Modi Cabinet reshuffle: Boosting numbers in Council of Ministers won't help unless members become more proactive
FirstpostA Cabinet reshuffle is geared towards three objectives: enhance representation, pacify or punish, and enable better governance. The first, ‘big and bold’ reshuffle in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s second term is a rare instance of all three being prima facie effectuated. The ‘rainbow’ effect is a bit tarnished by the fact that the Union Cabinet still boasts of just two women, as opposed to six in the first Modi ministry. The second wave of COVID-19 felled erstwhile health minister Harsh Vardhan, while the BJP’s poor performance in the West Bengal Assembly elections may have cost Babul Supriyo and Debasree Chaudhuri their berths. Prakash Javadekar and Ravi Shankar Prasad, erstwhile Information and Broadcasting and IT ministers respectively, may have paid the price for the bad press and adverse social media campaigns the Indian government has faced in recent years, although a more charitable view of their exit could be that they will be more useful in the party.