Bhagwanth Khuba - Minister of State in the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy and Minister of State in the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers

• Kapil Moreshwar Patil - Minister of State in the Ministry of Panchayati Raj

• Sushri Pratima Bhoumik - Minister of State in the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment

• Subhas Sarkar - Minister of State in the Ministry of Education

• Bhagwat Kishanrao Karad - Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance

• Rajkumar Ranjan Singh - Minister of State in the Ministry of External Affairs and Minister of State in the Ministry of Education

• Bharati Pravin Pawar - Minister of State in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare

• Bishweswar Tudu - Minister of State in the Ministry of Tribal Affairs and Minister of State in the Ministry of Jal Shakti

• Shantanu Thakur - Minister of State in the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways

• Munjapara Mahendrabhai - Minister of State in the Ministry of Women and Child Development and Minister of State in the Ministry of AYUSH

• John Barla - Minister of State in the Ministry of Minority Affairs

• L. Murugan - Minister of State in the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying and Minister of State in the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting

• Nisith Pramanik - Minister of State in the Ministry of Home Affairs and Minister of State in the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports.

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