BackCabinet reshuffle: Ministers for education, fertilizer, health, labour resign
Ahead of the Union cabinet reshuffle, education ministers Ramesh Pokhriyal and Sanjay Dhotre, health minister Harsh Vardhan, chemical and fertilizer minister DV Sadananda Gowda, and 8 other ministers have resigned or were asked to tender their resignation
PremiumNEW DELHI: Ahead of the Union cabinet reshuffle due this evening, at least a dozen ministers including two education ministers Ramesh Pokhriyal and Sanjay Dhotre, health minister Harsh Vardhan, chemical and fertilizer minister DV Sadananda Gowda have resigned or were asked to resign.
Besides, labour and employment minister Santosh Gangwar, junior environment minister Babul Supriyo and junior MSME minister Pratap Sarangi have also resigned from the council of ministers.
Gangwar told Mint that he has resigned. Supriyo has put out a message on social media announcing that he has resigned, but underlined that it won’t be correct to say he was asked to resign.
The resignation of Pokhriyal and Dhotre from the Union education ministry was being speculated for months despite the ministry bringing in a new education policy (NEP). However, the NEP was yet to be implemented and the normal policy decision speed in that ministry was very slow.
Besides, several key appointments were being delayed, which may have gone against both the ministers. Besides, Pokhriyal has also not keeping well for the last couple of months. Having recovered from covid-19 during the second wave, he continues to battle the post recovery complications for over a month now.
Gangwar was instrumental in the formulation of the four labour codes, considered one of the top reform initiatives of the Union government. The four labour codes on wages, industry relations, occupation safety and social security are expected to be rolled out over the next 4-5 months.
The codes, passed by the Parliament last year, promise flexibility and ease of doing business to industries, promote fixed term employment, and reduce trade union activism in factories. The wage code passed in 2019 promises to expand the scope of social security, including for those employed in gig works.
There are multiple speculations around the 43 new ministers set to take oath this evening. It’s the first major reshuffle of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's council of ministers, since the NDA came to power in 2019 for a second consecutive term.
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