Cabinet Reshuffle: 11 Women Ministers in PM Modi’s Council

On Wednesday, there was a cabinet reshuffle and we were introduced to the new team of ministers under the Modi government. Contrary to the last Council that had only 5 women, this time Cabinet and Council of Ministers will have a total of 11 women ministers.

Nirmala Sitharaman will continue her charge as the Union Finance Minister and along with that, she was entrusted with the charge of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs. On the other hand, Smriti Irani will continue to be the Minister of Women and Child Development (WCD) but has resigned from the duty under the Ministry of Textile.

Along with the existing ministers including cabinet ministers Nirmala Sitaraman and Smriti Irani and Ministers of State Renuka Singh and Sadhavi Niranjan Jyoti, seven women ministers joined the Council making it a total of 11 women ministers. This time we have more women than men. The new ministers include Anupriya Patel, who was appointed as the MoS in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

Also Read: Modi Cabinet Rejig: In Major Reshuffle, PM Adds 12 Ministers from SC, 8 from ST, 27 from OBC

Shobha Karandlaje from Karnataka's Udupi-Chikmagalur will be looking over the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare. MP Darshana Jardosh from Gujarat’s Surat was appointed as MoS in the Ministry of Textiles and Ministry of Railways. MP from Delhi, Meenakashi Lekhi is a lawyer in Supreme Court. She will be MoS in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and the Ministry of Culture.

Annapurna Devi from Jharkhand will be the MoS in the Ministry of Education. Pratima Bhoumik from MP from Tripura West will be Minister of State (MoS) for Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment and Dr Bharati Pawar from Maharashtra was given charge as MoS in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

This time it was not only about a high number of women in the Cabinet but also the SC, STs, and OBCs. The entire list of reshuffled cabinets includes 27 ministers from the Other Backward Classes (OBC) and many from the Scheduled Caste communities.