Narendra Modi-led Union Cabinet holds first meeting, clears pension scheme for small farmers, traders

The first meeting of the new Union Cabinet was held on Friday during which several key decisions were taken.

NEW DELHI:  The first meeting of the new Union Cabinet was held on Friday evening which was chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and attended by his Council of Ministers a day after they took the oath of office and secrecy in a glittering ceremony, attended by nearly 8000 guests, in the forecourt of the Rashtrapati Bhavan on Thursday. 

The 58-member ministry saw 20 first-time Union ministers including BJP chief Amit Shah, former Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar and two former chief ministers Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank and Arjun Munda. The cabinet portfolios were declared on Friday afternoon.

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Here are the live updates on May 31 (Friday):

# Union Cabinet clears pension scheme for small farmers, traders.

# Narendra Modi govt to present Union Budget on July 5

# PM Modi pays tribute to Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Patel and his office in South Block

Delhi: At the Prime Minister’s Office in South Block, PM Narendra Modi pays tributes to Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Patel. pic.twitter.com/kYpG8OM1mR — ANI (@ANI) May 31, 2019

# Modi Cabinet's first decision - major changes approved in PM's Scholarship Scheme.

First decision of PM Narendra Modi on assuming his office is approval to a major change in the ‘Prime Minister’s Scholarship Scheme’ under the National Defence Fund. #UnionCabinetMeeting pic.twitter.com/8arH0vziwY — ANI (@ANI) May 31, 2019

# PM Modi chairs first meeting of the Union Cabinet.

#Visuals Prime Minister Narendra Modi chairs the first #UnionCabinet meeting of his second term. pic.twitter.com/J1iDcbIApX — ANI (@ANI) May 31, 2019

# Piyush Goyal to take charge of office at 3:30, Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar at 4 pm. 

# "This is a crucial ministry and I am happy with it," says DV Sadananda Gowda, Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers

# "Whatever responsibility I have been given I will work to take it forward in PM's road map. I have already managed this portfolio in Bihar then I will like working in this portfolio once again," says Giriraj Singh after being appointed as Minister of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries.

# Complete list:

Narendra Modi: Prime Minister and also in-charge of: Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions; Department of Atomic Energy; Department of Space; and all important policy issues; 

Cabinet Ministers

1. Raj Nath Singh: Minister of Defence.

2. Amit Shah: Minister of Home Affairs

3. Nitin Jairam Gadkari: Minister of Road Transport and Highways; and Minister of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises.

4. DV Sadananda Gowda: Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers

5. Nirmala Sitharaman: Minister of Finance; and Minister of Corporate Affairs.

6. Ramvilas Paswan: Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution.

7. Narendra Singh Tomar: Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare; Minister of Rural Development; and Minister of Panchayati Raj

8. Ravi Shankar Prasad: Minister of Law and Justice; Minister of Communications; and Minister of Electronics and Information Technology.

9. Harsimrat Kaur Badal: Minister of Food Processing Industries.

10. Thaawar Chand Gehlot: Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment.

11. Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar: Minister of External Affairs.

12. Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’: Minister of Human Resource Development

13. Arjun Munda: Minister of Tribal Affairs

14. Smriti Zubin Irani: Minister of Women and Child Development; and Minister of Textiles.

15. Dr. Harsh Vardhan: Minister of Health and Family Welfare; Minister of Science and Technology; and Minister of Earth Sciences.

16. Prakash Javadekar: Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change; and Minister of Information and Broadcasting.

17. Piyush Goyal: Minister of Railways; and Minister of Commerce and Indus

18. Dharmendra Pradhan: Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas; and Minister of Steel.

19. Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi: Minister of Minority Affairs.

20. Pralhad Joshi: Minister of  Parliamentary Affairs; Minister of Coal; and Minister of Mines.

21. Dr. Mahendra Nath Pandey: Minister of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship.

22. Arvind Ganpat Sawant: Minister of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprise.

23. Giriraj Singh: Minister of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries.

24. Gajendra Singh Shekhawat: Minister of Jal Shakti.

Ministers of State (Independent Charge)

1. Santosh Kumar Gangwar: Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Labour and Employment.

2. Rao Inderjit Singh: Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation; and Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Planning.

3. Shripad Yesso Naik: Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (AYUSH); and Minister of State in the Ministry of Defence.

4. Dr. Jitendra Singh: Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region; Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office; Minister of State in the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions; Minister of State in the Department of Atomic Energy; and Minister of State in the Department of Space.

5. Kiren Rijiju: Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports; and Minister of State in the Ministry of Minority Affairs.

6. Prahalad Singh Patel: Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Culture; and Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Tourism.

7. Raj Kumar Singh: Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Power; Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy; and Minister of State in the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship.

8. Hardeep Singh Puri: Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs; Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Civil Aviation; and Minister of State in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

9. Mansukh L. Mandaviya: Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Shipping; and Minister of State in the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers.

Ministers of State

1. Faggansingh Kulaste: Minister of State in the Ministry of Steel.

2. Ashwini Kumar Choubey: Minister of State in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

3. Arjun Ram Meghwal: Minister of State in the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs; and Minister of State in the Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises.

4. General (Retd.) V. K. Singh: Minister of State in the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.

5. Krishan Pal: Minister of State in the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.

6. Danve Raosaheb Dadarao: Minister of State in the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution.

7. G. Kishan Reddy: Minister of State in the Ministry of Home Affairs.

8. Parshottam Rupala: Minister of State in the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.

9. Ramdas Athawale: Minister of State in the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.

10.  Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti: Minister of State in the Ministry of Rural Development.

11. Babul Supriyo: Minister of State in the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.

12. Sanjeev Kumar Balyan: Minister of State in the Ministry of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries.

13. Dhotre Sanjay Shamrao: Minister of State in the Ministry of Human Resource Development; Minister of State in the Ministry of Communications; and Minister of State in the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.

14. Anurag Singh Thakur: Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance; and Minister of State in the Ministry of Corporate Affairs.

15. Angadi Suresh Channabasappa: Minister of State in the Ministry of Railways.

16. Nityanand Rai: Minister of State in the Ministry of Home Affairs.

17. Rattan Lal Kataria: Minister of State in the Ministry of Jal Shakti; and Minister of State in the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.

18. V. Muraleedharan: Minister of State in the Ministry of External Affairs; and Minister of State in the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs.

19. Renuka Singh Saruta: Minister of State in the Ministry of Tribal Affairs.

20. Som Parkash: Minister of State in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

21. Rameswar Teli: Minister of State in the Ministry of Food Processing Industries.

22. Pratap Chandra Sarangi: Minister of State in the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises; and Minister of State in the Ministry of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries.

23. Kailash Choudhary: Minister of State in the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.

24. Sushri Debasree Chaudhuri: Minister of State in the Ministry of Women and Child Development.

# Ministers of State and Ministers of State (Independent charge):

Cabinet portfolio allocation LIVE updates: List of ministers out

Minister of State #CabinetAnnoucement #Cabinet2019 pic.twitter.com/NNNW6oPnUS — PIB India (@PIB_India) May 31, 2019

Cabinet portfolio allocation LIVE updates: List of ministers out

Minister of State (Independent Charge) #CabinetAnnoucement #Cabinet2019 pic.twitter.com/IxWWLStfP9 — PIB India (@PIB_India) May 31, 2019

# Cabinet portfolios announced:

Allocation of portfolios among the members of the Union Council of Ministers as advised by PM @narendramodi pic.twitter.com/36Td16pDSX — PIB India (@PIB_India) May 31, 2019

Allocation of portfolios among the members of the Union Council of Ministers as advised by PM @narendramodi pic.twitter.com/zG7djXbphn — PIB India (@PIB_India) May 31, 2019

Cabinet portfolio allocation LIVE updates: List of ministers out#CabinetAnnoucement #Cabinet2019 pic.twitter.com/7sTrJrqAgD — PIB India (@PIB_India) May 31, 2019

# "Never asked for two seats, as reported in media. The government gave us a symbolic representation. We informed them that it is ok we don't need it. It is not a big issue, we are fully in NDA and not upset at all. We are working together,no confusion," says JDU chief Nitish Kumar. 

"There were talks about the Council of Ministers in the NDA meet. Later Parliamentary meeting party was held, after which we went to the Rashtrapati Bhavan where the BJP chief spoke about giving one seat to us,' he added. "After listening to them, felt like they wanted to give a symbolic representation to all NDA parties."

# Portfolios of Union ministers to be announced soon, sources tell Zee News. It will be declared before the new Union cabinet's first meet at 5:30 pm in the national capital.

# Piyush Goyal congratulates daughter Radhika Goyal for graduating from Harvard in a heartfelt post on Facebook: "My wife Seema wrote today, "30th May 2019, what a day for my family , DAUGHTER and FATHER, both graduate in their respective fields, one graduates from Harvard, one becomes a Cabinet Minister, 2nd time, one in Boston, one in New Delhi ...CAN’T THANK GOD ENOUGH... "

"Once again congratulations to Radhika for successfully starting another chapter in her life. I am blessed to have the support of my family in this journey and thank them from the bottom of my heart."

# Fifth suspect Wasim arrested in the murder case of Surendra Singh, a close aide of BJP MP Smriti Irani. The police arrested him following an encounter. Four other suspects named in the case have already been held by police. 

# "I was stranded in the crazy rush post PM oath ceremony. No one offered to help me except @smritiirani who saw my plight & made sure I reached home safely. She cares & that’s why she won," tweets legendary singer Asha Bhonsle.

I was stranded in the crazy rush post PM oath ceremony. No one offered to help me except @smritiirani who saw my plight & made sure I reached home safely. She cares & that’s why she won. pic.twitter.com/vDV84PrIVp — ashabhosle (@ashabhosle) May 30, 2019

# "Yesterday's oath taking ceremony generated immense enthusiasm across the nation," tweets PM Modi.

Yesterday's oath taking ceremony generated immense enthusiasm across the nation. pic.twitter.com/Z8ObqPMsxl — PMO India (@PMOIndia) May 31, 2019

#Jagaddal Police detains one for sloganeering 'Jai Shree Ram' in front of CM Mamata Banerjee at Bhatpara Jute Mill of North 24 Parganas district on Friday. The man had shouted 'Jai Sri Ram' on Thursday while the Bengal CM's motorcade was passing through the area.

# Mamata Banerjee to hold Trinamool Congress' core committee meet at her Kalighat residence at 3 pm today. Several changes expected in the party structure.

#  Traditional Indian wear with hues of saffron and use of Hindi language for oath-taking were the overriding themes at the glittering swearing-in ceremony of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union ministers of the new NDA government. Read here

# READ- The bicycle men: 2 ministers cycle to Rashtrapati Bhavan for oath-taking ceremony

# One-third of the total ministers in the Modi's 2.0 Cabinet are the first-timers, which includes BJP president Amit Shah and former foreign secretary S Jaishankar. Two former chief ministers -- Ramesh Pokhriyal (Uttarakhand) and Arjun Munda (Jharkhand) -- have taken oath as Union ministers for the first time. Read more

# The first Cabinet meeting of the newly inducted government will be held on Friday around 5 pm, a day after Narendra Modi took oath as the Prime Minister for a second consecutive term. PM Modi, 68, was administered the oath of office and secrecy by President Ram Nath Kovind at a glittering ceremony at the forecourt of majestic Rashtrapati Bhavan. Read more