Diversity deficit: New Council of Ministers sans representation to minorities, J&K

8 July 2021

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Srinagar: Even as performance and inclusion are believed to have been two major benchmarks used for the major reshuffle and expansion of the Union Cabinet on Wednesday, there is widespread surprise in the country that the expanded council of ministers has no representation to the country’s largest minority – Muslims – who comprise of an estimated 23 crore people. Other religious minorities are also thought not to be well represented, corresponding to their population, in the new council, even as the country’s secular and inclusive constitution has laid out clear principles for inclusion.

Currently, the country has only one Muslim minister in the Union.government, who is looking after looking after portfolio of minority affairs.

Similarly, even as geographical and social inclusion have been other yardsticks for the expansion, there was no further inclusion from Jammu & Kashmir, with Dr Jitendra Singh remaining the sole face from the erstwhile state in the council of ministers.

Significantly, ahead of the cabinet expansion, 11 union ministers – Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal, Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, Animal and Husbandry Minister Pratap Sarangi, Women and Child Welfare Minister Debasree Chaudhuri and Labour Minister Santosh Gangwar, Minister of State for Education Sanjay Dhotre, Union Chemicals and Fertilizers Minister D V Sadananda Gowda, MoS Jal Shakti and Social Justice and Empowerment Ratan Lal Kataria, Asansol MP and MoS Environment, Forest & Climate Babul Supriyo, Jalna MP and MoS for Consumer Affairs Raosaheb Patil Danve and MoS Health and Family Welfare Ashwini Choubey resigned from their respective posts.

These resignations are believed to have been effected after a thorough performance appraisal of their respective ministries, including the management of the Covid pandemic and global, national media and social media issues.

Below is the full list of new Modi Cabinet Ministers:

Ministers and their Portfolios (Developing List):

Cabinet Ministers

Narayan Rane

Sarbananda Sonowal : Ports and Shipping, AYUSH Ministry.

Dr Virendra Kumar

Jyotiraditya Scindia : Civil Aviation.

Ramchandra Prasad Singh : Steel Ministry.

Ashwini Vaishnav : Railways, Communication & Electronics and Information Technology.

Pashu Pati Kumar Paras: Minister of Food Processing Industries.

Kiren Rijiju : Law and Justice Ministry.

Dharmendra Pradhan : Education Ministry.

Raj Kumar Singh : Power and Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.

Hardeep Singh Puri : Petroleum, Housing and Urban Development.

Mansukh Mandaviya : Chemicals and Fertilizers, Health Ministry.

Bhupender Yadav

Parshottam Rupala

G Kishen Reddy

Anurag Thakur : Information & Broadcasting and Sports.

Ministers of State

Pankaj Choudhary

Anupriya Singh Patel

Satya Pal Singh Baghel

Rajeev Chandrasekhar

Shobha Karandlaje

Bhanu Pratap Singh Verma

Darshana Vikram Jardosh

Meenakshi Lekhi

Annpurna Devi

A Narayanaswamy

Kaushal Kishore

Ajay Bhatt

BL Verma

Ajay Kumar

Chauhan Devusinh

Bhagwanth Khuba

Kapil Moreshwar Patil

Pratima Bhoumik

Subhas Sarkar

Bhagwat Kishanrao Karad

Rajkumar Ranjan Singh

Bharati Pravin Pawar

Bishweswar Tudu

Shantanu Thakur

Dr Munjapara Mahendrabhai

John Barla

Dr L Murugan

Nishith Pramanik

Virendra Kumar, Ashwini Vaishnaw, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Pankaj Choudhary, SPS Baghel, Bhanu Pratap Singh Verma, Darshana Jardosh, Annpurna Devi, AR Narayana Swami, Kaushal Kishor, BL Verma, Ajay Kumar, Pratima Bhoumik, Bhagwant Khuba, Subhash Sarkar, Bhagwat Kisanrao Karad, Bharti Pawar, John Barla and Nishit Pramanik were also among those who met Modi in the morning. This is the first reshuffle in PM Modi’s Council of Ministers since he assumed charge for a second term in May 2019.