In the third Narendra Modi government’s 72-member council of ministers, there are seven women, two of whom hold cabinet rank. This is a decrease of four compared to the previous council of ministers.
Nirmala Sitharaman and Annpurna Devi were inaugurated as cabinet ministers during the grand ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan yesterday evening.
Ms. Sitharaman, a member of the Rajya Sabha, has previously served in significant portfolios such as finance and defense. Meanwhile, Annpurna Devi, who has served two terms as the Member of Parliament for Koderma, has been elevated from the position of Minister of State to that of a Cabinet Minister. In the previous government, she held the position of Junior Minister for Education.
Other women who were sworn in as ministers yesterday include Anupriya Patel, Raksha Khadse, Savitri Thakur, Shobha Karandlaje, and Nimuben Bambhaniya.
Anupriya Patel, the leader of Apna Dal (Sonelal), a BJP ally, previously served as the Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare in the first Narendra Modi government and was appointed as the Junior Minister for Commerce and Industry in Modi 2.0. However, her party’s representation in the Lok Sabha decreased from two seats to one in the recent election.
Raksha Khadse, aged 37, is the daughter-in-law of veteran Maharashtra politician Eknath Khadse. She has been elected as a Member of Parliament for Raver three times and has previously served as a sarpanch and a member of the Zila Parishad.
Another newcomer to Modi 3.0’s cabinet is Savitri Thakur, a two-time MP from Dhar. Although she won the 2014 election, she did not secure a victory in the 2019 polls. However, in 2024, she made a strong comeback, winning her seat by a margin of over 2 lakh votes. Ms. Thakur also has extensive experience working at the grassroots level in the panchayat system.
Shobha Karandlaje, a two-time Member of Parliament representing the BJP from Karnataka, and previously a state minister, is one of the ministers from the second Narendra Modi government who have been retained in Modi 3.0. In earlier terms, she held positions in the Union government overseeing food processing industries and agriculture and farmers’ welfare.
Nimuben Bhambaniya, aged 57, represents Bhavnagar in the Parliament. A former educator, she has previously served as the mayor of Bhavnagar and has been involved in various organizational capacities within the BJP.