Johnson Cherian.
In a step-up for Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who was elevated in the recent Cabinet restructuring process, the government has not only included her in the high-profile Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS), but also made her a full-time member of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) and Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs (CCPA).
Ms Sitharaman, who previously held independent charge of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry with Minister of State rank, was only a special invitee to the CCEA in that role.
Piyush Goyal and Dharmendra Pradhan, two other Ministers of State who held independent charge of ministries prior to the Cabinet rejig in which they were promoted, have also been upgraded from special invitees to full-time members of the CCEA.
Mr. Goyal, who now leads the Railway and Coal Ministries, has also been inducted into the CCPA.
The CCS, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, comprises Home Minister Rajnath Singh, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Finance and Corporate Affairs Minister Arun Jaitley.
Among the newly-inducted ministers, former bureaucrat Hardeep Singh Puri is the only one to have made the cut as a special invitee to the Cabinet Committee on Accommodation. Mr. Puri is the Minister of State with independent charge of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.
One other notable change in the freshly constituted Cabinet Committees notified on Monday, is the inclusion of Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Thawarchand Gehlot in the CCPA. SS Ahluwalia and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, who were earlier Ministers of State for Parliamentary Affairs, have been substituted by their replacements in the ministry – Vijay Goel and Arjun Ram Meghwal.
