Mansukh Mandaviya has been named the new Union Health Minister, replacing Dr Harsh Vardhan. Ashwini Vaishnaw, a bureaucrat-turned-politician, is the Information Technology (IT) Minister, which was previously held by Ravi Shankar Prasad. Kiren Rijiju is the new Minister of Law and Justice, a portfolio that was also held by Ravi Shankar Prasad. Prime Minister Narendra Modi reshuffled his Cabinet on July 7. Ahead of the reshuffle, several leaders such as Dr Harsh Vardhan, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Prakash Javadekar, Babul Supriyo and Sadananda Gowda, among others, submitted their resignations.
Mandaviya is a Rajya Sabha member from Gujarat. Since May 30, 2019, he was serving as the Minister of State for Ports, Shipping and Waterways, and Chemical and Fertilisers before his elevation to Cabinet Minister on July 7. He has a Master's Degree in Political Science and has been an active member of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the student wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), since 1992.
A two-time MP, Mandaviya holds the record of being one of the youngest MLAs in Gujarat. He won the Assembly elections in 2002 from Palitana. He was a General Secretary of the Gujarat BJP in 2015. Mandaviya was also the Chairman of the state-run Gujarat Agro Industries Corporation Limited. Not a doctor by profession, Mansukh Mandaviya will have a major challenge of preventing a third wave of COVID-19 infections.
Ashwini Vaishnaw, who has no ministerial experience, is the BJP member in the Rajya Sabha from Odisha. He has an MBA and an M Tech and is an alumni of IIT Kanpur and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. A former IAS officer from the Odisha cadre, Ashwini has served as the Collector of Balasore and Cuttack. He later joined former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s office as deputy secretary.
Ahead of the reshuffle of the Union Cabinet, 12 ministers tendered their resignations. A total of 43 ministers were sworn in on the evening of July 7 at Rashtrapati Bhavan. Many news faces were inducted while several Ministers of State like Anurag Thakur, Kiren Rijiju and G Kishen Reddy were elevated to the rank of Cabinet Minister. Mandaviya is one among the ministers elevated. Ministers such as Smriti Irani, Narendra Singh Tomar and Nirmala Sitharaman retained their portfolios.
Meanwhile, Home Minister Amit Shah has been given charge of the newly formed Cooperation Ministry, which is touted to help cooperatives in ease of doing business.
> Amit Shah — Minister of Home Affairs and Cooperation
> Smriti Irani — Minister of Women and Child Development
> Nitin Jairam Gadkari — Minister of Road Transport and Highways
> Nirmala Sitharaman — Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs
> Jyotiraditya Scindia — Minister of Civil Aviation
> Anurag Thakur — Minister of Information and Broadcasting and Sports Ministry
> Ashwini Vaishnaw — Minister of Railways; Communications; and Electronics and IT
> Meenakshi Lekhi — Minister of State for External Affairs and Culture
> Piyush Goyal — Minister of Food and Textiles
> Kiren Rijiju — Minister of Law and Justice
> Rajeev Chandrasekhar — Minister of State in the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship