New Delhi: Among the 30 cabinet ministers in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 72-member council of ministers, six are lawyers, three are MBA degree holders and 10 are post-graduates, making it an eclectic mix of professionals. Modi and Rajnath Singh are among those who possess master's degrees.
As many as six who hold law degrees include cabinet ministers Nitin Gadkari, J P Nadda, Piyush Goyal, Sarbananda Sonowal, Bhupender Yadav and Kiren Rijiju.
The ministers who are post-graduates are Rajnath Singh, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Nirmala Sitharaman, S Jaishankar, Dharmendra Pradhan, Dr Virendra Kumar, Mansukh Mandviya, Hardeep Singh Puri, Annapurna Devi and Gajendra Singh Shekhawat.
Six ministers are graduates -- Manohar Lal, H D Kumaraswamy, Jitan Ram Manjhi, Rajiv Ranjan alias Lalan Singh, Pralhad Joshi and Giriraj Singh.
Modi was sworn in as prime minister on Sunday for a record-equalling third term, heading a 72-member Union Council of Ministers that put emphasis on continuity, youth and experience while also rewarding partners in the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government.
There were 33 first-timers with six from well-known political families. These included three former chief ministers -- Chouhan (Madhya Pradesh), Khattar (Haryana) and Kumaraswamy (Karnataka). The new faces also included Suresh Gopi, the actor-turned-politician who scripted history by becoming the BJP's first Lok Sabha MP from Kerala.
The strength of the Modi ministry including the prime minister stood at 72 as against the maximum limit of 81.
