Sources said that Modi also advised ministers to avoid making unnecessary comments….reports Asian Lite News
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday advised the newly-inducted ministers to learn from those who are not part of the Union Cabinet.
The Prime Minister virtually chaired the first meeting of the Council of Ministers after the Cabinet reshuffle. It is learnt that the Prime Minister said that ministers must learn from the experience of those who are no longer part of the Council of Ministers.
“The Prime Minister told the new ministers that they should learn from former ministers, who are currently not part of the Council of Ministers, and benefit from their experience,” sources said.
Sources said that Modi also advised ministers to avoid making unnecessary comments.
“The Prime Minister told the minister to carefully choose their words and avoid making unnecessary comments in the media,” sources said. It also learnt that the Prime Minister asked the ministers to focus on their ministerial assignments and work with utmost sincerity.
Expressing concern over people violating Covid-appropriate protocols, the Prime Minister told the Council of Ministers that pictures and videos of crowded places and people roaming about without masks or social distancing is not a pleasant sight and it should instil a sense of fear in us.
“The Prime Minister stressed that powered by our COVID warriors and frontline workers, India’s fight against the global pandemic is underway with full vigour. We are steadily vaccinating substantial numbers of our nation’s population. Testing is also consistently high,” sources said.
They said that the Prime Minister pointed out that in such a time, there should be no space for carelessness or complacency and a single mistake would have far-reaching impacts and weaken the fight to overcome Covid-19.
“The Prime Minister said that with the numbers being lesser than what they were in recent months, people may want to venture out. However, everyone must remember – the threat of Covid-19 is far from over. Many other nations are seeing surges in infections. The virus is also mutating,” sources said.
Modi further advised, “As ministers, our aim should not be to instil fear but to request people to keep taking all possible precautions so that we are able to move beyond this pandemic in the times to come. He also expressed concern at the persistently high number of cases coming from Maharashtra and Kerala.”
Amit Shah’s Gujarat model in the cooperative sector has hogged headlines in the past, as he was once called the father of the cooperative movement in the state….reports Asian Lite News
Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who has been given additional charge of the newly created Ministry of Cooperation, has long been associated with the cooperative societies in Gujarat.
His Gujarat model in the cooperative sector has hogged headlines in the past, as he was once called the father of the cooperative movement in the state. His work in the cooperative sector in Gujarat is remembered even today.
The ministry of cooperation has been created to provide a separate administrative, legal and policy framework to strengthen the cooperative movement in the country and will help deepen cooperatives as a true people based movement reaching up to the grassroots.
The ministry is likely to have the same importance as the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
Amit Shah has been the convener of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s National Cooperative Cell (SAIL) in Gujarat. He was also the youngest chairman of the Ahmedabad District Co-operative Bank (ADCB) at the age of 36. During his stint, in just one year, Shah not only broke even the bank’s loss of Rs 20.28 crore but also brought in a profit of Rs 6.60 crore. For this achievement in the cooperative sector in Gujarat, Amit Shah was called the father of the cooperative movement.
Some states have cooperative departments, but till now there was no separate ministry for this at the central level. The Ministry of Cooperation is likely to streamline the ‘Ease of Doing Business’ processes for cooperatives.
The country has cooperative based economic development model, according to which every member works with his own sense of responsibility. A senior official of the government said, “The formation of the Ministry of Cooperation will bring prosperity in the agriculture and rural sector. That is why the government has taken this historic decision to realize the dream of people. It will work towards the welfare of farmers and making their businesses self-reliant.”
In the cabinet expansion just one ministry was given to alliance partner Janata Dal United (JDU)….reports Asian Lite News
By the looks of it, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar does not seem to be pleased with the cabinet reshuffle carried out by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
In the cabinet expansion just one ministry was given to alliance partner Janata Dal United (JDU). Only Ram Chandra Prasad Singh (RCP Singh) was inducted and given the steel ministry, but Nitish Kumar did not congratulate him publicly on social media.
As per the trend in Indian politics these days, after every development including the birthday of leader leader, a flurry of congratulatory messages hit the social media like Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram etc. Nitish Kumar, a day after RCP Singh become a Union minister, has so far not posted any congratulatory message for him on social media.
Political analysts believe that the JDU wanted at least 2 cabinet minister posts — one for RCP Singh and another for Nitish Kumar’s closest aide Lalan Singh. As Modi has included just RCP Singh, he did not want Lalan Singh to get angry.
first Union Cabinet reshuffle(Pic credit ANI)
“At present RCP Singh is holding the post of national president of JDU while Lalan Singh is the MP from Munger. These two are the closest aides of Nitish Kumar. They are supposed to be occupying the number 2 slots in the party. There is a political rivalry between them and Nitish Kumar does not want any of them to get angry. Lalan Singh was the one who was reportedly instrumental in breaking the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP),” said a JDU senior leader requested anonymity.
“Nitish Kumar may have congratulated RCP Singh personally but has not expressed the same publicly,” he said.
RCP Singh has already given a statement about Lalan Singh and said: “There is no difference between Lalan Singh and me. He is the senior leader of the party.”
“There is a buzz inside the JDU that RCP Singh was given the responsibility to bargain with the BJP to bag at least two cabinet ministers’ posts and two posts of state minister. But Singh failed and just got one ministry for himself,” another senior leader said.
He added that if the JDU needed only one post, than why did it not accept it in 2019? Why did it delay for two years?
Meanwhile, supporters of the JDU and RCP Singh have put up new posters and banners at the CM’s residence, the JDU office and other places in Patna to congratulate Singh.
Twelve ministers have resigned from the Modi government including Law and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, I&B Minister Prakash Javadekar and Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, reports Asian Lite Newsdesk
As many as 43 leaders took oath in the first Union Cabinet reshuffle and expansion on Wednesday after Prime Minister Narendra Modi returned to power for a second term in May, 2019.
36 new ministers joined the government and four high-profile ministers quit today in the Narendra Modi’s mega cabinet reshuffle. The cabinet now has 77 ministers, nearly half of them new and seven ministers were promoted.
Twelve ministers have resigned from the Modi government including Law and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, I&B Minister Prakash Javadekar and Health Minister Harsh Vardhan.
Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, and Bihar have got strong representation in the Union Council of Ministers. The list includes former Chief Ministers Narayan Rane, (Maharashtra) and Sarbananda Sonowal (Assam).
Seven-time MP from Madhya Pradesh, Virendra Kumar, and former Congress leader who joined the BJP, also from MP, Jyotiraditya M Scindia took the oath on Wednesday.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFEmQTuAvaM
JD-U national President Ramchandra Prasad Singh, will represent Bihar along with Ajay Kumar, the MP from Bhagalpur, while Ashwini Vaishnaw, a Rajya Sabha member from Odisha, also got the call.
Leader of the LJP breakaway faction and later Ram Vilas Paswan’s brother, Pashupati Kumar Paras also represents Bihar, and BJP General Secretary Bhupender Yadav represents Rajasthan.
Uttar Pradesh which goes to the polls next year has new faces in the form of Pankaj Chaudhary, the MP from Maharajganj, alliance partner Apna Dal’s leader Anupriya Patel, Agra MP Satya Pal Singh Baghel, Jalaun MP Bhanu Pratap Singh Verma, Mohanlalganj MP Kaushal Kishore, and state BJP Vice President, B.L. Verma.
From Karnataka, Rajya Sabha MP, Rajeev Chandrasekhar and BJP Vice President Shobha Karandlaje are the entrants along with Chitradurga MP A. Narayanswamy, and Bidar MP Bhagwanth Khuba.
From Gujarat, Surat MP Darshana Vikram Jardosh, Kheda MP Devusingh Chauhan, and Surendranagar MP Mahendrabhai Munjapara got inducted.
Among the women MPs, are New Delhi MP, Meenakashi Lekhi and Koderma MP Annapurna Devi. Bankura MP and doctor Subhas Sarkar, and Bhagwat Kishanrao Karad, a Rajya Sabha member from Maharashtra and doctor, also took the oath.
Other inductees are Rajkumar Ranjan Singh from Manipur, Dindori (Maharashtra) MP Bharati Pravin Pawar, Mayurbhnaj MP Bishweswar Tudu, West Bengal MP, John Barla, Tamil Nadu BJP President L. Murugan and Cooch Behar MP Nisith Pramanik. Uttarakhand will be represented by Ajay Bhatt.
first Union Cabinet reshuffle(Pic credit ANI)
Experience and qualification
As the Modi government gets a makeover, the new Council of Ministers is being shaped in terms of experience and qualification.
In the new Council of Ministers, there are four former Chief Ministers, 18 former state ministers, 39 former MLAs and 23 MPs who have been elected for three or more terms.
This demonstrates the wealth of experience in the new Cabinet as the government has been criticised for lack of bench strength and not having enough heft in administrative experience.
The new Council of Ministers is also an eclectic mix of distinguished qualifications, including 13 lawyers, six doctors, five engineers, seven former civil servants, and 46 ministers with experience in Central government.
This is also a young looking Cabinet with an average age of 58, with 14 ministers below the age of 50 years.
first Union Cabinet reshuffle(Pic credit ANI)
Exit of seniors
The exits of the senior ministers stood out on a day of resignations made bigger news than the induction of new ministers.
Though shocking was Prasad’s exit, the IT Ministry has been in the forefront of controversies with the implementation of social media guidelines.
Health Minister Harsh Vardhan has quit probably on account of the gaps in the management of the Covid second wave which took on monstrous proportions. Vardhan had been widely criticised for the ensuing situation as the Health Ministry is seen as the nodal ministry for the management of the Covid situation and vaccine administration.
Javadekar was among the chief spokespersons of the government, a role he had performed for years.
Among the senior ministers, Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, Chemical and Fertiliser Minister Sadananda Gowda and Labour and Employment Minister Santosh Gangwar have also resigned.
Meanwhile, Thawar Chand Gehlot, Union Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment, has been appointed as the Governor of Karnataka.
Elevation to cabinet posts
While 12 ministers were axed, seven junior ministers have been promoted as Cabinet ministers.
Minister of State in the Finance Ministry, Anurag Thakur, took oath as a Cabinet minister on Wednesday. MoS for Home, G. Kishan Reddy, and MoS for Agriculture, Parshottam Rupala, also got a promotion.
Hardeep Singh Puri, who was the Minister of State (independent charge) for Civil Aviation and Housing and Urban Affairs, has also been elevated. So has Kiren Rijiju who held independent charge for Youth Affairs and Sports.
Power Minister R.K. Singh, who held independent charge, and Mansukh Mandaviya, Shipping and Ports Minister with independent charge, have also been promoted. Gujarat will now get two additional Cabinet ministers in the form of Rupala and Mandaviya.
