New Delhi: The newly formed Modi government 2.0 saw the induction of two retired officers from the Indian Foreign Service (IFS) and three from the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) into the Union council of ministers.
Meanwhile, the only Indian Police Service (IPS) officer in the previous Modi government, Satya Pal Singh, was dropped — reducing the tally of former cops in the government to zero.
IFS inductees
The induction of former foreign secretary Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, a 1977-batch IFS officer, was the big surprise in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s second government. Jaishankar has been given a full cabinet rank.
Meanwhile, Hardeep Singh Puri — the other former diplomat in the previous government — was inducted for a second time.
Also read: New Modi govt — Amit Shah, Jaishankar in, Sushma, Maneka & Rathore out
Puri, a 1974-batch IFS officer, who served as the minister of state for housing and urban affairs, was re-inducted by Modi despite losing the election from Amritsar.
Welcoming their oath-taking as union minister, the IFS Association Thursday tweeted, “The IFS fraternity wishes its leading lights@HardeepSPuri [IFS:1974] and @DrSJaishankar [IFS:1977] the very best in their next innings in the service of the nation#CabinetAnnouncement2019.”
The IFS fraternity wishes its leading lights @HardeepSPuri [IFS:1974] and @DrSJaishankar [IFS:1977] the very best in their next innings in the service of the nation#CabinetAnnouncement2019 pic.twitter.com/1VdxzYuyhe
— Indian Foreign Service (@indiandiplomats) May 30, 2019
IAS representation
The new Modi government also made space for two former IAS officers as ministers of state.
R.K. Singh, a former home secretary, who was the MoS for renewable energy in the previous Modi government as well, has been sworn in as MoS.
Similarly, former IAS officer Arjun Singh Meghwal, who was the MoS for finance and cooperative affairs in the previous dispensation, has been inducted after he was elected to the Lok Sabha for the third consecutive time from Rajasthan’s Bikaner.
Former IAS officer and two-time MLA Som Parkash from Punjab’s Doaba region took oath as a minister of state. BJP’s prominent Dalit face in Punjab, Prakash had sought voluntary retirement from the service in 2009 to join the party.
Also read: Ex-foreign secy S. Jaishankar makes surprise comeback as minister in Modi’s new govt
Ones who were dropped
In his new term, PM Modi also dropped two bureaucrats who were part of his previous government — K.J. Alphons, a former IAS officer who was MoS for culture and tourism, and Satya Pal Singh, a former IPS officer, who was MoS for human resource and development (HRD).
While Alphons lost the Lok Sabha election, coming third in Kerala’s Ernakulam constituency, Singh won, defeating Rashtriya Lok Dal’s Jayant Chaudhary by a margin of 23,502 votes in Uttar Pradesh’s Baghpat.
Will JS would be real EA or Modi would hog or hug all limelight, and Shankarji would remain a minister for rescue of Indians in overseas.
Together with the IFS and IAS you should also have added Gen V.K. Singh, former Chief of Army Staff, who has had the ignominy of being demoted from the Ministry of External Affairs to Roads and Highways.
I see this as a disturbing trend for two reasons.Firstly, it is indicative of a dearth of talent in the BJP. Imagine having 352 MPs and not being able to find a Foreign Minister!! Secondly, which is even more dangerous, if the bureaucracy and defence services are taking a sharp right turn they can never fulfill their constitutional duty with equanimity.
Among the former bureaucrats, Jaishankar got a prize portfolio