New Delhi: Swearing-in ceremony of new ministers as part of first Union Cabinet expansion, after Prime Minister Narendra Modi returned to power for a second term in May 2019, has been completed. President Ram Nath Kovind administered the oath of office and secrecy to new members of the Council of Ministers at Rashtrapati Bhavan.

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 will also be 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.

In terms of gender, 11 women are part of the Council of Ministers, including two with Cabinet rank.

There are fiive ministers – 1 Muslim, 1 Sikh, 2 Buddhists and 1 Christian. In addition, there is a strong OBC representation with 27 OBC minister, including five with Cabinet rank, eight ST ministers including three with Cabinet rank, and 12 SC ministers with two with Cabinet rank.

In total, 43 ministers have taken oath on Wednesday evening in the first reshuffle of the second term of the Narendra Modi government. The induction of the new faces was preceded by the resignations of as many as 12 ministers. (IANS)

New cabinet members

1. 1. Narayan Rane
   2. Sarbananda Sonowal
   3. Dr Virendra Kumar
   4. Jyotiraditya Scindia
   5. Ramachandra Prasad Singh
   6. Ashwini Vaishnaw
   7. Pashupati Paras
   8. Kiren Rijiju
   9. Raj Kumar Singh
   10. Hardeep Singh Puri
   11. Mansukh Mandaviya
   12. Bhupendar Yadav
   13. Parshottam Rupala
   14. G Kishan Reddy
   15. Anurag Singh Thakur
   16. Pankaj Chaudhary
   17. Anupriya Patel
   18. Satyapal Singh Baghel
   19. Rajiv Chandrasekhar
   20. Shobha Karandlaje
   21. Bhanu Pratap Singh Verma
   22. Darshana Vikram Jardosh
   23. Meenakshi Lekhi
   24. Annapurna Devi
   25. A Naryanana Swamy
   26. Kaushal Kishore
   27. Ajay Bhatt
   28. B L Verma
   29. Ajay Kumar
   30. Chauhan Devunish
   31. Bhagwanth Khuba
   32. Kapil Patil
   33. Pratima Bhoumik
   34. Subhas Sarkar
   35. Bhagwat Karad
   36. Rajkumar Ranjan Singh
   37. Bharati Pawar
   38. Bishweswar Tudu
   39. Shantanu Thakur
   40. Munjapara Mahendrabhai
   41. John Barla
   42. L Murugan

• Nisith Pramanik