The Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, sworn in for the third time on Sunday, June 9, unveiled a new government consisting of 71 ministers. The new cabinet comprises several influential individuals such as Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, Nitin Gadkari, JP Nadda, Shivraj Singh Chauhan, Nirmala Sitharaman, S Jaishankar, ML Khattar, HD Kumaraswamy, Piyush Goyal, Dharmendra Pradhan, Jitan Ram Manjhi, Rajeev Ranjan Singh, and Sarbananda Sonow.
Some of the cabinet members are new, while others are old guards; leaders from the coalition partners have also been included. Some of such leaders include the JD(S)’s HD Kumaraswamy, the HAM (Secular)’s Jitan Ram Manjhi, the JD(U)’s Rajiv Ranjan Singh ‘Lalan’, the TDP’s K Ram Mohan Naidu, and the LJP-RV’s Chirag Paswan. Each of these five partners has been given a ministry in the cabinet, which underlines the inclusiveness of the coalition.
The new cabinet also demonstrates the variations in age representation, which contributes to the variation in experience level. The ministers are aged between 31 and 80 years: 14 of them (19%) are below 51 years, and 34 (47%) are below 50 years; 20 are between fifty-one and sixty years; and 13 are between sixty-one and 70 years; the rest of the ministers are above 70 years of age. Regarding education standards, 11 ministers (15%) have education up to high school, while 57 ministers (80%) have attained or are above the graduation level. Moreover, three ministers can be distinguished who have diplomas.
Youngest Minister in the New Cabinet:
The youngest minister is K. Ram Mohan Naidu, a Telugu Desam Party member aged 36 and a Union Civil Aviation Minister. He got his third victory in August in the Srikakulam Lok Sabha constituency of Andhra Pradesh.
One issue that stands out in the new council is that many of the holders have cases of criminal charges against their names. Out of the 71 ministers, 28 have criminal cases involving them; thus, 39% of the minister reviewed have criminal cases. This includes 19 ministers (27 percent) who have serious trials facing cases including attempted murder, kidnapping, and other related offenses against women.
It is worth mentioning that Shantanu Thakur, the Minister of State for Ports, Shipping, and Waterways, is accused of attempted murder according to Section 307 of the IPC, while Sukanta Majumdar, the Minister of State for Education and Development of the North Eastern Region, is also charged under Section 307 of the IPC.. In addition, five other ministers have cases that can be associated with violence against women, and many more.
Almost 99% of the ministers in the new ministry are Crorepatis; out of 71 ministers, 70 are Crorepatis in terms of assets. Collectively, these ministers have assets of ₹107.94 crore on average, with half a dozen of them declaring assets of ₹100 crore and above. Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani of the Telugu Desam Party, with declared assets of Rs 5,705 crore, is the wealthiest minister in India at present, and he is currently serving as the Minister of State for Rural Development and Communications. The second in this list is the BJP’s Jyotiraditya Scindia, with declared assets of Rs 424 crore, now a Minister of Communications; the third comes JD(S)’s HD Kumaraswamy, with assets of Rs 217 crore, who is a Minister of Heavy Industries and Steel.
Other dopaminergic billionaires are Ashwini Vaishnaw, Minister of Railways, Electronics and IT, and Information and Broadcasting; Rao Inderjit Singh, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Statistics and Programme Implementation, Planning, and Culture; and Piyush Goyal, Minister of Commerce and Industry. Vaishnaw is a cabinet minister, while Goyal is also a cabinet minister. This large concentration of wealth is evidence of a serious financial divide between those in the political realm.
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