New Delhi: With a focus on delivery as he prepares for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday handed key portfolios to ministers with "proven" track record and sprang a surprise by elevating Nirmala Sitharaman as the first full-time woman Defence Minister.
In a major rejig of his council of ministers, he also promoted three other junior ministers -- Piyush Goyal, Dharmendra Pradhan and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi -- to cabinet rank and inducted nine new faces, including four former government officers, as Ministers of State.
The exercise raised the strength of the Union Council of Ministers from 73 to 76.
Goyal, who has been praised for his work in the power sector, was given the Railways Ministry, which has been facing criticism over a spate of accidents, prompting Modi to shift Suresh Prabhu to Commerce and Industry Ministry. Goyal will continue to head the Coal Ministry.
Sitharaman, who was the Minister of State with an independent charge of the Commerce Ministry, emerged the biggest gainer.
She became the first full-time woman defence minister and the second woman to take charge of the key portfolio. Indira Gandhi, as then Prime Minister, had also held the portfolio in the seventies.
Here is the full list of Union Council of Ministers after reshuffle:
Cabinet Ministers
1. Rajnath Singh: Minister of Home Affairs.
2. Sushma Swaraj: Minister of External Affairs.
3. Arun Jaitley: Minister of Finance; Minister of Corporate Affairs.
4. Nitin Jairam Gadkari: Minister of Road Transport and Highways; Minister of Shipping; Minister of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation.
5. Suresh Prabhu: Minister of Commerce and Industry.
6. DV Sadananda Gowda: Minister of Statistics and Programme Implementation.
7. Uma Bharati: Minister of Drinking Water and Sanitation.
8. Ramvilas Paswan: Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution.
9. Maneka Sanjay Gandhi: Minister of Women and Child Development.
10. Ananthkumar: Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers; Minister of Parliamentary Affairs.
11. Ravi Shankar Prasad: Minister of Law and Justice; Minister of Electronics and Information Technology.
12. Jagat Prakash Nadda: Minister of Health and Family Welfare.
13. Ashok Gajapathi Raju Pusapati: Minister of Civil Aviation.
14. Anant Geete: Minister of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises.
15. Harsimrat Kaur Badal: Minister of Food Processing Industries.
16. Narendra Singh Tomar: Minister of Rural Development; Minister of Panchayati Raj; Minister of Mines.
17. Chaudhary Birender Singh: Minister of Steel.
18. Jual Oram: Minister of Tribal Affairs.
19. Radha Mohan Singh: Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.
20. Thaawar Chand Gehlot: Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment.
21. Smriti Zubin Irani: Minister of Textiles; Minister of Information and Broadcasting.
22. Harsh Vardhan: Minister of Science and Technology; Minister of Earth Sciences; Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.
23. Prakash Javadekar: Minister of Human Resource Development.
24. Dharmendra Pradhan: Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas; Minister of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship.
25. Piyush Goyal: Minister of Railways; Minister of Coal.
26. Nirmala Sitharaman: Minister of Defence.
27. Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi: Minister of Minority Affairs.
Ministers of State (Independent Charge)
1. Rao Inderjit Singh Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Planning; Minister of State in the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers.
2. Santosh Kumar Gangwar: Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Labour and Employment.
3. Shripad Yesso Naik: Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (AYUSH).
4. Jitendra Singh: Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region; Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office; Minister of State in the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions; Minister of State in the Department of Atomic Energy; Minister of State in the Department of Space.
5. Mahesh Sharma: Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Culture; Minister of State in the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.
6. Giriraj Singh: Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises.
7. Manoj Sinha: Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Communications; Minister of State in the Ministry of Railways.
8. Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore: Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports; Minister of State in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
9. Raj Kumar Singh: Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Power; Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.
10. Hardeep Singh Puri: Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.
11. Alphons Kannanthanam: Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Tourism; Minister of State in the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.
Ministers of State
1. Vijay Goel: Minister of State in the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs; Minister of State in the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.
2. Radhakrishnan P: Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance; Minister of State in the Ministry of Shipping.
3. SS Ahluwalia: Minister of State in the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation.
4. Ramesh Chandappa Jigajinagi: Minister of State in the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation.
5. Ramdas Athawale: Minister of State in the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.
6. Vishnu Deo Sai: Minister of State in the Ministry of Steel.
7. Ram Kripal Yadav: Minister of State in the Ministry of Rural Development.
8. Hansraj Gangaram Ahir: Minister of State in the Ministry of Home Affairs.
9. Haribhai Parthibhai Chaudhary: Minister of State in the Ministry of Mines; Minister of State in the Ministry of Coal.
10. Rajen Gohain: Minister of State in the Ministry of Railways.
11. VK Singh: Minister of State in the Ministry of External Affairs.
12. Parshottam Rupala: Minister of State in the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare; Minister of State in the Ministry of Panchayati Raj.
13. Krishan Pal: Minister of State in the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.
14. Jaswantsinh Sumanbhai Bhabhor: Minister of State in the Ministry of Tribal Affairs.
15. Shiv Pratap Shukla: Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance.
16. Ashwini Kumar Choubey: Minister of State in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
17. Sudarshan Bhagat: Minister of State in the Ministry of Tribal Affairs.
18. Upendra Kushwaha: Minister of State in the Ministry of Human Resource Development.
19. Kiren Rijiju: Minister of State in the Ministry of Home Affairs.
20. Virendra Kumar: Minister of State in the Ministry of Women and Child Development; Minister of State in the Ministry of Minority Affairs.
21. Anantkumar Hegde: Minister of State in the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship.
22. MJ Akbar: Minister of State in the Ministry of External Affairs.
23. Niranjan Jyoti: Minister of State in the Ministry of Food Processing Industries.
24.YS Chowdary: Minister of State in the Ministry of Science and Technology; Minister of State in the Ministry of Earth Sciences.
25. Jayant Sinha: Minister of State in the Ministry of Civil Aviation.
26. Babul Supriyo: Minister of State in the Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises.
27. Vijay Sampla: Minister of State in the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.
28. Arjun Ram Meghwal: Minister of State in the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs; Minister of State in the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation.
29. Ajay Tamta: Minister of State in the Ministry of Textiles.
30. Krishna Raj: Minister of State in the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.
31. Mansukh L Mandaviya: Minister of State in the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways; Minister of State in the Ministry of Shipping; Minister of State in the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers.
32. Anupriya Patel: Minister of State in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
33. CR Chaudhary: Minister of State in the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution; Minister of State in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
34. PP Chaudhary: Minister of State in the Ministry of Law and Justice; Minister of State in the Ministry of Corporate Affairs.
35. Subhash Ramrao Bhamre: Minister of State in the Ministry of Defence.
36. Gajendra Singh Shekhawat: Minister of State in the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.
37. Satya Pal Singh: Minister of State in the Ministry of Human Resource Development; Minister of State in the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation.
