The choice of some of the new cabinet members – a master stroke? Full list is out / Manohar Khushalani

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S. Jaishankar, Ajit Doval and Narendra Modi

Getting Dr. S. Jaishankar, as a member of the Indian Cabinet is a master stroke by PM Modi. He was the negotiator of the Civil Nuclear Deal with USA, which required complex negotiations. Dr. S. Jayshankar worked with Manmohan Singh on the Civil Nuclear Deal. That was one of the greatest achievements of Mr. Manmohan Singh. I remember following the regular updates on this matter. The negotiations were really complex, and it was quite a task making the American Government turn around navigating through intricate International agreements.

Jayshankar was also the man behind diffusion of Doclam standoff. Besides he was the Ambassador to US and China. One couldn’t think of a better Minister of Foreign Affairs. The reappointment of Ajit Doval and inclusion of Hardeep S. Puri in the cabinet, shows a focus on India’s International Relations. Signs of India emerging as a Geopolitical power.

But Doval is the first NSA to have cabinet rank. A significant amount of credit for the success of the post-Uri surgical strikes in PoK, as well as the Balakot strikes post-Pulwama may go to Doval. In resolving the Doklam standoff, both Doval and Jaishankar reportedly played key roles.

Besides in his first innings the PM was disadvantaged by not having enough expertise in his cabinet. That is why Ministers like Arun Jaitley were overloaded with too many responsibilites and ministries. This time in his second inning’s the PM appears to be following the American model of installing professionals as his advisers.

The list of the ministries is out. Amit Shah has not been given Finance. A better qualified Woman from JNU has been given the responsibility -Nirmala Sitarman. These are her qualifications. So I am told:

BA (Economics)
MA (Economics)
M. Phil (Economics)
Assistant to Economist, Agricultural Engineers Association, UK
Manager, BBC
Senior Manager R&D, Price Waterhouse
Former Commerce Minister, India
Former Defence Minister, India
Now Finance Minister Of India

Here is the complete list of Ministers with Portfolios released by Rashtrapati Bhawan

Cabinet Ministers

Amit Shah – Home Affairs

Rajnath Singh – Defence

Nirmala Sitharaman – Finance; Corporate Affairs

Subrahmanyam Jaishankar – External Affairs

Nitin Gadkari – Road Transport and Highways; Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises

DV Sadananda Gowda – Chemical and Fertilizers

Ram Vilas Paswan – Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution

Narendra Singh Tomar – Agriculture and Farmers Welfare; Rural Development; Panchayati Raj

Ravi Shankar Prasad – Law and Justice; Communications; Electronics and Information Technology

Harsimrat Kaur Badal – Food Processing Industries

Thawarchand Gehlot – Social Justice and Empowerment

Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank – Human Resource Development

Arjun Munda – Tribal Affairs

Smriti Irani – Women and Child Development; Textiles

Dr Harsh Vardhan – Health and Family Welfare; Science and Technology; Earth Sciences

Prakash Javdekar – Environment, Forest and Climate Change; Information and Broadcasting

Piyush Goyal – Railways; Commerce and Industries

Dharmendra Pradhan – Petroleum and Natural Gas; Steel

Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi – Minority Affairs

Prahlad Joshi – Parliamentary Affairs; Coal; Mines

Mahendra Nath Pandey – Skill Development and Entrepreneurship

Arvind Sawant – Heavy Industries and Public Enterprise

Giriraj Singh – Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries

Gajendra Singh Shekhawat – Jal Shakti

Ministers of State (Independent Charge)

Santosh Kumar Gangwar – Labour and Employment
Rao Inderjit Singh – Statistics and Programme Implementation; Planning
Shripad Yesso Naik – Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (AYUSH); MoS Defence
Dr Jitendra Singh – Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region; MoS PMO; Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions; Department of Atomic Energy; Department of Space
Kiren Rijiju – Youth Affairs and Sports; MoS Minority Affairs
Prahalad Singh Patel – Culture; Tourism
Raj Kumar Singh – Power; New and Renewable Energy; MoS Skill Development and Entrepreneurship
Hardeep Singh Puri – Housing and Urban Affairs; Civil Aviation; MoS Commerce and Industry
Mansukh L Mandaviya – Shipping; MoS Chemicals and Fertilizers

Ministers of State

Faggansingh Kulaste – Steel
Ashwini Kumar Choubey – Health and Family Welfare
Arjun Ram Meghwal – Parliamentary Affairs; Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises
General (Retd) VK Singh – Road Transport and Highways
Krishan Pal – Social Justice and Empowerment
Danve Raosaheb Dadarao – Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution
G Kishan Reddy – Home Affairs
Parshottam Rupala – Agriculture and Farmers Welfare
Ramdas Athawale – Social Justice and Empowerment
Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti – Rural Development
Babul Supriyo – Environment, Forest and Climate Change
Sanjeev Kumar Balyan – Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries
Dhotre Sanjay Shamrao – Human Resource Development; Communications; Electronics and Information Technology
Anurag Singh Thakur – Finance; Corporate Affairs
Angadi Suresh Channabasappa – Railways
Nityanand Rai – Home Affairs
Rattan Lal Kataria – Jal Shakti; Social Justice and Empowerment
V Muraleedharan – External Affairs; Parliamentary Affairs
Renuka Singh Saruta – Tribal Affairs
Som Parkash – Commerce and Industry
Rameswar Teli – Food Processing Industries
Pratap Chandra Sarangi – Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises; Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries
Kailash Choudhary – Agriculture and Farmers Welfare
Debasree Chaudhuri – Women and Child Development

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Manohar Khushalani

Prof. Manohar Khushalani is a former Visiting Faculty at Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology, Delhi. The courses he taught were: Animation & Graphics, Non-Linear Editing for Film and Radio and Theatre Appreciation.  He has won a total of nine Excellence in Teaching awards for all the courses he has taught at IIITD Earlier he retired from Government of India as Director Environment Management, Central Water Commission and held many senior positions in the Government Based on a Belief that Culture and Environment are the two keys to global sustainability , Manohar Khushalani has launched two portals: A Portal on Environment and Water called One Vorld at url: www.onevorld.org and two Ezines on Culture called Stage Buzz at url: www.stagebuzz.org He has taught extensively in varied subjects such as Dam Safety, Instrumentation, CAD, IT, Animation, Theatre, Newspaper Editing. He has conducted Courses on Environment Management, Water Shed Development, Team Building and Personality Development. He is an Expert Member of Prasar Bharti’s Committee for Grading & Short listing Films for Telecast on all channels of Doordarshan.  He is a Radio Anchor for All India Radio and has moderated several programs for the Rajdhani Channel He is a well-known Theatre Actor/Director and Critic, has been involved in theatre since 1977. He has worked as an actor in over 50 plays with almost every leading director/Actor in the Country including Badal Sircar, Feisal Alkazi, Amal Allana, M.K. Raina, Anuradha Kapoor, Maya Rao, Manohar Singh, Prasanna, Rati Bartholomew and Sushmita Mukherji. He has been active in the social sector as a street theatre activist. As a member of Workshop Theatre, Theatre Union and Prayog, Khushalani has participated in street plays taking up major social issues such as dowry, bride burning, Sati, banned medicinal drugs and communalism. Dario Fo’s Accidental Death of an Anarchist and Can’t Pay Won’t Pay, both directed by him, received rave notices from critics and audiences alike. Other plays directed by him include Badal Sircar’s, Sagina Mahato and Boris Vian’s Empire Builders for Ruchika Theatre Group. Khushalani has also acted in a few films such as Sudhir Mishra's Hazaron Khwaishen Aisi , Shoojit Sircar’s Madras Café and Pradeep Krishan's Annie Gives Those Ones. He is an Animator & Graphics Designer and has directed a number of documentaries. He also held a number of Honorary positions and was President of North India Films Association, He was the Chairman of  Jury for UGC CEC Educational Films Competition and has been on their Preview Committee since last many years. He was on the preview committee of Door Darshan Channel 3, was a visiting Professor at National School of Drama, New Delhi, and Film & Television Institute of India, Pune, AJKMCRR, Jamia Milia Islamia and Professor in Media at FICT, Delhi  He has judged a large number of Drama Competitions and conducted a number of Theatre / Management Games Workshops with Institutions such as AIIMS, NTPC, CWPRS, NWA, Karve Nari Prakshishan Sansthan, FICT, IIT, MAMC, Gargi College, KNC, Tagore International School and Vivekananda School. He is a Theatre Critic for IIC Diary, has also been a Columnist with Midday and Pioneer Daily and wrote Column's Called Culture Cocktail and Footlights Respectively. He was also the Guest Editor for an issue on Folk Theatre of ICCR Journal Horizons. He has written for Times of Indian, Hindustan Times, Blitz, Hard News, Hindu Business Line, Theatre India & Art Times. He has designed dams and hydraulic structures for the Government. He is a programmer and has developed Engineering design software in Fortran. He is a co-author of Irrigation Practice & Design (Vol 1 to5 - 1500 pages) published by Oxford & IBH and sponsored by National Book Trust. He has been a Director, Environment and Sociology, at the National Water Academy, Khadakwasla and Director, Environment Management Directorate, Central Water Commission and Member Secretary, National Environmental Monitoring Committee for River Valley Projects. He was also Director of Instrumentation Directorate in the Dam Safety Organisation. He was Chief General Manager and Head of Water Resources at Scott Wilson and is an accredited consultant with numerous other organizations He is a Delhi Public School, BITS Pilani, IIT Delhi and FTI Pune Alumini. He was also the President of BITS Pilani Alumni Association, Pune.

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