oppn parties A New Set Of Ministers To Tackle The Serious Problems Facing The Nation

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  • Allahabad HC said that the UP Police is acting as law unto themselves as they detained a person unlawfully even before his arrest
  • Kolkata witnesses traffic snarls on the first day of the Durga Puja festival as revellers start pnadal-hopping
  • Neha Bora was subsequently released and Dipke is to appear before a magistrate today at noon
  • Delhi Police detained Cockroach Janta Party founder Abhijeet Dipke, Neha Bora of AISA, student leaders and supporters ahead of a rally in Connaught Place demanding Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar's resignation. The protest followed the detention and jailing of two CJP leaders earlier in the week over demonstrations at Jantar Mantar
  • The Reserve Bank of India is considering further monetary tightening to counter capital outflows and increase the cost of betting against the rupee, according to bankers and analysts cited by Reuters. The measures follow recent rate increases and steps to drain liquidity as pressure on the currency and inflation concerns persist
  • India directed oil marketing companies to stop diverting sugar-based feedstocks for ethanol production in the 2026–27 supply year, according to a new tender issued on Friday. The companies have invited bids for 11 billion litres of ethanol made from alternatives including corn and broken rice, amid concerns about domestic sugar supplies and prices
  • Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said India's trade imbalance with China was growing sharply and attributed the problem partly to restrictions on Indian goods and services entering the Chinese market. China subsequently said it was ready to work with India to address mutual economic and trade concerns; India's trade deficit with China reached $69 billion in the first half of FY2026–27, up 27% year-on-year
  • Indian equity benchmarks extended their recovery on Friday, with the Sensex rising 413.66 points to close at 74,729.27 and the Nifty 50 gaining 148.80 points to settle at 23,146.15. Information technology shares, including Tech Mahindra, Infosys and TCS, helped lift the indices
  • India defeated Zimbabwe by four wickets in the opening women's T20 International in Raipur, taking a 1–0 lead in the three-match series. Deepti Sharma and Niki Prasad combined in an 82-run stand after India's top order collapsed, helping the hosts chase down Zimbabwe's total of 114 for five
  • Indian wrestler Komal won bronze in the women's 59 kg category at the Under-23 World Wrestling Championships in Las Vegas, defeating Kazakhstan's Viktoriia Khusainova 7–2. Fellow Indian Amruta Pujari advanced to the women's 72 kg final after recording two pinfall victories
  • Indian shuttler Jagsher Singh Khangurra secured a bronze medal at the BWF World Junior Badminton Championships in Cairo
  • The Supreme Court of India upheld the Bombay High Court's decision quashing the 2020 write-off of ₹8,415 crore in additional tier-1 bonds issued by Yes Bank (Yes Bank). The court ruled that the bank's administrator lacked the authority to extinguish the bonds under the final reconstruction scheme, strengthening bondholders' claims
  • The Supreme Court issued notices to the Election Commission of India, Delhi Police and opposition leaders, including Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav, in separate petitions concerning electoral-roll revision and protests held in Delhi on October 10–12. The court also directed the preservation of CCTV footage linked to allegations of police excesses
  • The Supreme Court ruled that a person converting from Hinduism to Islam cannot automatically claim backward-class reservation benefits in the new religious community solely on the basis of their previous caste status. The judgment upheld the Madras High Court's decision striking down a 2024 Tamil Nadu government order that permitted such certification for specified communities
  • The Election Commission of India ordered a Special Summary Revision of electoral rolls in 14 states and three Union Territories, using January 1, 2027, as the qualifying date for voter eligibility. The draft rolls are scheduled for publication on November 12, claims and objections will be accepted until December 11, and the final rolls are due on January 4, 2027
Delhi HC refuses to ban CJP's Tiranga rally at Central Park in Connaught Place today /////// Police says will control and regulate it /////// NDMC closes the park for the public on Friday and Saturday
oppn parties
A New Set Of Ministers To Tackle The Serious Problems Facing The Nation

By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2021-07-08 13:15:18

About the Author

Sunil Garodia Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator. Author of Cyber Scams in India, Digital Arrest, The Money Trap and The Human Hack

A Council of Ministers (CoM) revamp in India is not only about putting people in charge of various ministries to work to implement the policies of the government. It is also about representation - regional, social and of alliance partners, among others, in the government. Since the CoM was last constituted, two allies, the Shiv Sena and the Shiromani Akali Dal have left the NDA and consequently the ministries they held were reallocated to other existing ministers. Another ally, the JD(U) had not joined the government initially. Also, the CoM was functioning well below its allowed capacity of 81 members. Further, there was a need to induct members from the BJP as well as alliance partners. Then, it is always better to appraise existing ministers and shut out laggards who pull the government back. The present revamp, the first in the second term of Prime Minister Modi, takes into account all of this and also the fact that the government will now have to tighten its belt and work to bring the Covid-ravaged country back on rails. A new, younger and bigger CoM, with fewer ministers handling multiple portfolios, is more likely to take up the challenge and hit the ground running.

The Prime Minister has created a flutter by leaving out 7 senior ministers, several of whom were the face of the government in the media. IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, Education minister Ramesh Pokhriyal, Labour minister Santosh Gangwar, Health minister Dr Harsh Vardhan, I&B minister Prakash Javadekar, Chemicals & Fertilizer minister D V Sadanand Gowda and Social Justice & Empowerment minister Thaawarchand Gehlot were all dropped from the CoM, along with several junior ministers. This has allowed the elevation of several hardworking and better performing juniors. Hence, Kiren Rijiju, Raj Kumar Singh, Hardeep Singh Puri, Mansukh Mandaviya, Parshottam Rupala, G Kishan Reddy and Anurag Thakur have been promoted to cabinet rank.

Among the newcomers, Jyotiraditya Scindia has been made the minister of Civil Aviation with cabinet rank as much to respect his seniority and grassroots popularity as to give a signal to others in other parties who are thinking of switching to the BJP that they will also be suitably rewarded when the time comes. Among the allies, the JD(U) has joined this time and so has the Apna Dal from UP. Pashupati Kumar Paras has joined from the LJP with Nitish Kumar's blessings. Another interesting inclusion was Narayan Rane (ex-Shiv Sena and ex-Congress), given the continued spat between the BJP and the Shiv Sena although both parties chose to underplay it. Mansukh Mandaviya, Health & Family Welfare combined with Chemicals & Fertilizers and Ashwini Vaishnaw, Railways, Communications & Electronics & IT are seen to be the biggest gainers in the new ministry. 

The composition of the CoM is being seen as an effort to include as many people from different regions of the country and from different caste and professions. Effort has also been made to include 7 women. Hence, it now has 13 lawyers, 6 doctors, 5 engineers and 7 former civil servants. It also boasts of 7 PhDs and 3 MBAs. 4 from Bengal, an important state for the BJP, have made it to the CoM although Dilip Ghosh lost out. Pratima Bhowmik. an MP from the small state of Tripura has also been inducted, becoming the first from that state to be a minister. The focus has been to include more OBCs as the BJP wants to preempt the SP from winning their votes in the UP elections next year.

It is now upon Prime Minister Modi to ensure that his new team gets down to work and implements the policies of the government efficiently and speedily to rebuild the nation and the economy. There is no doubt that with inflation at a high and job losses, salary cuts and business closures due to the pandemic having brought about a distressing situation for the common citizens, it matters little to them who is the minister of which ministry. The common citizens want their earlier life back. They expect the government to do so at the earliest. Now the new CoM must work towards that end on war footing. 

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