Modi expands Cabinet with 21 new Ministers

Monday, 10 November 2014 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

NEW DELHI: The Narendra Modi Government has expanded his over five-month-old Council of Ministers with inclusion of 21 Ministers. With this, total strength of the council has gone up to 66 including the Prime Minister. President Pranab Mukherjee administered oath of office and secrecy to newly included Ministers in an impressive ceremony at the President House on Sunday. The expansion saw inclusion of four Cabinet Ministers, three Ministers of State with Independent Charge and 14 Ministers of State. Interestingly, Suresh Prabhu of Shiv Sena did take oath but his colleague Anil Desai did not turn up despite his name being widely discussed.

(From L to R) India's President Pranab Mukherjee, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, new cabinet ministers Manohar Parrikar and Suresh Prabhu pose after a swearing-in ceremony at the presidential palace in New Delhi–REUTERS Commenting on the first expansion of Modi Government, industry chamber the Confederation of Indian Industry said that the induction of new Ministers and Ministers of State would streamline governance and bring in new ideas for the economic reforms process, “At a time when the economy is undergoing a recovery process, it is important to fast-track facilitative and promotional policies to strengthen this,” CII President Ajay Shriram said while adding that the expansion sends out a strong signal that the Government under Modi is serious about accelerating the reforms process.” “While business sentiment has picked up since the new Government took over this expansion would support the process of faster decision-making, efficient and time-bound administrative processes and clearances, and promotional policies for certain sectors and would ensure that this gets translated into new investments. This would gain traction with the induction of more ministers in the Cabinet,” he said. The four cabinet Ministers were Manohar Parrikar, Suresh Prabhu, Jagat Prakash Nadda and Ch Birender Singh. The Minister of States with Independent Charge were Bandaru Datatrye, Rajiv Pratap Rudy and Mahesh Sharma. Ministers of State were Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Ram Kripal Yadav, Hari Bhai P Chaudhary, Sanwar Lal Jaat, Mohanbhai Kalyanji Bhai Kundariya, Giriraj Singh, Hansraj Gangaram Ahir, Ram Shankar Katheria, YS Chaudhry, Jayant Sinha, Rajyavardhan S Rathore, Babul Supriyo, Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti and Vijay Sampala.