Union Cabinet expansion: Nari Shakti, youth power, representation of all castes - PM Narendra Modi's new Council of Ministers will be all inclusive

This will be the first reshuffle in his Council of Ministers by PM Modi since he assumed charge for a second term in May 2019. The Prime Minister is reportedly bringing in young faces and giving representation to various other social groups, sections and communities and regions in this Cabinet reshuffle.

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is all set to expand his Council of Ministers by inducting around 43 new ministers on Wednesday evening - an exercise which will represent the “lives, hopes and aspirations of 130 crore Indians.” Several factors like caste, age, gender, education, experience etc have been taken into account while finalising the names of new ministers by PM Modi after getting feedback from senior ministers and party leaders. 

The new Union Ministers will be sworn in a simple ceremony that is scheduled to take place around 6 PM at the Rashtrapati Bhawan. Ahead of the Union Cabinet expansion, top contenders who are likely to be included as ministers met Prime Minister Narendra Modi at his residence.

Those who met PM Modi included BJP's Narayan Rane, Sarbananda Sonowal, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Ajay Bhatt, Bhupender Yadav, Shobha Karandlaje, Sunita Duggal, Meenakshi Lekhi, Bharati Pawar, Shantanu Thakur and Kapil Patil, JD(U)'s R C P Singh, LJP's Pashupati Paras and Apna Dal's Anupriya Patel.

Some Ministers of State, including G Kishan Reddy, Parshottam Rupala and Anurag Thakur, were also there, and, as per sources, they are likely to be elevated in the Cabinet expansion in the evening.

If sources are to be believed, around 43 persons, including those getting a promotion, will take oath in the evening, and the new Narendra Modi cabinet will be a mix of youth and those with administrative experience, including former chief ministers.

Speculations are rife that Union Ministers RK Singh, Mansukh Mandaviya and Hardeep Singh Puri may also be promoted. Importantly, BJP president J P Nadda and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, a close confidant of PM Modi, were present during the meetings.

The Union Cabinet expansion, which is scheduled to be held at 6 pm at Rashtrapati Bhawan, will also see PM Modi dropping some of his ministers since Union Minister Santosh Gangwar and Minister of State for Women and Child Development Debasree Chaudhuri, Union Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank and some others have already resigned from their post.

Importantly, this will be the first reshuffle in his Council of Ministers by PM Modi since he assumed charge for a second term in May 2019. The Prime Minister is reportedly bringing in young faces and giving equal representation to various other social groups, sections and communities and regions in this Cabinet reshuffle.

The political analysts say that the new Modi govt will have representations from castes like Yadav, Kurmi, Darji, Jat, Gujjar, Khandayat, Bairagi, Thakur, Koli, Vokkaliga, Tulu Gowda and Mallah. 

This major Union cabinet rejig will be on the lines of PM Narendra Modi-led government’s motto of ‘sabka saath, sabka vikas’ (development for all). It may be recalled that PM Modi has coined these terms in the past retreating that the NDA government is committed to ensuring justice for all. 

Here are those principles and priorities driving the new Council of Ministers

1.     New CoM for New India

Bringing into governance the voice of the whole of India, the rainbow Council of Ministers will bring out the vibrancy and colour across the country’s communities and regions. It will be a ‘Gareebonki, Peeditonki, Shoshiton ko, Vanchiton’ ki Sarkar . 

2.     Daliton ki Sarkar 

PM Modi’s new cabinet will have a record of 12 ministers from the SC community. They come from across eight states  – Bihar, MP, UP, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu. 

These ministers also represent 12 communities - Chamar–Ramdassia, Khatik, Pasi, Kori, Madiga, Mahar, Arundathiyar, Meghwal, Rajbonshi, Matua-Namashudra, Dhangar, Dusadh. 

3.     Adivasiyon ki Sarkar 

The new Modi cabinet will have a record of 8 Ministers from the Scheduled Tribes. These 12 ministers hail from 8 states – Arunachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Assam and represent seven communities – Gond, Santal, Miji, Munda, Tea tribe, Kokana, Sonowal–Kachari. Out of them, 3 will be Cabinet Ministers. 

4.     Pichron ki Sarkar

After the cabinet expansion, there will be a record  27 Ministers from the OBC community hailing from 15 states and representing 19 communities– Yadav, Kurmi, Jat, Gurjar, Khandayat, Bhandari, Bairagi, Tea Tribe, Thakor, Koli, Vokkaliga Tulu Gowda, Ezhava, Lodh, Agri, Vanjari, Meitei, Nat, Mallah–Nishad, ModhTeli, Darzi (with many communities getting a ministerial berth for the first time).  

5.     Alpsankhyakon ki Sarkar

With 5 minority community ministers from 5 States - Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Punjab, Arunachal Pradesh - the new cabinet will have proper representation from the minorities - 1 Muslim, 1 Sikh, 1 Christian, 2 Buddhist  

6.     Sab ki Sarkar 

After the cabinet expansion, there will be 29 ministers from other communities like - Brahmin, Kshatriya, Baniya, Bhumihar, Kayasth, Lingayat, Khatri, Kadva and Leuva Patel, Maratha, Reddy  

7.     Mahilaon ki Sarkar 

According to sources, the new Modi cabinet will have representation from women leaders too with 11 women ministers hailing from 9 states representing 9 communities. Out of them, 2 will be Cabinet-rank ministers, the sources said.

8.     Yuvaon ki Sarkar 

The new CoM is driven by youth power which is essential for bringing about innovation and change. The new cabinet will incorporate several young faces as it will have 14 young ministers below 50 years of age, out of which, 6 will be Cabinet Ministers.  

While the average age of outgoing ministers is 61 years, the average age for those coming in is 58 years. There will be 50 young ministers below 50 years of age, including 6 Cabinet Ministers. 5 Chief Ministers are below 50 years of age in BJP rules states - Pema Khandu (Arunachal Pradesh), Pushkar Singh Dhami (Uttarakhand), Pramod Sawant (Goa), Biplab Kumar Deb (Tripura) and Yogi Adityanath (Uttar Pradesh). 

9      Anubhav ki Sarkar

The COM will have several experienced senior leaders. seasoned administrators and legislators as ministers to execute the agenda of the NDA government. They will also help and guide the young leaders in their respective ministries. Among those, 46 have ample administrative experience in handling various govt ministries at the Centre. Out of them, 23 have been elected to Parliament for 3 or more MP terms and bring more than a decade of Parliamentary legislative experience.

 10      Rajya Sarkaron ki Sarkar

The incoming new Modi Cabinet brings with it the ''soul of cooperative federalism'' into the Central government. It will work closely with the state governments in the best interest of the people of India and avoid any conflict of interest. It is for this reason that the Modi government on Tuesday created a separate ministry — the Ministry of Co-operation — for strengthening the cooperative movement in the country. A separate ministry has been created by PM Modi for realizing the vision of ‘Sahkar Se Samriddhi’.

The new CoM will have 4 ministers who are former CMs, 18 former Ministers in State Governments and 39 former MLAs. Not just political experience, the new Modi cabinet will also boast of adequate educational and professional experience with 13 lawyers, 6 doctors, 5 engineers and 7 civil servants alongside 7 PhDs, 3 MBAs and 68 graduates constituting the Council of Ministers.