On 9th June 2024, Narendra Modi(73-year-old), leader of the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP), was sworn in as the Prime Minister(PM) of India for the third consecutive term (2024 to 2029).
- Droupadi Murmu, President of India, administered the oath of office to PM Modi, along with 71 ministers, at a grand ceremony on the forecourt of Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi, Delhi.
Note: The new cabinet includes 30 Cabinet Ministers, 5 Ministers of State (MoS) with independent charge and 36 Ministers of State.
18th Lok Sabha Election Result(2024):
BJP-led National Democratic Alliance(NDA) won the 2024 Lok Sabha general election with 293 seats, a much lower margin than predicted by exit polls. The opposition won a total of 234 seats out of 543.
- This marks Modi’s first time heading a coalition government.
Points to note:
i.PM Narendra Modi is only the second Indian PM after Jawaharlal Nehru to retain power for a 3rd five-year term.
- Modi previsouly served as PM of India from 2014 to 2019 and 2019 to 2024.
ii. A total 11 members of the BJP’s allies have been included in the new council of ministers.
- Out of these 11, only 5 got Cabinet berths, 2 were appointed as MoS with independent charge and 4 as MoS.
Number of Seats Won in the 18th Lok Sabha Election
i. BJP remained the dominant party in the 18th Lok Sabha with 240 seats but was not able to achieve the 272-seats mark required for a simple majority.
- BJP previously won 303 and 282 seats in 2019 and 2014 respectively.
ii.BJP has formed the government with the support of its two pre-poll allies, the Andhra Pradesh(AP)’s Telugu Desam Party (TDP) led by Chandrababu Naidu (16 seats) and the Bihar’s Janata Dal (United) led by Nitish Kumar (12 seats).
iii.The Indian National Congress(INC), a part of the 26-party alliance – Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc, won 99 seats compared to 52 it won in 2019. INDIA bloc as a whole secured 234 seats.
Youngest and Oldest Candidates to win Lok Sabha 2024:
i.Four candidates aged 25 years, Pushpendra Saroj and Priya Saroj from the Samajwadi Party (SP), Shambhavi Choudhary from Lok Janshakti Party (RV), and Sanjana Jatav from Indian National Congress (INC), became the youngest MPs in the 18th Lok Sabha (2024).
- Pushpendra Saroj won from the Kaushambi constituency, UP and Priya Saroj won from the Machhlishahr constituency, UP.
- Shambhavi Choudhary won from the Samastipur constituency of Bihar.
- Sanjana Jatav won from the Bharatpur constituency in Rajasthan.
ii.Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) treasurer T.R. Baalu (aged 82) is the oldest MP of the 18th Lok Sabha.
- He has won the 2024 Lok Sabha Election from Sriperumbudur constituency, Tamil Nadu.
- He equals P. Chidambaram’s record of winning seven Lok Sabhal elections in T.N and has become the longest-serving DMK MP from Tamil Nadu
Appointment of the Council of Ministers & PM:
i.Article 74 in the Constitution of India states that there shall be a Council of Ministers with the PM at the head to aid and advise the President who shall, in the exercise of his functions, act in accordance with such advice.
ii.Article 75 of the constitution states that Prime Minister shall be appointed by the President and the other Ministers shall be appointed by the President on the advice of the PM.
iii.As per the Constitution of India, the total strength of the council of ministers cannot exceed 15% of the total number of Lok Sabha MPs. With the current Lok Sabha having 543 members, the Council of ministers cannot have more than 81 members.
Inclusions and Exclusions from the Cabinet
i. 38 ministers of the previous Lok Sabha were replaced in the current cabinet. Smriti Irani, Anurag Thakur, Ajay Bhatt, Rajeev Chandrashekhar, Ashwini Choubey, Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti, Meenakshi Lekhi, Arjun Munda and Vellamvelly Muraleedharan were removed from the Cabinet 3.0 list.
ii. 34 ministers were retained in the Council of Ministers. These include Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari, Nirmala Sitharaman, S. Jaishankar, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Hardeep Singh Puri, Mansukh Mandaviya, Pralhad Joshi, Kiren Rijiju, Dharmendra Pradhan Arjun Ram Meghwal and Jitendra Singh were among leaders who were retained in the Council of Ministers.
Composition of the Cabinet 3.0
i.PM Narendra Modi has retained Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh, Nirmala Sitharaman and Subrahmanyam Jaishankar of Home, Defence, Finance and External Affairs respectively in his new government.
ii.It includes 27 ministers from Other Backward Classes, 10 from Scheduled Castes, 5 from Scheduled Tribes and 5 from minorities.
v.There are also 33 first-timers in the ranks. Seven first -time ministers in the government belong to the allies.
The new faces also include Suresh Gopi, the actor-turned-politician who became the first BJP MP from Kerala.
Ministers included from Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha
i.The Council of Ministers has 13 members from the Rajya Sabha, while 57 are newly-elected MPs from the Lok Sabha.
ii.Two of the new ministers of state – Ravneet Singh Bittu and George Kurian – are not members of either Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha and are required to become a member of Parliament within six months of their oath-taking.
iii.Out of the 31 cabinet ministers, including the PM, eight are Rajya Sabha members. These Cabinet ministers are Jagat Prakash Nadda, Nirmala Sitharaman, S Jaishankar, Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu, Ashwini Vaishnaw, and Hardeep Singh Puri.
iv.Sarbananda Sonowal and Jyotiraditya Scindia have been elected to Lok Sabha this time.
v.The Rajya Sabha members who were included as Ministers of State are Ramdas Athawale, Ramnath Thakur, Banwari Lal Verma, Loganathan Murugan, Satish Chandra Dubey, Sanjay Seth and Pabitra Margherita.
Cabinet berth distribution with NDA allies
i.BJP’s ally, Janata Dal (United), got two cabinet seats in the Cabinet 3.0. They were Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan Singh (cabinet minister) and Ram Nath Thakur (Minister of State).
ii.Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) leader Jitan Ram Manjhi was sworn in as a cabinet minister.
iii.Two Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leaders – Kinjarapu Ram Mohan Naidu and Pemmasani Chandra Sekhar and one from the Apna Dal(S) party – Anupriya Patel – were allotted a berth in the Cabinet. Lok Janshakti Party’s Chirag Paswan was also part of the Council of Ministers.
iv.Shiv Sena’s Prataprao Ganpatrao Jadhava also included in the Cabinet. Republican Party of India leader Ramdas Athawale, JDS leader HD Kumaraswamy, and Rashtriya Lok Dal leader Jayant Chaudhary were among other that got place into the Council of Ministers.
Women Representation in the Cabinet 3.0
i.Seven women leaders were inducted into the Council of Ministers, with only two given cabinet berths.
ii.Nirmala Sitharaman and Annapurna Devi were sworn in as cabinet ministers, while five women—Anupriya Patel, Sobha Karandlaje, Raksha Nikhil Khadse, Savitri Thakur, and Nimuben Jayantibhai Bambhaniya joined as Ministers of State.
List of Ministers and their portfolio;
| Minister | Party (Constituency) | Portfolio |
|---|---|---|
| Union Ministers (Cabinet Ministers) | ||
| Narendra Modi | BJP (Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh-UP) | Prime Minister; Ministry of 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. |
| Rajnath Singh | BJP (Lucknow, UP) | Minister of Defence |
| Amit Shah | BJP (Gandhinagar, Gujarat) | Minister of Home Affairs and Minister of Cooperation |
| Nitin Gadkar | BJP (Nagpur, Maharahstra) | Minister of Road Transport and Highways |
| J.P. Nadda | BJP (Rajya Sabha -Gujarat) | Minister of Health and Family Welfare Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers |
| Shivraj Singh Chouhan | BJP (Vidisha, Madhya Pradesh-MP) | Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare and Minister of Rural Development |
| Nirmala Sitharaman | BJP (Rajya Sabha- Karnataka) | Minister of Finance and Minister of Corporate Affairs |
| S. Jaishankar | BJP (Rajya Sabha – Gujarat) | Minister of External Affairs |
| Manohar Lal Khattar | BJP (Karnal, Haryana) | Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs and Minister of Power |
| H. D. Kumaraswamy | JD(S) (Mandya, Karnataka) | Minister of Heavy Industries and Minister of Steel |
| Piyush Goyal | BJP (Mumbai North, Maharashtra) | Minister of Commerce and Industry |
| Dharmendra Pradhan | BJP (Sambalpur, Odisha) | Minister of Education |
| Jitan Ram Manjhi | HAM(S) (Gaya, Bihar) | Minister of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises |
| Rajiv Ranjan Singh (Lalan Singh) | JD(U)(Munger, Bihar) | Minister of Panchayati Raj and Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying |
| Sarbananda Sonowal | BJP (Dibrugarh, Assam) | Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways |
| Dr. Veerendra Kumar | BJP (Tikamgarh,MP) | Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment |
| Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu | TDP (Srikakulam, Andhra Pradesh) | Minister of Civil Aviation |
| Pralhad Joshi | BJP (Dharwad, Karnataka) | Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Minister of New and Renewable Energy |
| Jual Oram | BJP (Sundargarh, Odisha) | Minister of Tribal Affairs |
| Giriraj Singh | BJP (Begusarai, Bihar) | Minister of Textiles |
| Ashwini Vaishnaw | BJP (Rajya Sabha – Odisha) | Minister of Railways, Minister of Information and Broadcasting Minister of Electronics and Information Technology |
| Jyotiraditya M. Scindia | BJP (Guna, MP) | Minister of Communications and Minister of Development of North Eastern Region |
| Bhupender Yadav | BJP (Alwar, Rajasthan) | Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change |
| Gajendra Singh Shekhawat | BJP (Jodhpur, Rajasthan) | Minister of Culture and Minister of Tourism |
| Annpurna Devi | BJP (Kodarma, Jharkhand) | Minister of Women and Child Development |
| Kiren Rijiju | BJP (Arunachal West) | Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Minister of Minority Affairs |
| Hardeep Singh Puri | BJP (Rajya Sabha – UP) | Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas |
| Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya | BJP (Porbandar, Gujarat) | Minister of Labour and Employment and Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports |
| G. Kishan Reddy | BJP (Secunderabad, Telangana) | Minister of Coal Minister of Mines |
| Chirag Paswan | LJP(RV) (Hajipur, Bihar) | Minister of Food Processing Industries |
| C R Patil | BJP (Navsari, Gujarat) | Minister of Jal Shakti |
| Ministers of State (Independent Charge) | ||
| Rao Inderjit Singh | BJP (Gurgaon, Haryana) | MoS (IC) Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, MoS (IC) Ministry of Planning, Ministry of Culture |
| Dr. Jitendra Singh | BJP (Udhampur, J&K) | MoS (IC) Ministry of Science and Technology, Earth Sciences, Prime Minister’s Office(PMO), Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Atomic Energy, and Department of Space. |
| Arjun Ram Meghwal | BJP (Bikaner, Rajasthan) | MoS (IC) Ministry of Law and Justice Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs |
| Jadhav Prataprao Ganpatrao | Shiv Sena (Buldhana, Maharashtra) | MoS (IC) Ministry of Ayush Ministry of Health and Family Welfare |
| Jayant Chaudhary | Rashtriya Lok Dal (Rajya Sabha – UP) | MoS (IC) Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Ministry of Education |
| Minister of State | ||
| Jitin Prasada | BJP (Pilibhit, UP) | Ministry of Commerce and Industry Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology |
| Sripad Naik | BJP (North Goa) | Ministry of Power Ministry of New and Renewable Energy |
| Pankaj Chaudhary | BJP (Maharajganj, UP) | Ministry of Finance |
| Krishan Pal | BJP (Faridabad, Haryana) | Ministry of Cooperation |
| Ram Das Athawale | Republican Party of India (Rajya Sabha – Maharashtra) | Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment |
| Ram Nath Thakur | JD(U)(Rajya Sabha -Bihar) | Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare |
| Nityanand Rai | BJP (Ujiarpur, Bihar) | Ministry of Home Affairs |
| Anupriya Patel | Apna Dal (Mirzapur, UP) | Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers |
| V. Somanna | BJP (Tumkur, Karnataka) | Ministry of Jal Shakti Ministry of Railways |
| Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani | TDP (Guntur, AP) | Ministry of Rural Development and Ministry of Communications |
| S. P. Singh Baghel | BJP (Agra, UP) | Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying Ministry of Panchayati Raj |
| Shobha Karandlaje | BJP (Bangalore North, Karnataka) | Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Ministry of Labour and Employment |
| Kirti Vardhan Singh | BJP (Gonda, UP) | Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change and Ministry of External Affairs |
| B.L. Verma | BJP(Rajya Sabha -UP) | Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution and Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment |
| Shantanu Thakur | BJP(Bangaon, West Bengal) | Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways |
| Suresh Gopi | BJP (Thrissur, Kerala) | Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas Ministry of Tourism |
| L. Murugan | BJP (Rajya Sabha – MP) | Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs |
| Ajay Tamta | BJP(Almora, Uttarakhand) | Ministry of Road Transport and Highways |
| Bandi Sanjay Kumar | BJP(Karimnagar, Telangana) | Ministry of Home Affairs |
| Kamlesh Paswan | BJP(Bansgaon, UP) | Ministry of Rural Development |
| Bhagirath Choudhary | BJP(Ajmer, Rajasthan) | Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare |
| Satish Chandra Dubey | BJP(Rajya Sabha – Bihar) | Ministry of Coal and Ministry of Mines |
| Sanjay Seth | BJP(Ranchi, Jharkhand) | Ministry of Defence |
| Ravneet Singh | BJP(Punjab) | Ministry of Food Processing Industries and Ministry of Railways |
| Durga Das Uikey | BJP(Betul, Madhya Pradesh) | Ministry of Tribal Affairs |
| Raksha Khadse | BJP(Raver, Maharashtra) | Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports |
| Sukanta Majumdar | BJP(Balurghat, West Bengal) | Ministry of Education and Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region |
| Savitri Thakur | BJP(Dhar, Madhya Pradesh) | Ministry of Women and Child Development |
| Tokhan Sahu | BJP(Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh) | Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs |
| Raj Bhushan Choudhary | BJP(Muzaffarpur, Bihar) | Ministry of Jal Shakti |
| Bhupathi Raju Srinivasa Varma | BJP(Narasapuram, Andhra Pradesh) | Ministry of Heavy Industries and Ministry of Steel |
| Harsh Malhotra | BJP(East Delhi) | Ministry of Corporate Affairs and Ministry of Road Transport and Highways |
| Nimuben Bambhaniya | BJP(Bhavnagar, Gujarat) | Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution |
| Murlidhar Mohol | BJP(Pune, Maharashtra) | Ministry of Cooperation and Ministry of Civil Aviation |
| George Kurian | BJP(Kerala) | Ministry of Minority Affairs and Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying |
| Pabitra Margherita | BJP(Rajya Sabha – Assam) | Ministry of External Affairs and Ministry of Textiles |
Note: George Kurian (Kerala) and Ravneet Singh (Punjab) who were neither a member of the Lok Sabha nor the Rajya Sabha were inducted into the cabinet.
