President Ram Nath Kovind, Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi pose with some new members of cabinet after the reshuffle at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi on Sunday. Credit: PTI/ Kamal KishoreNew Delhi: In his third reshuffle or expansion of the Union cabinet since taking office in May 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday promoted Nirmala Sitharaman to defence minister – a major leg-up for the former minister of state (independent charge) for commerce – while handing over the cabinet berth for the railways ministry to Piyush Goyal, who earlier held independent charge of power as minister of state.Suresh Prabhu, who as rail minister sought to resign following the recent spate of train accidents, has been moved to the equally weighty commerce and industry portfolio, a sign that he continues to enjoy the full confidence of the prime minister.Two other ministers of state were elevated to cabinet rank – Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi (minority affairs) and Dharmendra Pradhan, who has been given charge of the under-performing skill development ministry in addition to his existing charge of oil and gas.Two cabinet ministers who were holding temporary charge of key ministries in addition to their own – science minister Harsh Vardhan (environment) and textiles minister Smriti Irani (information ad broadcasting) have now been formally allotted those additional portfolios.Nitin Gadkari, widely seen as one of the government’s few high performers, has been given additional charge of water resources and the flagship Namame Gange portfolio – which had been flagging under Uma Bharati.The appointment of Sitharam as defence minister is important since the post was being handled by finance minister Arun Jaitley ever since his predecessor, Manohar Parrikar, was chosen to head the state government in Goa following the assembly elections there in February this year.It was Goyal’s perceived performance as coal and power minister and his ability to project a positive turnaround in the electricity sector which appears to have clinched the key railways portfolio for him. While Goyal will continue to keep coal, the power portfolio has gone to former Union home secretary and BJP MP R.K. Singh, who has been inducted as minister of state and given independent charge of power along with new and renewable energy.Contrary to earlier speculation, no one from the BJP’s new alliance partner, the Janata Dal (United), was inducted in the expansion. While the names of JD(U) leaders R.C.P Singh and Ramnath Thakur were doing the rounds, the party clarified earlier today that no one from the party would be joining the new team. The Shiv Sena, which was denied an additional berth, stayed away from the ceremony.Sunday’s ceremony also saw nine new faces joining the government as ministers of state. The new inductees include three former bureaucrats who have been given independent charge of key ministries – former Indian Foreign Service officer Hardeep Singh Puri (housing and urban development), former Indian Administrative Service Officer and Delhi ‘demolition man’ Alphons Kannanthanam (tourism), former Union home secretary and Lok Sabha MP from Arrah, R.K. Singh (power and renewable energy). In addition, the Lok Sabha MP from Baghpat and former IPS officer Satya Pal Singh also joined the council as minister of state for human resources development and water resources.Others who took oath as minister of state were Rajya Sabha MP from Uttar Pradesh Shiv Pratap Shukla (finance), Lok Sabha MP from Buxar Ashwini Kumar Choubey (health), Lok Sabha MP from Tikamgarh Virender Kumar (women and child, and minority affairs), Lok Sabha MP from Uttara Kannada from Ananthkumar Hegde (skill development and entrepreneurship) and Lok Sabha MP from Jodhpur Gajendra Singh Shekhawat (agriculture).Union Ministers Piyush Goyal and Narendra Singh Tomar at the oath taking ceremony in Rashtrapati Bhavan. Credit: Twitter/@ANIAhead of the Cabinet reshuffle, five ministers – Kalraj Mishra, Bandaru Dattatreya, Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Sanjiv Kumar Balyan, Faggan Singh Kulaste and Mahendra Nath Pandey – had resigned on Saturday. Uma Bharti stayed on but lost the crucial water resources portfolio, getting instead drinking water and sanitation. Vijay Kuma Goel lost charge of youth affairs and sports.Moving away from “minimum government and maximum governance”With the reshuffle, the strength of the Union council has gone up to 76, just six short of the maximum cap of 82 imposed by Article 72 of the constitution. While the Modi government had started on the premise of “minimum government and maximum governance” when it started off with 46 ministers in May 2014, the growing numbers indicate a marked shift from the claim.Full list of ministers with portfoliosShri Narendra ModiPrime Minister and also in-charge of:Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions;Department of Atomic Energy;Department of Space; andAll important policy issues; andAll other portfolios not allocated to any Minister. CABINET MINISTERS 1.Shri Raj Nath SinghMinister of Home Affairs.2.Smt. Sushma SwarajMinister of External Affairs.3.Shri Arun JaitleyMinister of Finance; andMinister of Corporate Affairs.4.Shri Nitin Jairam GadkariMinister of Road Transport and Highways;Minister of Shipping; andMinister of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation.5.Shri Suresh PrabhuMinister of Commerce and Industry.6.Shri D.V. Sadananda GowdaMinister of Statistics and Programme Implementation.7.Sushri Uma BharatiMinister of Drinking Water and Sanitation.8.Shri Ramvilas PaswanMinister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution.9.Smt. Maneka Sanjay GandhiMinister of Women and Child Development.10.Shri AnanthkumarMinister of Chemicals and Fertilizers; andMinister of Parliamentary Affairs.11.Shri Ravi Shankar PrasadMinister of Law and Justice; andMinister of Electronics and Information Technology.12.Shri Jagat Prakash NaddaMinister of Health and Family Welfare.13.Shri Ashok Gajapathi Raju PusapatiMinister of Civil Aviation.14.Shri Anant GeeteMinister of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises.15.Smt. Harsimrat Kaur BadalMinister of Food Processing Industries.16.Shri Narendra Singh TomarMinister of Rural Development;Minister of Panchayati Raj; andMinister of Mines.17.Shri Chaudhary Birender SinghMinister of Steel.18.Shri Jual OramMinister of Tribal Affairs.19.Shri Radha Mohan SinghMinister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.20.Shri Thaawar Chand GehlotMinister of Social Justice and Empowerment.21.Smt. Smriti Zubin IraniMinister of Textiles; andMinister of Information and Broadcasting.22.Dr. Harsh VardhanMinister of Science and Technology;Minister of Earth Sciences; andMinister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.23.Shri Prakash JavadekarMinister of Human Resource Development.24.Shri Dharmendra PradhanMinister of Petroleum and Natural Gas; andMinister of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship.25.Shri Piyush GoyalMinister of Railways; andMinister of Coal.26.Smt. Nirmala SitharamanMinister of Defence.27.Shri Mukhtar Abbas NaqviMinister of Minority Affairs. MINISTERS OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) 1.Rao Inderjit SinghMinister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Planning; andMinister of State in the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers.2.Shri Santosh Kumar GangwarMinister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Labour and Employment.3.Shri Shripad Yesso NaikMinister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (AYUSH).4.Dr. Jitendra SinghMinister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region;Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office;Minister of State in the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions;Minister of State in the Department of Atomic Energy; andMinister of State in the Department of Space.5.Dr. Mahesh SharmaMinister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Culture; andMinister of State in the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.Minister of State for Tourism6.Shri Giriraj SinghMinister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises.7.Shri Manoj SinhaMinister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Communications; andMinister of State in the Ministry of Railways.8.Col. Rajyavardhan Singh RathoreMinister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports; andMinister of State in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.9.Shri Raj Kumar SinghMinister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Power; andMinister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.10.Shri Hardeep Singh PuriMinister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.11.Shri Alphons KannanthanamMinister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Tourism; andMinister of State in the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology. MINISTERS OF STATE 1.Shri Vijay GoelMinister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports;Minister of State in the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs; andMinister of State in the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.2.Shri Radhakrishnan P.Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance; andMinister of State in the Ministry of Shipping.3.Shri S.S. AhluwaliaMinister of State in the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation.4.Shri Ramesh Chandappa JigajinagiMinister of State in the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation.5.Shri Ramdas AthawaleMinister of State in the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.6.Shri Vishnu Deo SaiMinister of State in the Ministry of Steel.7.Shri Ram Kripal YadavMinister of State in the Ministry of Rural Development.8.Shri Hansraj Gangaram AhirMinister of State in the Ministry of Home Affairs.9.Shri Haribhai Parthibhai ChaudharyMinister of State in the Ministry of Mines; andMinister of State in the Ministry of Coal.10.Shri Rajen GohainMinister of State in the Ministry of Railways.11.General (Retd.) V. K. SinghMinister of State in the Ministry of External Affairs.12.Shri Parshottam RupalaMinister of State in the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare; andMinister of State in the Ministry of Panchayati Raj.13.Shri Krishan PalMinister of State in the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.14.Shri Jaswantsinh Sumanbhai BhabhorMinister of State in the Ministry of Tribal Affairs.15.Shri Shiv Pratap ShuklaMinister of State in the Ministry of Finance.16.Shri Ashwini Kumar ChoubeyMinister of State in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.17.Shri Sudarshan BhagatMinister of State in the Ministry of Tribal Affairs.18.Shri Upendra KushwahaMinister of State in the Ministry of Human Resource Development.19.Shri Kiren RijijuMinister of State in the Ministry of Home Affairs. 20.Dr. Virendra KumarMinister of State in the Ministry of Women and Child Development; andMinister of State in the Ministry of Minority Affairs.21.Shri Anantkumar HegdeMinister of State in the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship.22.Shri M. J. AkbarMinister of State in the Ministry of External Affairs.23.Sadhvi Niranjan JyotiMinister of State in the Ministry of Food Processing Industries.24.Shri Y. S. ChowdaryMinister of State in the Ministry of Science and Technology; andMinister of State in the Ministry of Earth Sciences.25.Shri Jayant SinhaMinister of State in the Ministry of Civil Aviation.26.Shri Babul SupriyoMinister of State in the Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises.27.Shri Vijay SamplaMinister of State in the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.28.Shri Arjun Ram MeghwalMinister of State in the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs; andMinister of State in the Ministry of Water Resources,River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation.29.Shri Ajay TamtaMinister of State in the Ministry of Textiles.30.Smt. Krishna RajMinister of State in the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.31.Shri Mansukh L. MandaviyaMinister of State in the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways;Minister of State in the Ministry of Shipping; andMinister of State in the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers.32.Smt. Anupriya PatelMinister of State in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.33.Shri C.R. ChaudharyMinister of State in the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution; andMinister of State in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.34.Shri P.P. ChaudharyMinister of State in the Ministry of Law and Justice; andMinister of State in the Ministry of Corporate Affairs.35.Dr. Subhash Ramrao BhamreMinister of State in the Ministry of Defence.36.Shri Gajendra Singh ShekhawatMinister of State in the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.37.Dr. Satya Pal SinghMinister of State in the Ministry of Human Resource Development; andMinister of State in the Ministry of Water Resources,River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation. Profiles of new ministers#KnowYourMinister: Shiv Pratap Shukla, MoS @BJPShivPShukla pic.twitter.com/zwnYFTr0cb— PIB India (@PIB_India) September 3, 2017#KnowYourMinister: Ashwini Kumar Choubey, MoS #CabinetReshuffle pic.twitter.com/qPTZFG32qd— PIB India (@PIB_India) September 3, 2017#KnowYourMinister: Dr. Virendra Kumar, MoS #CabinetReshuffle pic.twitter.com/ezInl0hnrN— PIB India (@PIB_India) September 3, 2017#KnowYourMinister: Anantkumar Hegde, MoS @AnantkumarH #CabinetReshuffle pic.twitter.com/8x0Geao38l— PIB India (@PIB_India) September 3, 2017#KnowYourMinister: Raj Kumar Singh, MoS #CabinetReshuffle pic.twitter.com/z1T3dTAkf2— PIB India (@PIB_India) September 3, 2017