Ahead of Monsoon session, govt rejigs Cabinet Committees; Jyotiraditya Scindia, Sarbananda Sonowal and Bhupender Yadav included in crucial committees

Free Press journal, July 13, 2021

After the mega Cabinet reshuffle last week, the government has reconstituted several Cabinet Committees, including that on parliamentary affairs.

The government has reconstituted the powerful cabinet committees under which Union ministers Smriti Irani, Bhupender Yadav and Sarbananda Sonowal have been made part of the all-important Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The Cabinet Committees have been reconstituted by the Central Government on Monday. The CCPA also includes Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah, Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari, Finance and Corporate Affairs Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal, and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi.

The CCPA is one of the most important committees that take decisions on political strategy. In the Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs, Law Minister Kiren Rijiju, and Information and Broadcasting and Sports Minister Anurag Thakur have been included as members for the first time, along with Tribal Affairs Minister Arjun Munda.

While Rijiju takes the place of Ravi Shankar Prasad, Thakur has replaced Prakash Javadekar in this committee. Union Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment Virendra Kumar has also been included in place of Thawarchand Gehlot, who has recently taken charge as Karnataka Governor.

The Committee also includes Union Ministers Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, Nirmala Sitharaman, Narendra Singh Tomar, Arjun Munda, Pralhad Joshi, Kiren Rijiju, and Anurag Singh Thakur.

Union Ministers Arjun Ram Meghwal, and V. Muraleedharan have been included as special invitees to this committee. Another key inclusion is that of Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia in the Cabinet Committee on Investment and Growth.

Other members of the committee are Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, Nitin Jairam Gadkari, Nirmala Sitharaman, Piyush Goyal, Narayan Tatu Rane, and Ashwini Vaishnaw.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs includes Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Ministers Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, Nitin Gadkari, Nirmala Sitharaman, Narendra Singh Tomar, S Jaishankar, Piyush Goyal, and Dharmendra Pradhan.

The Cabinet Committee on Accommodation includes Union Ministers Amit Shah, Nitin Gadkari, Nirmala Sitharaman, Piyush Goyal, and Hardeep Singh Puri.

In 2019, the reconstitution of various Parliamentary committees had led to controversy after Defence Minister Rajnath Singh was left out of key CCPA. Later the government had to amend the composition of CCPA to include Singh in the key decision-making body. The constitution of the committees comes ahead of the Monsoon session of Parliament which is set to commence from July 19.

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