Prahlad Patel Culture and Tourism Minister
Prahlad Patel, senior BJP leader and MP from the Madhya Pradesh’s Mahakoshal region is the new Culture and Tourism Minister. A former Union minister of state in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Cabinet, Patel took charge of the Culture Ministry on Friday. He will take charge as tourism minister on Tuesday. Known for supporting ban on cow slaughter, Patel said he would work towards “correcting the malicious perception” created about the Indian culture. The 57-year-old parliamentarian brought a private bill in Parliament for ban on cow slaughter way back in 2000. “The roadmap for the future has already been drawn during 2014-2019, but some deficiencies remain. There have been some malicious perceptions that have been created about the Indian culture, like about Kumbh. I believe that one of the big successes between 2014-2019 is that today what the world knows about Kumbh is actually what Indian culture is,” Singh, said adding, “We have have to work on both aspects. India is big and our culture is big. If it spreads in the world, so will tourism. So, we have to correct this perception”.
Prakash Javadekar Information & Broadcasting Minister
Back to the Information and Broadcasting Ministry saddle, Prakash Javadekar on Friday stressed the importance of Press freedom even as he targeted the Congress for imposing the Emergency. As he took charge of the ministry on Friday, Javadekar said the government not only recognises freedom of press, but cherishes it. “Press freedom is the essence of democracy and we not only recognise it, we cherish it. In the history of free India, only once this freedom of press was curtailed and that was in 1975 during Emergency brought by the then Congress government,” he said. “That was the black period for the media, there was everyday censorship and complete curtailment of press freedom. We fought against it under the leadership of Jayaprakash Narayan, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Advani ji,” Javadekar added. He said the leaders fought on two-three main issues during Emergency and press freedom was one of them.
“I am very happy that it was restored after our struggle was successful. I also fought and went to jail for 16 months. So for us press freedom is the basic essence of democracy,” he said. Javadekar also hailed the work done by Rajyavardhan Rathore, M Venkaiah Naidu and Arun Jaitley, who were in-charge of the ministry earlier.
Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ Human Resource Development Minister
Having remained in political wilderness of sorts for eight long years after helming Uttarakhand as the Chief Minister till 2011, Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ was one of the surprise picks of the Modi-Shah combine. To add further to his stature, he was allotted the key HRD Ministry - one of the most important Ministries in the Government. As Nishank took charge on Friday senior ministry officials handed him the draft of the much awaited New Education Policy (NEP), which is an ambitious project of the previous Modi government. The NEP is is expected to be on the agenda of Nishank, who started his career as a teacher in the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh-affiliated Saraswati Shishu Mandir. Nishank said that he will be meeting officials of the Ministry of Human Resource Development and will chalk out a plan of action soon. A committee, headed by former ISRO chief K Kasturirangan, was formed to draft the new education policy by the HRD Ministry previously headed by Prakash Javadekar, who is now Information and Broadcasting minister. Nishank, a PhD from Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna University in Garhwal, is a prolific Hindi writer with 36 works to his credit, of which 10 have been translated into other languages. His works include novels, short stories, poems and travelogues. He holds a PhD degree from Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal University.
Piyush Goyal Railway Minister
Having retained the portfolio, Piyush Goyal expressed happiness over Prime Minister Narendra Modi reassigning him the Ministry and said it would mean there would be “continuity” in the work. Improving passenger experience and modernising the railways would be his focus areas, he spelt out his priority. “I am happy that there will be continuity in the work that we had begun in the first stint. The many works that we have started will be continued. I hope that we will be able to improve the passenger experience as well as the process of loading of goods,” he said, with Minister of State Angadi Suresh Channabasappa, a four-time MP from Karnataka, by his side. “Together we can take the work of railways to newer heights. Newer heights of transparency, newer heights of innovative thinking, newer heights of bringing honesty in the railways and growth in passengers and freight traffic,” he maintained.
He outlined that newer speed of implementing infra projects and customer satisfaction that is the new Indian Railways and new India that the PM has charted for us. However, Goyal’s biggest challenge would be to ensure punctuality, timely track maintenance and renewal, ramping up production of state-of-the-art coaches for trains such as Vande Bharat Express so that more such services can be introduced.
Kiren Rijiju Sports Minister
Kiren Rijiju is the new Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports, replacing Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, who has been dropped from the Council of Ministers. The charge of Minister of State in the Ministry of Minority Affairs has also been awarded to Rijiju. A lawyer by profession, Rijiju, who took charge of his new Ministry, has emerged as the key face in the North East. “My heartfelt gratitude to PM Narendra Modi for reposing faith in me to be a member of his council of ministers. I sincerely thank Amit Shah and karyakartas and well wishers across India. For me, leadership is not about power and privilege, it is about responsibility,” he said. He also thanked Team India, which playing the world cup in England, saying together we will work as a team. While Rathore was 2004 Athens Olympic medalist, Rijiju does not have such a background as he had only participated in the National Games during his college days. Rijiju was MoS in the Union Home Ministry in the first Modi-led government.
Hardeep Singh Puri Civil Aviation Minister New Delhi
His defeat in the Lok Sabha polls notwithstanding, he is the biggest gainer as Prime Minister Narendra Modi has not only retained him but also rewarded him. Hardeep Singh Puri, diplomat-turned-politician, is the new Civil Aviation Minister, whom he took charge of on Friday, even as he has been re-appointed as the Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA). He has also been given responsibility as the deputy under Piyush Goyal in the Commerce and Industry Ministry. After assuming the charge of the MoHUA, Puri said the NDA government had spent six times higher on urban schemes in five years compared to the amount UPA dispensation spent in its 10 years. There are several schemes for the urban sector including PMAY (U), SBM (U), Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) among others. “This is what Prime Minister Narendra Modi through flagship programmes has been able to do for the urban sector and that is work in progress, he said.
MA Naqvi Minority Affairs Minister
Soon after taking charge, Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Friday said his Ministry will work with the mantra of ‘sabka saath, sabka vikas and sabka vishwas’ - as outlined by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Naqvi said the Ministry has prepared a 100-day roadmap to strengthen Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s commitment to ‘sabka saath, sabka vikas and sabka vishwas’ (with all, for everybody’s development and having everyone’s trust).” He asserted priority will be given to “3Es”— education, employment and empowerment — for development of minorities. The Minority Affairs Ministry will launch a nationwide awareness campaign on a war footing to reduce school dropout rate among minorities, especially Muslim girls, he said adding, “Schools, colleges, ITIs, polytechnics, hostels, Sadbhav Mandap will be constructed on a war footing in minority-concentrated areas across the country to ensure better educational infrastructure under Pradhan Mantri Jan Vikas Karykram”. Naqvi said that 100 per cent digitization and GPS mapping of waqf properties across the country will also be a priority for the ministry. Naqvi said the campaign to provide employment and employment opportunities to master artisans from the minority communities will be further accelerated. Hunar Haat, which has been proved to be an effective measure to provide employment and employment opportunities to master artisans, will be organised across the country in the coming days, he said.
IN THE QUEUE
New Defence Minister Rajnath Singh is likely to assume charge at South Block here on Saturday. A seasoned politician and former Home Minister, Singh will have to hit the ground running to sustain the momentum of modernisation to ensure operational preparedness to meet the challenge of two-front war. Besides ensuring that the armed forces are well-equipped in terms of bolstering the dwindling fighter jet squadron strength of the IAF and fast tracking the project to manufacture six submarines urgently needed by the Navy, Singh will also have to push for major reforms in terms of integrating the armed forces.
Ravi Shankar Prasad, who has once again been handed the charge of crucial Ministries of Telecom, Information Technology and Law & Justice, is expected to take charge in his Ministries on June 3. “I am grateful to the PM for entrusting me with such responsibility. In telecom, I will first hold meetings to take a long-term view, and also see how a greater synergy can be driven in IT and communications,” Prasad told reporters after being named the Minister for the three portfolios.
New Home Minister Amit Shah is expected to take charge on Saturday. Though he was expected to take charge on Friday evening, the Cabinet meeting kept him preoccupied. The officials at the North Block as well as the lensmen and journos waited anxiously for him to arrive even as all arrangements were in place for his takeover.
It’s like homecoming for senior BJP leader Dr Harshvardhan, who has been handed over the portfolio of Union Health Ministry for the second time. He will take charge of the Ministry on Monday. In the first inning of the Modi Government, he was shifted from the Health Ministry after just six months. He is the only MP from Delhi who has been inducted in the Modi’s Cabinet. Harshvardhan, however, has retained Union Science and Technology and Union Earth Sciences Ministries. He no longer holds the Environment Ministry portfolio which has been given to Prakash Javadekar.