New Delhi, May 27 – Prime Minister Narendra Modi assumed office on Tuesday, a day after being sworn-in by President Pranab Mukherjee. Modi was received at South Block office of the PMO by newly appointed Principal Secretary Nripendra Mishra and some other officials.
As soon as he entered his office, he paid obeisance to Mahatma Gandhi by offering flower tributes to his photograph. In one of his first decisions, Modi announced compensation of Rs.2 lakh each to next of kin of those killed in the Gorakhdam Express accident on Monday. The injured will be given a compensation of Rs.50,000 each. However, Modi had already begun his official work on Monday night by holding a meeting with top officials.
Modi meets Karzai with Sushma Swaraj
In his first bilateral meet with international leaders after assuming charge, Prime Minister Narendra Modi held talks with Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai.
In their more than half an hour meeting, Modi and Karzai discussed ways to enhance cooperation in the wake of NATO combat troops withdrawal from the war-torn country.
Modi was assisted in the talks by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh among others.
Delhi: Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai meets PM Narendra Modi at Hyderabad House pic.twitter.com/WR4IU7802O
Meeting with Rajapaksa despite protests
Modi met Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa at Hyderabad House despite stiff protests from AIADMK, DMK and MDMK.
Modi also met Maldives President Abdulla Gayoom.
The Prime Minister is scheduled to meet his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif who is offering prayers at Jama Masjid and other leaders from the SAARC countries in one of his first engagements after taking charge. The meeting will take place at 11.45 a.m. and is expected to last about 25 minutes.
It will be Modi’s last meeting of the day with SAARC leaders who had flown in to attend his swearing-in ceremony on Monday at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Modi will also meet Maldives President Abdullah Yameen, Bhutan Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay, Mauritius Prime Minister Navinchandra Ramgoolam and Nepal Prime Minister Sushil Koirala. Bangladesh Parliament speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury will also meet Modi.
Portfolios of 45 ministers announced:
Cabinet ministers:
Rajnath Singh: Home Affairs.
Sushma Swaraj: External Affairs, Overseas Indian Affairs.
Arun Jaitley: Finance, Corporate Affairs, Defence.
M. Venkaiah Naidu: Urban Development, Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, Parliamentary Affairs.
Nitin Gadkari: Road Transport and Highways, Shipping.
D.V. Sadananda Gowda: Railways.
Uma Bharati: Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation.
Najma A. Heptulla: Minority Affairs.
Gopinathrao Munde: Rural Development, Panchayati Raj, Drinking Water and Sanitation.
Ramvilas Paswan: Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution.
Kalraj Mishra: Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises.
Maneka Gandhi: Women and Child Development.
Ananth Kumar: Chemicals and Fertilizers.
Ravi Shankar Prasad: Communications and Information Technology, Law and Justice.
Ashok Gajapathi Raju Pusapati: Civil Aviation.
Anant Geete: Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises.
Harsimrat Kaur Badal: Food Processing Industries.
Narendra Singh Tomar: Mines, Steel, Labour and Employment.
Jual Oram: Tribal Affairs.
Radha Mohan Singh: Agriculture.
Thaawar Chand Gehlot: Social Justice and Empowerment.
Smriti Irani: Human Resource Development.
Harsh Vardhan: Health and Family Welfare.
Ministers of State:
V.K. Singh: Development of North Eastern Region (Independent Charge), External Affairs and Overseas Indian Affairs.
Inderjit Singh Rao: Planning (Independent Charge), Statistics and Programme Implementation (Independent Charge) and Defence.
Santosh Kumar Gangwar: Textiles (Independent Charge), Parliamentary Affairs, Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation.
Shripad Yesso Naik: Culture (Independent Charge) and Tourism (Independent Charge).
Dharmendra Pradhan: Petroleum and Natural Gas (Independent Charge).
Sarbananda Sonowal: Skill Development, Entrepreneurship, Youth Affairs and Sports (Independent Charge).
Prakash Javadekar: Information and Broadcasting (Independent Charge), Environment, Forest and Climate Change (Independent Charge) and Parliamentary Affairs.
Piyush Goyal: Power (Independent Charge), Coal (Independent Charge) and New and Renewable Energy (Independent Charge).
Jitendra Singh: Science and Technology (Independent Charge), Earth Sciences (Independent Charge), Prime Minister’s Office, Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Department of Atomic Energy and Department of Space.
Nirmala Sitharaman: Commerce and Industry (Independent Charge), Finance and Corporate Affairs.
G.M. Siddeshwara: Civil Aviation.
Manoj Sinha: Railways.
Nihalchand: Chemicals and Fertilisers.
Upendra Kushwaha: Rural Development, Panchayati Raj, Drinking Water and Sanitation.
P. Radhakrishnan: Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises.
Kiren Rijiju: Home Affairs.
Krishan Pal: Road Transport and Highways and Shipping.
Sanjeev Kumar Balyan: Agriculture and Food Processing Industries.
Mansukhbhai Dhanjibhai Vasava: Tribal Affairs.
Raosaheb Dadarao Danve: Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution.
Vishnu Deo Sai: Mines, Steel, Labour and Employment.
Sudarshan Bhagat: Social Justice and Empowerment.
-INDIA TODAY
