Nine new Ministers inducted into Union Council of Ministers; Four ministers promoted to Cabinet rank

Four Union ministers were promoted to Cabinet rank and nine new Ministers of state were inducted in the Union Council of Ministers today. Nirmala Sitharaman has been appointed as country's new Defence Minister while Piyush Goyal is the new Rail Minister in addition to Coal.

Dharmendra Pradhan has been given additional charge of Skill Development. Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi has been elevated to the Cabinet rank. Suresh Prabhu is now new Commerce Minister, while Nitin Gadkari has been given additional charge of Water resources.

Former diplomat Hardeep Singh Puri will be the new Housing and Urban affairs Minister, Ex Home Secretary R K Singh has been given the charge of Power and New and Renewable Ministry. Former IAS officer Alphons Kannanthanam will be new Tourism Minister and Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology, while former Mumbai Police chief Satyapal Singh will be the Minister of state for Human Resource Development and the Minister of state for Water Resources.

Lok Sabha MP from Madhya Pradesh Virendra Kumar is made Minister of state for Women and Child Development and Minister of State in Minority Affairs. Lok Sabha MP from Karnataka Anant Kumar Hegde is new Minister of state for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship. Another Lok Sabha MP from Rajasthan Gajendra Singh Shekhawat will be the Minister of state in the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.

Loksabha MP from Bihar Ashwini Kumar Choubey has been made Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare. While Rajya Sabha MP from Uttar Pradesh Shiv Pratap Shukla will be the new Minister of state for Finance.

President Ram Nath Kovind administered the oath of office and secrecy to them at Rashtrapati Bhavan in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other dignitaries.