New entrants in the Cabinet: Sitharaman, Goyal, Pradhan and Naqvi recognised for good work

Recognising the good work done as Ministers of State(MoS) with independent charge in their respective portfolios, Nirmala Sitharaman, Dharmendra Pradhan, Piyush Goyal and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi were elevated to the posts of cabinet ministers in the cabinet reshuffle in the Modi government.

Nirmala Sitharaman was serving as the MoS with an independent charge in the ministry of commerce and industry as well as MoS for finance and corporate affairs under the ministry of finance.

Media reports had suggested Nirmala Sitharaman is likely to be dropped but she was elevated to the cabinet post confirming Moneycontrol's earlier reports.

Sitharaman was instrumental in chalking out the much successful FDI policy of the Modi government.

Commerce and industry minister oversaw the overhaul of foreign direct investment (FDI) norms for several sectors including defence, food products, aviation and retail, in a plucky drive to push reforms and growth.

The government lifted overseas investment ceilings for civil aviation, defence, pharmaceuticals, multi-brand food retail and eased so-called restrictive conditions for single brand retail. Sitharaman also piloted the policy to allow upto 100 percent FDI in domestic airlines and new airports, a move that will foreign companies to fully-own Indian domestic carriers and 'greenfield' airports and upto 74 percent in existing airports. In defence,

In defence, upto 100 percent FDI has now been allowed without the mandatory condition of bringing in “state-of-the-art” technology by the foreign partners.

Apart from Nirmala Sitharaman, Dharmendra Debendra Pradhan who was an MoS with an independent charge for the petroleum and natural gas ministry will also be elevated to a full cabinet minister’s post.

Pradhan’s efforts deregulating the fuel prices despite it being a politically sensitive matter were well received. Apart from this, he initiated the programme of stopping LPG subsidy for people having incomes above Rs 10 lakh and redirected that subsidy to people below poverty line.

He also guided the herculean task of carrying out the merger between HPCL and ONGC that has led to the creation of an oil behemoth comparable to Saudi Aramco and Shell.

Additionally, Piyush Goyal, currently an MoS for Power, Coal, New and Renewable Energy and Mines will also be elevated to the post of a cabinet minister.

He has been known for his work in rural electrification. The ministry has been able to electrify 13,134 remote villages by April 2017 out of 18,452 villages. He took over as the Minister of Mines with an independent charge in July.

After the disaster of Coal block auctions during the UPA government, Goyal has been known for brining transparency in the coal block auctions process by introducing E-auctions.

He launched the Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana (UDAY) to revive debt ridden power distribution companies in 2015 and has roped in as many as 27 states by April 2017.