INDIAN prime minister Narendra Modi and his council of ministers took oath to office on Thursday (30).
The union cabinet for the 17th Lok Sabha (lower house) includes 24 cabinet ministers, 9 ministers of state with independent charge, and 24 ministers of state.
The list of the top leaders who were sworn-in as cabinet ministers include - Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari, DV Sadananda Gowda, Nirmala Sitharaman, and others.
The complete list of portfolios of the union council of ministers...
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; and all other portfolios not allocated to any minister.
Cabinet ministers
Rajnath Singh: Minister of Defence.Amit Shah: Minister of Home Affairs.
Nitin Jairam Gadkari: Minister of Road Transport and Highways; and Minister of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises.
D V Sadananda Gowda: Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers.
Nirmala Sitharaman: Minister of Finance; and Minister of Corporate Affairs.
Ramvilas Paswan: Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution.
Narendra Singh Tomar: Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare; Minister of Rural Development; and Minister of Panchayati Raj.
Ravi Shankar Prasad: Minister of Law and Justice; Minister of Communications; and Minister of Electronics and Information Technology.
Harsimrat Kaur Badal: Minister of Food Processing Industries.
Thaawar Chand Gehlot: Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment.
Subrahmanyam Jaishankar: Minister of External Affairs.
Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank': Minister of Human Resource Development.
Arjun Munda: Minister of Tribal Affairs.
Smriti Zubin Irani: Minister of Women and Child Development; and Minister of Textiles.
Harsh Vardhan: Minister of Health and Family Welfare; Minister of Science and Technology; and Minister of Earth Sciences.
Prakash Javadekar: Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change; and Minister of Information and Broadcasting.
Piyush Goyal: Minister of Railways; and Minister of Commerce and Industry.
Dharmendra Pradhan: Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas; and Minister of Steel.
Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi: Minister of Minority Affairs.
Pralhad Joshi: Minister of Parliamentary Affairs; Minister of Coal; and Minister of Mines.
Mahendra Nath Pandey: Minister of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship.
Arvind Ganpat Sawant: Minister of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprise.
Giriraj Singh: Minister of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries.
Gajendra Singh Shekhawat: Minister of Jal Shakti.
Ministers of state (independent charge)
Santosh Kumar Gangwar: Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Labour and Employment.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.
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.
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.
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.
Prahalad Singh Patel: Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Culture; and Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Tourism.
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.
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. 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
Faggan Singh Kulaste: Minister of State in the Ministry of Steel.Ashwini Kumar Choubey: Minister of State in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
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.
General (Retd) V K Singh: Minister of State in the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.
Krishan Pal: Minister of State in the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.
Danve Raosaheb Dadarao: Minister of State in the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution.
G Kishan Reddy: Minister of State in the Ministry of Home Affairs.
Purshottam Rupala: Minister of State in the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.
Ramdas Athawale: Minister of State in the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.
Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti: Minister of State in the Ministry of Rural Development.
Babul Supriyo: Minister of State in the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.
Sanjeev Kumar Balyan: Minister of State in the Ministry of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries.
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.
Anurag Singh Thakur: Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance; and Minister of State in the Ministry of Corporate Affairs.
Angadi Suresh Channabasappa: Minister of State in the Ministry of Railways.
Nityanand Rai: Minister of State in the Ministry of Home Affairs.
Rattan Lal Kataria: Minister of State in the Ministry of Jal Shakti; and Minister of State in the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.
V Muraleedharan: Minister of State in the Ministry of External Affairs; and Minister of State in the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs.
Renuka Singh Saruta: Minister of State in the Ministry of Tribal Affairs.
Som Parkash: Minister of State in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
Rameswar Teli: Minister of State in the Ministry of Food Processing Industries.
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. Kailash Choudhary: Minister of State in the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.
Debasree Chaudhuri: Minister of State in the Ministry of Women and Child Development.
Dharavi slum in Mumbai
During the hearing, Clifford denied all the charges except for the rape charge, which was added to the indictment at the session. (Photo: Hertfordshire Police /Handout via REUTERS)
Man pleads not guilty to murder of BBC presenter's family
A 26-year-old man has pleaded not guilty to charges of murdering the wife and two daughters of BBC sports commentator John Hunt in a crossbow and knife attack.
Kyle Clifford, who also faces charges of rape, appeared via video link at Cambridge Crown Court on Thursday.
Clifford, arrested in July after a manhunt, is charged with three counts of murder, one count each of rape and false imprisonment, and two counts of possessing offensive weapons – a 10-inch knife and a crossbow.
During the hearing, Clifford denied all the charges except for the rape charge, which was added to the indictment at the session.
He is expected to enter a plea for that charge at a later date.
The victims were Carol Hunt, 61, wife of horseracing commentator John Hunt, and their daughters Louise, 25, and Hannah, 28.
An earlier hearing revealed that Louise had been found tied up and that both she and her sister had been shot with a crossbow, while their mother had been stabbed with a knife.
The fatal attack occurred at the family’s home in Bushey, a commuter town near Watford, northwest of London.
(With inputs from AFP)