After Cabinet reshuffle, new ministers like Jyotiraditya Scindia, Sarbananda Sonowal and Bhupender Yadav included in Cabinet committees

Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia

After the mega Cabinet reshuffle last week, the young ministers of the Narendra Modi government have got another big elevation through entries in crucial Cabinet Committees which were reconstituted on July 12.

Environment and Labour Minister Bhupender Yadav was included in the all-important Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs (CCPA), along with Ports Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya and Rural Development Minister Giriraj Singh. All of them have been included in the CCPA for the first time. Predecessors of Yadav and Sonowal in their respective ministries were not a part of the CCPA.

Another notable inclusion showing her rise in stature is Woman and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani, who will in the CCPA for the first time.

Law Minister Kiren Rijiju and Information and Broadcasting and Sports Minister Anurag Thakur have been included as members of the Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs for the first time, along with Tribal Affairs Minister Arjun Munda. Rijiu takes the place of Ravi Shankar Prasad while Thakur takes the place of Prakash Javadekar in this committee.

Virendra Kumar, the Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment, has also been included in place of Thaawar Chand Gehlot who is now a Governor.

Another key inclusion is Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia in the Cabinet Committee on Investment and Growth, while his predecessor in the same Ministry was not a part of this committee. Railways, IT and Telecom Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and MSME Minister Narayan Rane have also been included in this committee but their predecessors were part of it too.

Bhupender Yadav and Ashwini Vaishnaw have also been included in the Cabinet Committee on Employment and Skill Development, where Steel Minister RCP Singh from the Janata Dal (United) has been included as a ‘Special Invitee’. G. Kishan Reddy, the Culture and Tourism Minister, has also been included as a ‘Special Invitee’ in this committee while Smriti Irani and Prahalad Patel will no longer be the ‘special invitees’ to this committee as earlier.

Ravi Shankar Prasad and Javadekar have lost their place in multiple Cabinet committees after their exit from the Council of Ministers. So have Harsh Vardhan and DV Sadananda Gowda. A place on the Cabinet committees is generally a virtue of the portfolio the minister holds. However, there are cases like in the present re-jig where ministers have found place in key Cabinet committees while their predecessors in the same chair did not.