Know Your Ministers: Here Are The All Important Cabinet Members Of Team Modi 2.0

The newly sworn-in Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance government on Friday announced the portfolios of the Union Council of ministers.

There are 57 ministers in total with 24 holding Cabinet berths, 9 Ministers of State with Independent charge and 24 Ministers of State.

Here's the list of Cabinet ministers with their portfolios:

Amit Shah, Modi's close confidant since his Gujarat days, was inducted into the cabinet and will head the Home Ministry. Shah, who is the  BJP president, is credited as the architect of party's formidable electoral machine, ensuring the stellar rise of the saffron party on a pan-
India scale, shedding its cow-belt, Hindi-heartland image. He contested and won the Lok Sabha elections from Gandhinagar, which was previously represented by party veteran LK Advani.

Nirmala Sitharaman, the JNU-educated Rajya Sabha member from Karnataka, served as India's first ever full-time woman Defence Minister in Modi's first term. She returns to cabinet as the Minister of Finance and Minister of Corporate Affairs.

Rajnath Singh, who was the Home Minister in the earlier government, returned to the cabinet as the Defence Minister. Singh, a former BJP president is a Member of Parliament from Lucknow seat.

Former Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar, a surprise pick in the Modi cabinet, has been given the Ministry of External Affairs. A key player during India's handling of the Doklam crisis with the Chinese, Jaishankar is the first career diplomat to reach the top post.

Nitin Gadkari, a former party president, retained his Nagpur seat in the Lok Sabha elections, was also sworn into the cabinet as well. He has been allotted the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways; and Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises.

Ramesh Pokhriyal, a former chief minister of Uttarakhand, has been given the all-important Ministry Human Resources Development.

Sadanand Gowda won the Lok Sabha election from Bangalore North constituency. He was the Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers in the previous government and has retained the portfolio this time as well. He has also served as the chief minister of Karnataka.

Ram Vilas Paswan is the president of Lok Janshakti Party, a BJP ally. In the previous NDA government, he served as the Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution and will continue to head the ministry for a second term.

Narendra Singh Tomar was the Minister of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj in the previous government. He was elected to the 17th Lok Sabha from Morena constituency in Madhya Pradesh. He has been allocated the following ministries: Agriculture and Farmers Welfare; Rural Development; Panchayati Raj.

Ravi Shankar Prasad, who won from Patna Sahib Lok Sabha seat, defeating his former party colleague Shatrughan Sinha, also joined the cabinet as the Law and Justice Minister. He is also the Minister of Electronic and Information Technology. He held these portfolios in the previous government as well.

Harsimrat Kaur Badal of the Shiromani Akali Dal, a BJP ally, has retained her cabinet birth and will continue as the Minister for Food Processing Industries. She won the Lok Sabha election from Bathinda, Punjab.

Thawarchand Gehlot is a member of the Rajya Sabha representing the state of Madhya Pradesh. In the previous government, he served as the Minister of Social Justice & Empowerment and will continue to head the ministry in this government as well.

Arjun Munda, a former chief minister of Jharkhand also took oath as a minister of the Modi cabinet. He will head the Ministry of Tribal Affairs.

Smriti Irani, who defeated Congress president Rahul Gandhi from the Nehru-Gandhi pocket borough of Amethi in Lok Sabha elections, has also been inducted into the new cabinet. She was earlier the Minister for Textiles after she was moved out of the HRD Ministry in a cabinet reshuffle following the JNU controversy. She has retained the Textiles berth and will also head the Ministry of Women and Child Development.

Dr Harshvardhan is the Minister of Health and Family Welfare; Minister of Science & Technology; and Minister of Earth Sciences.

Piyush Goyal helmed the Railways Ministry as well as the Coal Ministry in the previous government. He also served as interim-finance Minister while Arun Jaitley was indisposable due to health issues. He is currently a member of Rajya Sabha from Maharashtra.

Prakash Javadekar, who earlier held the portfolio of Human Resources Development, will be the Minister of Environment Forest and Climate Change as well as the Minister of Information and Broadcasting. Javadekar was elected to the upper house of Parliament from Maharashtra in 2008 and re-elected from Madhya Pradesh in 2014. He is also the official spokesperson of the BJP.

Dharmendra Pradhan, BJP leader from Odisha, is the minister Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas, which he held in the previous government, and will also be the Minister of Steel. He is a Rajya Sabha member elected from Madhya Pradesh.

Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, the BJP's Muslim face, was the Minister of Minority Affairs in Modi's first term. He was elected to Rajya Sabha in 2016 and will continue to hold helm the ministry.

Mahendra Nath Pandey, who served as Minister of State for Human Resource Development (Higher Education) from 2016 to 17 was also sworn in as a minister of the new cabinet. Elected to the Lok Sabha from Chandauli, he is the Minister of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship.

Shiv Sena's Arvind Sawant, who defeated Congress heavyweight Milind Deora from Mumbai, is the Minister of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprise.

Giriraj Singh, who won the Lok Sabha election from Begusarai, defeating CPI's Kanhaiya Kumar and RJD's Tanveer Hassan, was also sworn in as a minister for the second term. He was earlier Minister of State (Independent Charge), Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises but will head the Ministry of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries in the new cabinet.

Gajendra Singh Shekhawat is the Minister if Jal Shakti. He was previously the Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare. He won the Lok Sabha election from Jodhpur constituency. He is also the general secretary of BJP's farmers' wing, the BJP Kisan Morcha.

Prahlad Joshi is the new Minister of Parliamentary Affairs; Minister of Coal; and Minister of Mines. He represents the Dharwad constituency of Karnataka in the Lok Sabha and is the former president of Karnataka BJP.