Only three women cabinet ministers in Modi government 2.0

mangaloretoday network

New Delhi, May 31, 2019 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his cabinet took the oath of office in front of a large crowd gathered on the grounds of Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi on Thursday. Among the 24 cabinet ministers, who took the oath of office today, only three are women. In last Modi government, seven women served as cabinet ministers, Yahoo reported.

 

Smriti Irani, Nirmala Sitharaman and Harsimrat Kaur Badal will be only three female cabinet ministers in Modi government’s second stint. While Nirmala Sitharaman is likely to retain the defence portfolio, the Modi government’s cabinet birth picks for Smriti Irani and Harsimrat Kaur Badal are still unknown.

Previous NDA cabinet had Nirmala Sitharaman as defence minister, Smriti Irani as textile minister, Sushma Swaraj as foreign minister, Uma Bharati as drinking water and sanitation minister, Akali Dal leader Harsimrat Kaur as food processing industries minister and Maneka Gandhi as women and child development minister. Najma Heptulla, served as minister of minority affairs but later she was dropped in after a reshuffle.

While, Smriti Irani, Nirmala Sitharaman and Harsimrat Kaur Badal have been retained in the cabinet, Sushma Swaraj has chosen to sit out on account of her health. Najma Heptulla has been since appointed as Governor of Manipur and reports say that Maneka Gandhi will be most likley be the pro-tem speaker in 17th Lok Sabha.