Editor's Pick: Mega reshuffle

Midway into its second term and after coming under attack over its handling of the COVID-19 crisis, particularly the devastating second wave, the Narendra Modi government executed a major shake-up of the Council of Ministers Wednesday evening. Mr. Modi oversaw the swearing-in of 43 ministers in a 77-member Council of Ministers while dropping 12 ministers – seven of Cabinet rank and five ministers of state – who held key portfolios of health, education, Information and Broadcasting, Law, and Information Technology and so forth. Among the heavyweights dropped were health minister Harsh Vardhan, I&B minister Prakash Javadekar, education minister Ramesh Pokhriyal, Law and IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and Labour minister Santosh Gangwar. As India prepares for a possible third wave and tries to speed up the COVID vaccination process, the new health minister is Mansukh Mandaviya, promoted to Cabinet rank from minister of state for shipping. The elevation of Mr. Mandaviya and Parshottam Rupala and the induction of three more faces from Gujarat appear to be part of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s strategy to give representation to the Patidars and Other Backward Classes ahead of the Assembly polls next year. With an eye on the 2024 general elections, the Cabinet reshuffle, according to sources, attempts to strike a balance between the political messaging of including members from various regional centres as well as from marginalised communities and beefing up the skillsets of ministries by co-opting professionals such as Ashwani Vashnaw, a Rajya Sabha MP from Odisha, who went to Wharton and IIT. Mr. Vashnaw has got railways, which was under Mr. Piyush Goyal, and electronics and information technology. There are 11 women ministers in the new council of ministers, two of Cabinet rank, the rest ministers of state. A new Ministry of Cooperation that was announced on the eve of the reshuffle will be looked after by Home Minister Amit Shah himself. The rejig saw Jyotiraditya Scindia, who had crossed over from the Congress last year, getting the reins of the Civil Aviation ministry, a portfolio his father Madhavrao Scindia once held in the P.V Narasimha Rao government. Kiren Rijiju will handle the law and justice ministry and former petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan has been asked to handle the education portfolio. Former minister of state for finance Anurag Thakur will handle the I&B Ministry. In a first, West Bengal, where the Trinamool Congress just won a landslide victory in the recent Assembly polls, four BJP members got slots in the Ministry, its highest share ever. With the BJP trying to quell unhappiness over the handling of the second COVID-19 wave and catering to different regions and ethnicities ahead of crucial Assembly polls, the reshuffle is the top story of the day. The Hindu's Editorials Perfecting the test: On CBSE's new assessment scheme The surge: On Taliban's recent gains in Afghanistan Was this newsletter forwarded to you? Head over to our newsletter subscription page to sign up for Editor's Pick and more. Click here Try out The Hindu's daily news quiz Who was the founder of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, an Indian right wing political party founded in 1951? 1. Syama Prasad Mookerjee 2. Ashutosh Mukherjee 3. Deendayal Upadhyaya 4. Nanaji Deshmukh To find out the answer and play the full quiz, click here [logo] Editor's Pick 08 JULY 2021 [The Hindu logo] In the Editor's Pick newsletter, The Hindu explains why a story was important enough to be carried on the front page of today's edition of our newspaper. [Arrow]( [Open in browser]( [Mail icon]( [More newsletters]( Mega reshuffle [Mega reshuffle] Midway into its second term and after coming under attack over its handling of the COVID-19 crisis, particularly the devastating second wave, the Narendra Modi government executed [a major shake-up of the Council of Ministers]( Wednesday evening. Mr. Modi oversaw the swearing-in of 43 ministers in a 77-member Council of Ministers while dropping 12 ministers – seven of Cabinet rank and five ministers of state – who held key portfolios of health, education, Information and Broadcasting, Law, and Information Technology and so forth. Among[the heavyweights dropped were]( health minister Harsh Vardhan, I&B minister Prakash Javadekar, education minister Ramesh Pokhriyal, Law and IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and Labour minister Santosh Gangwar. As India prepares for a possible third wave and tries to speed up the COVID vaccination process, the new health minister is Mansukh Mandaviya, promoted to Cabinet rank from minister of state for shipping.  The elevation of Mr. Mandaviya and Parshottam Rupala and the induction of three more faces from Gujarat appear[to be part of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s strategy]( to give representation to the Patidars and Other Backward Classes ahead of the Assembly polls next year. With an eye on the 2024 general elections, the Cabinet reshuffle, according to sources, attempts to strike a balance between the political messaging of including members from various regional centres [as well as from marginalised communities]( and beefing up the skillsets of ministries by co-opting professionals such as Ashwani Vashnaw, a Rajya Sabha MP from Odisha, who went to Wharton and IIT. Mr. Vashnaw has got railways, which was under Mr. Piyush Goyal, and electronics and information technology. There are 11 women ministers in the new council of ministers, two of Cabinet rank, the rest ministers of state.  A new Ministry of Cooperation that was announced on the eve of the reshuffle will be looked after by Home Minister Amit Shah himself. The rejig saw Jyotiraditya Scindia, who had crossed over from the Congress last year, getting the reins of the Civil Aviation ministry, a portfolio his father Madhavrao Scindia once held in the P.V Narasimha Rao government. Kiren Rijiju will handle the law and justice ministry and former petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan has been asked to handle the education portfolio. Former minister of state for finance Anurag Thakur will handle the I&B Ministry. In a first, West Bengal, where the Trinamool Congress just won a landslide victory in the recent Assembly polls, four BJP members got slots in the Ministry, its highest share ever. With the BJP trying to quell unhappiness over the handling of the second [COVID-19]( wave and catering to different regions and ethnicities ahead of crucial Assembly polls, the reshuffle is the top story of the day.  The Hindu's Editorials [Arrow][Perfecting the test: On CBSE's new assessment scheme]( [Arrow][The surge: On Taliban's recent gains in Afghanistan]( [underlineimg] Was this newsletter forwarded to you? Head over to our newsletter subscription page to sign up for Editor's Pick and more. [Click here]( [underlineimg] Try out The Hindu's daily news quiz Who was the founder of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, an Indian right wing political party founded in 1951? 1. Syama Prasad Mookerjee 2. Ashutosh Mukherjee 3. Deendayal Upadhyaya 4. 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