DNA Exclusive: Abki Baar OBC Sarkar? PM Modi's mega Cabinet reshuffle, know all key details here

New Delhi: It was the biggest cabinet expansion in Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government and it came with a lot of surprises. The day saw as many as 43 new ministers take oath at Rashtrapati Bhawan. It was quite an overhaul as several new faces entered the elite group. At the same time, some of the biggest names had to take a back seat. Overall, it could be seen that the selection of ministers and the distribution of portfolio was done in a carefully calculated manner, ensuring all classes and communities got adequate representation in the new cabinet and in this regard, the OBC community really stood out.

Zee News Editor-in-Chief Sudhir Chaudhary on Wednesday (July 7) discussed the highlights of PM Modi’s mega cabinet reshuffle and explained the idea behind the choice of ministers.

In the latest cabinet expansion, 36 new ministers have joined in, 7 old ministers have been promoted and 12 ministers have resigned. Four of the top ministers of the country have resigned. These include Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan, Law and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar and Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank.

Highlights of the Cabinet expansion:

A total of 15 leaders took oath as cabinet ministers and 28 leaders took oath as ministers of state.

The biggest highlight of the cabinet reshuffle was the inclusion of a whopping 27 ministers belonging to the OBC community. It is the highest number, a record, in terms of the number of OBC ministers in the union government.

In a way, it can be said that it is the first OBC government of the country. Notably, Prime Minister Modi himself comes from the OBC community.

After the expansion of the cabinet, now the Dalit community has a record 12 ministers in the government and all these leaders come from eight different states of the country.

The number of ministers from Scheduled Tribes has now increased to 8 in the new cabinet, which is the highest number in any government so far.

The number of women in the Union Cabinet has also increased to 11.

After the cabinet expansion, it is also being said that it is a government of the youth. While the average age of Council of Ministers used to be 61 years before the expansion, it is now just 58 years.

The number of educated ministers in the government is the highest so far. There are now 13 lawyers, 6 doctors, 5 Engineers, 7 civil servants, 7 PHd-holders, 3 MBAs and 68 graduates in the cabinet. That is, 88 percent of the ministers in PM Modi's new team are graduates.