Lawyers dominate Narendra Modi's Cabinet

New Delhi: One-third of the Union Council of Ministers are law degree holders while two are doctors and nine graduates in various other streams. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Rajnath Singh are among 12 ministers in the 44-member team who possess Masters degree.

As many as 15 who hold law degrees include Cabinet Ministers Sushma Swaraj (External Affairs), Arun Jaitley (Finance), M Venkaiah Naidu (Urban Development), Nitin Gadkari (Road, Transport and Highways), D V Sadanand Gowda (Railways), and Ramvilas Paswan (Consumer Affairs).

Besides them, Chemicals and Fertilizers Minister Ananthkumar and Communication and Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad also hold law degree, according to their biodatas and self-sworn affidavits.

Ministers of State (Independent Charge) Textiles Santosh K Gangwar, Sarbananda Sonowal (Youth Affairs and Sports), Piyush Goyal (Power) and Rao Inderjit Singh (Planning) also have degrees in law.

Ministers of State for Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises Radhakrishnan P, Kiren Rijiju (Home Affairs) and Krishan Pal (Road Transport and Highways) have completed their graduations in law, according to their affidavits filed while contesting Lok Sabha elections.

The two doctors in the Modi ministry are Harsh Vardhan (Health and Family Welfare Minister) and Jitendra Singh (Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions and Prime Minister's Office).

Minority Affairs Minister Najma A Heptulla has Masters degree in Zoology and is also a Doctorate of Philosophy (PhD); Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Minister Kalraj Mishra is a Master of Arts; Commerce and Industry (Independent Charge) Minister Nirmala Sitharaman a Master of Philosophy; Petroleum and Natural Gas (Independent Charge) Minister Dharmendra Pradhan possesses a Master of Arts and Minister of State for Rural Development Upendra Kushwaha is a postgraduate from Bihar University.

Ministers of State for Agriculture Sanjeev Kumar Balyan and V K Singh (External Affairs) hold PhD, and MoS for Tribal Affairs Mansukhbhai Dhanjibhai Vasava possesses Master of Social Work, according to their affidavits.

There are nine ministers who are graduates—Narendra Singh Tomar (Mines), Radha Mohan Singh (Agriculture), Thaawar Chand Gehlot (Social Justice and Empowerment), Shripad Yesso Naik (Culture), Prakash Javadekar (Information and Broadcasting), Manoj Sinha (MoS Railways), Nihalchand (MoS Chemicals and Fertilizers), Raosaheb Dadarao Danve (MoS Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution) and Sudarshan Bhagat (MoS Social Justice and Empowerment).

Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Zubin Irani has done Bachelor of Commerce (Part I) while Food Processing Industries Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal and Tribal Affairs Minister Jual Oram have diplomas, as per their affidavits.

The qualification of six ministers in Modi's team ranges from Class VIth to XIIth. These include Water Resources Minister Uma Bharati (Class VIth), Women and Child Development Maneka Sanjay Gandhi (Class Xth), Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju (Class Xth), Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises Minister Anant Geete (Class Xth), Mines Minister Vishnu Deo Sai (Class XIth) and MoS Civil Aviation G M Siddeshwara (Class Xth), according to their affidavits.