Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman hosted a high tea on Sunday for all 11 female members of the Union Council of Ministers. Apart from existing Cabinet ministers Nirmala Sitharaman and Smriti Irani, and Ministers of State Sadhavi Niranjan Jyoti and Renuka Singh Saruta, the government welcomed seven new female ministers on Wednesday.
Only one female Minister of State (MoS) for Women and Child Development, Debasree Chaudhuri, was removed from the Council of Ministers on Wednesday. “Smt @nsitharaman interacts with the women members of the Union Council of Ministers during a high tea session hosted at her residence today,” the Finance Minister tweeted.
Meenakashi Lekhi, Minister of External Affairs and Culture, Anupriya Patel, Minister of Commerce and Industry, Annapurna Devi, Minister of Education, Pratima Bhoumik, Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment, Shobha Karandlaje, Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Bharati Pawar, Minister of Health and Family Welfare, and Darshana Jardosh, Minister of Railways and Textiles, were present.
In addition to old Council colleagues, Smriti Irani, Minister of Women and Child Development, and MoS Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti and Renuka Singh Saruta attended the high tea.
As part of the Cabinet expansion, the Narendra Modi government added seven more female ministers, bringing the total strength of the Council of Ministers to 11, the highest since 2004. Both terms of Manmohan Singh's UPA government had ten women ministers.
