Cabinet rejig focus on performance

Javadekar gets HRD, Irani goes to textile, Prasad loses communications; all 5 ministers dropped were from social sectors

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday reshuffled the portfolios of several of his key ministers, inducted 19 new faces and sacked five ministers of state.

While electoral considerations, particularly the Assembly polls in five states by early 2017, did influence the changes, the overriding message was of rewarding performers and punishing laggards.

The PM also beefed up ministries that were found to have underperformed in achieving the targets the government has spelt out in its three Budgets. Sources said the key to the changes was the month-end performance review of all ministries that Modi had undertaken on 30 June. Modi and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Amit Shah met for a couple of hours at 7 Race Course Road before the list was sent to the Rashtrapati Bhavan. (A DAY OF CHANGES)

The PM's signal to his ministerial colleagues was clear - he wants better performance from his ministers manning social sector portfolios. The social sector constitutes the core of Modi's Budget priority towards "gaon" (villages), "garib" (the poor) and "kisan" (farmers).

The more notable changes included Smriti Irani, who had earned much bad press for the way she dealt with recent developments in Jawaharlal Nehru University and Hyderabad Central University, being shifted from the human resource development (HRD) ministry to a less high-profile textiles ministry.

Prakash Javadekar, known for his unassuming approach, will be her successor at the HRD ministry. Javadekar was also promoted to the Cabinet rank.

However, neither Coal and Power Minister Piyush Goyal nor Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, got the much-anticipated Cabinet rank. Javadekar's portfolio of environment and forests has been entrusted to Anil Madhav Dave.

Another key change, in the context of the upcoming monsoon session of Parliament, was in handing Ananth Kumar the parliamentary affairs portfolio to indicate the government's intent at better floor management that will be needed to ensure the passage of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Constitution amendment. Veteran S S Ahluwalia was appointed MoS in the parliamentary affairs ministry.

But M Venkaiah Naidu's seniority and utility was respected, with him being given the information and broadcasting portfolio. Ananth Kumar will continue at the helm of chemicals and fertilisers, while Naidu retains housing and urban development. The Information and Broadcasting ministry was earlier with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.

As for finance, Minister of State Jayant Sinha was shifted as the junior to the Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju. Jaitley has two new ministers of state in Santosh Gangwar, earlier the textiles minister, and Arjun Ram Meghwal.

Topmost of those punished was former Karnataka Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda, shifted from law and justice to statistics and programme implementation.

His portfolio has gone to Ravi Shankar Prasad, who, in turn, lost the communications portfolio to Uttar Pradesh leader Manoj Sinha.

Sinha has been rewarded with independent charge of the communications portfolio and will continue to be the junior to Suresh Prabhu at the railway ministry. The portfolios of Steel and Mines Minister Narendra Singh Tomar and Rural Development Minister Chaudhary Birender Singh were swapped.

Agriculture ministry was also strengthened with three ministers of state under Radhamohan Singh. These are S S Ahluwalia, Parshottam Rupala and Sudarshan Bhagat. Rupala was the agriculture minister in Modi-led state government in Gujarat. Sanjeev Kumar Balyan, an important Jat leader of western UP, was shifted from agriculture to water resources to allow him to focus on UP Assembly polls.

According to sources, the performance audit of ministers showed Irani's performance to be woeful. The TSR Subramaniam committee report is still under wraps and no meaningful liberalisation has taken place in the HRD ministry.

Javadekar is intimately acquainted with private sector enterprise in the education sector. Sources in the government said some of the injustice meted out to Ananth Kumar during the initial allocation of portfolios in May 2014 has been redressed.

Party colleagues also view Jayant Sinha's new appointment as a promotion. He has been sent to civil aviation at a time when the ministry is extremely active, given the roll-out of a new policy and liberalisation of FDI rules. The ministry is headed by Telugu Desam's Raju, and the BJP has now posted their own man there.

The five ministers given the boot had all handled social sector portfolios, while none who are in-charge of departments concerning economic sectors were touched.