Team Modi takes charge

Transcription

1 Team Modi takes charge Fact Sheet Rebooting India is not a one-man show. India s new Prime Minister Narendra Modi faces an array of economic and political challenges. His stunning landslide election victory offers hope the new government will be able to quickly deliver on promises to fix the economy, create jobs and ensure good governance. Much will depend, however, on the strength, drive and determination of Team Modi. The new Prime Minister s 45-member cabinet is the smallest in 16 years. Sticking to his election promise of minimum government, maximum governance, Modi has merged and restructured some ministries, including External Affairs with Overseas Indian Affairs. The cabinet combines youth with experience. With an average age of 57 years, the team includes fresh faces - and almost all are graduates from Indian universities. Women are better represented. More than a quarter of the new cabinet is composed of women, in sharp contrast to the outgoing government which had only two women. Sushma Swaraj is India s new foreign minister, the first woman in three decades to be appointed to the post. The new Commerce and Industry Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, is also a woman. Modi will be in charge of all important policy issues and any unallocated portfolios. Important ones such as petroleum, power and coal, commerce and finance - which are vital to economic recovery and require urgent attention - are headed by ministers who are considered to be close allies. His righthand man, Arun Jaitley, who is the new Finance Minister, will be pivotal in implementing the Key Numbers* government roadmap to boost economic growth. Analysts expect the new government to run a very powerful Prime Minister s Office (PMO). Council of Ministers *At the time of swearing in 45 Average age Youngest 38 years Oldest 74 years 59 Women Including 6 Cabinet Ministers First-time time Ministers in Modi s government Former Chief Ministers Including PM in the Cabinet 67 The new Indian leader has already unveiled a comprehensive 10-point programme and asked the cabinet to set a 100-day agenda which focuses on efficient governance, delivery and implementation of programmes. He has also abolished the Empowered Groups of Ministers (EGoMs) and Groups of Ministers (GoMs) in order to empower ministries and expedite decision-making. This Friends of Europe fact-sheet compiles some important facts and figures to help shed light on the politicians in charge of key portfolios and the expected direction of future policies. The data has been collected from an array of sources and is by no means complete or comprehensive. We believe, however, that it provides a compelling overview of who is who in India s newly appointed government and the challenges facing Team Modi.

2 2 Friends of Europe Asia Programme TEAM MODI PORTFOLIOS Narendra Modi Prime Minister, Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Department of Atomic Energy Department of Space, All important policy issues and all other portfolios not allocated to any minister. Cabinet Ministers Rajnath Singh Home Affairs Sushma Swaraj External Affairs, Overseas Indian Affairs Arun Jaitley Finance, Corporate Affairs, Defence M Venkaiah Naidu Urban Development, Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, Parliamentary Affairs Nitin Gadkari Road Transport and Highways, Shipping D V Sadananda Gowda Railways Uma Bharati Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation Najma A Heptulla Minority Affairs Ramvilas Paswan Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Kalraj Mishra Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Ministers of State G M Siddeshwara Civil Aviation Manoj Sinha Railways Nihalchand Chemicals and Fertilisers Upendra Kushwaha Rural Development, Panchayati Raj, Drinking Water and Sanitation Maneka Gandhi Women and Child Development Ananth Kumar Chemicals and Fertilisers Ravi Shankar Prasad Communications and Information Technology, Law and Justice Ashok Gajapathi Raju Civil Aviation Anant Geete Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises Harsimrat Kaur Badal Food Processing Industries Narendra Singh Tomar Mines, Steel, Labour and Employment Jual Oram Tribal Affairs Radha Mohan Singh Agriculture Thaawar Chand Gehlot Social Justice and Empowerment Smriti Irani Human Resource Development Harsh Vardhan Health and Family Welfare P Radhakrishnan Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises Kiren Rijiju Home Affairs Krishan Pal Road Transport and Highways, Shipping Sanjeev Kumar Balyan Agriculture, Food Processing Industries Mansukhbhai Dhanjibhai Vasava Tribal Affairs Ministers of State (Independent Charge) V.K. Singh Development of North Eastern Region External Affairs, Overseas Indian Affairs Rao Inderjit Singh Planning Statistics and Programme Implementation, Defence Santosh Kumar Gangwar Textiles - Parliamentary Affairs, Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation Shripad Yesso Naik Culture & Tourism Dharmendra Pradhan Petroleum and Natural Gas Sarbananda Sonowal Skill Development, Entrepreneurship, Youth Affairs and Sports Prakash Javadekar Information and Broadcasting, Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Parliamentary Affairs Piyush Goyal Power, Coal, New and Renewable Energy Jitendra Singh Science and Technology, Earth Sciences, Prime Minister Office Nirmala Sitharaman Commerce and Industry - Finance, Corporate Affairs Vishnu Deo Sai Mines, Steel, Labour and Employment Sudarshan Bhagat Social Justice and Empowerment

3 Team Modi takes charge Spring KEY PERSONALITIES Rajnath Singh Home Affairs A teacher by profession, Singh is an experienced politician with a successful career in state politics. He was previously Education Minister, Union Cabinet Minister for Surface Transport, Minister of Agriculture and Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh. Singh also played a key role in Modi s campaign to become prime minister, lobbying not just within the party but even with the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS), India s Hindu nationalist movement from which the BJP draws its ideological roots. He has been formally named to the key home affairs post, the ministry that deals with the sensitive issues of centre-state relations and counterterrorism. The National Investigation Agency, under the home ministry, handles several Hindu terror cases. Singh has already expressed his willingness to visit all border areas to assess the situation on the ground. Finance, Corporate Affairs and Defence Arun Jaitley Jaitley has played a crucial rule in Modi s rise to the top and is viewed as his key associate. A lawyer by profession, he started his political career as a college student. He has been appointed to head the high-profile Finance Ministry at a time when reform in this area is ever more urgent to inject new dynamism into India s sluggish economy. He has promised to restore back the pace of growth, contain inflation and obviously concentrate on fiscal consolidation itself. He is expected to present the Government s first budget in late July. Jaitley will also be handling the important defence portfolio temporarily. He is a former commerce and law minister. Sushma Swaraj External Affairs and Overseas Indian Affairs A top BJP woman leader with excellent oratorical skills, Swaraj has been appointed Minister of External Affairs. Having been a voice of caution and at times of dissent during Modi s rise, she is not considered to be close to Modi s political circles and kept a rather low-profile in the national election campaign. A lawyer by training, she holds the distinction of becoming the youngest cabinet minister of a state at 25 and was also the first woman Chief Minister of Delhi. In her over 30- year long political career, she has been elected several times as a Member of Parliament and of the Legislative Assembly and headed various ministries. In her current position she will be assisted by former Army Chief General VK Singh as Minister of State. The ministry will need to strike a balance between East and West. She has recently met Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. Together with Modi, Swaraj is also leading an initiative to improve ties with the US.

4 4 Friends of Europe Asia Programme Urban Development, Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, and Parliamentary Affairs. Venkaiah Naidu Naidu is among the BJP s most prominent faces from southern India. Since starting his political career as president of the youth wing of Janata Party in Andhra Pradesh - a party that merged with the BJP in he has held several senior public roles. An experienced Parliamentarian, he was a member of various Standing Committees including External Affairs and Finance. Under the previous BJP-led government he handled the Rural Development Ministry. Since assuming his current role, he has indicated that creating 100 smart cities and reducing interest rate on home loans to ensure housing for all are among the ministry s priorities. Nitin Gadkari Transport, Highways and Shipping An experienced administrator and entrepreneur, Gadkari is cabinet minister for transport, highways and shipping. He became the youngest-ever president of the BJP at 52 in recognition of the need for younger leadership after the 2009 election defeat. Gadkari has defended Modi over the years and is considered to be a member of his core group. He faced controversy over alleged financial dealings, with anti-corruption campaigners accusing him of corruption. Until the expansion of the union council of ministers, Gadkari will also hold the Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, Drinking Water and Sanitation portfolios after Gopinath Munde's sudden demise. Women and Child Development Maneka Gandhi Animal-rights activist Maneka Gandhi is the younger daughter-in-law of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. She has been elected a Member of Parliament seven times and was India s first Animal Welfare Minister. She is a prominent member of the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) and a trustee of Sanjay Gandhi Animal Care Shelter and Hospital. Modi has now appointed her to lead the women and child development portfolio. Following the recent Badaun gang-rape case, she has said that a rape crisis cell will be set up to speed up legal action. Smriti Irani Human Resources Development Irani, 38 years, is the youngest minister of Modi s government. Before joining the BJP in 2003, she was a renowned TV actress and won five consecutive Indian Television Academy Awards. Since her appointment as vice president of BJP's Maharashtra youth wing in 2004, she has held several senior public positions. She has fought tough electoral battles, including contesting Rahul Gandhi Rahul in Uttar Pradesh in the recent Lok Sabha elections. She represented Gujarat in the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of India s Parliament, after her victory in Irani s 100-day agenda includes the electoral promise of setting up India Institutes of Technology (IITs) in all states as well as restructuring the University Grants Commission (UGC), the organisation tasked with maintaining the standards of university education.

5 Team Modi takes charge Spring Agriculture Radha Mohan Singh A senior BJP leader from Bihar, Singh is an experienced parliamentarian who has been a Lok Sabha member for five terms. He was also a member of various committees on ministries including Railways, Communications, Petroleum and Natural Gas and External Affairs and was state unit chief in Bihar from 2006 to He has been tasked with heading the agriculture portfolio at a time when the Ministry is facing numerous challenges. Changes are expected, as Modi has continuously referred to a big push in this sector in his campaign. Among Singh s policy priorities is introducing an agricultural income insurance scheme to transform farming in an economically viable occupation. Nirmala Sitharaman Commerce An articulate BJP spokesperson, Sitharaman has been named Minister of State for commerce. As an academic, she wrote her PhD theses on India-Europe textile trade within the GATT framework. She was part of the then Price Waterhouse research team in London as an analyst, where she worked on adapting Western audit and marketing systems to Eastern European countries. She is the only woman appointed as Minister of State in Modi s team and a former member of National Commission for Women. Since taking up her current role, she has reaffirmed BJP's position on Foreign direct investment in multi-brand retail saying that foreign players will not be allowed to open mega stores in the country. Boosting exports is one of her top priorities. National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Kumar Doval A highly decorated police officer and former director of the Intelligence Bureau, Ajit Jumar Doval has been appointed National Security Advisor. He worked as an intelligence officer for over three decades heading different operation wings, during which he served in Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab and the Northeast. He was part of several counterterrorism and counter- insurgency operations and took up diplomatic posts in Pakistan and the United Kingdom. Before retiring from service, he also headed the Multi Agency Centre and Joint Task Force on Intelligence. He has written for various newspapers on foreign policy and security issues. In his current role as NSA, he will head the National Security Council as well as brief and advise the Prime Minister on national and international security threats.

6 6 Friends of Europe Asia Programme Modi s top 10 priorities 1 Build confidence in bureaucracy Welcome innovative ideas & babus to be given freedom to work 2 3 Education, health, water. Energy & roads will be priority Transparency in the government. E-auction to be promoted 4 5 System will be placed for inter ministerial issues People oriented system to be in placed in government machinery 6 7 Addressing concerns relating to economy Infrastructure and investment reforms 8 9 Implement policy in time bound manner Stability and sustain ability in government policy 10 Source: The Economic Times.

7 Team Modi takes charge Spring Further reading Bloomer Business week (2014) Who s Who in India Government as Modi Sworn in as Prime Minister [online] [Accessed on June 7th 2014] available at -as-prime-minister Friends of Europe (2013) India goes global: What role for Europe? [online] [Accessed on June 6th 2014] available at ArticleType/ArticleView/ArticleID/3423/Default.aspx Friends of Europe (2013) EU-India: A vital partnership in a changing world power [online] [Accessed on June 6th 2014] available at EventView/EventId/1228/EventDateID/1235/PageID/6838/ EUIndiaAvitalpartnershipinachangingworld.aspx IBN Live (2014) Narendra Modi government takes charge, key challenges before the new regime [online] [Accessed on June 7th 2014] available at The Economic Times (2014) Narendra Modi's list of top 10 priorities for the economy The Economic Times [online] [Accessed on June 7th 2014] available at Shada Islam, Patricia Díaz, Gauri Khandekar (2014) Indian elections: Gearing up for a new India? [online] [Accessed on June 6th 2014] available at articletype/articleview/articleid/3770/indian-elections-gearing-up-for-a-new-india.aspx Shada Islam, Patricia Diaz, Daniele Brunetto (2013) India goes global: the triumphs and trials of Asia's rising power [online] [Accessed on June 6th 2014] available at ArticleType/ArticleView/ArticleID/3359/Default.aspx Quartz (2014) Five significant ways in which India s new cabinet is different [online] [Accessed on June 6th 2014] available at

8 Authors Shada Islam Director of Policy at Friends of Europe Tel: +32 (0) Patricia Díaz Programme Manager at Friends of Europe patricia.diaz@friendsofeurope.org Tel: +32 (0) Andrea Cembrero Bonet Programme Assistant at Friends of Europe andrea.cembrero_bonet@friendsofeurope.org Tel: +32 (0) Friends of Europe is a leading European think-tank that aims to stimulate thinking on the future of the EU. For more than a decade our contribution has been the confrontation of ideas that is vital to policymaking and to encouraging wider involvement in Europe's future. Friends of Europe s Asia programme aims to analyse how Asia and Europe can work with each other in the economic, security, political, social and cultural fields, with a strong emphasis on policy recommendations, the Asia Programme contributes to a new EU strategy for Asia. Contact us: 4, Rue de la Science, B-1000 Brussels - Belgium Tel.: +32 (0) Fax: +32 (0) info@friendsofeurope.org