Key Changes to Manmohan Singh's Cabinet

Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh on Tuesday announced
marginal changes to his cabinet, retaining
key ministers in core policy areas as the
embattled government struggles with policy
paralysis and major corruption scandals.
Avoiding a major cabinet reshuffle of the
Congress party-led coalition government is
likely to disappoint investors who had
hoped for new blood to tackle poor
governance and high inflation, and want
economic reforms to catalyse growth.
Following are details of key personnel
changes.
JAIRAM RAMESH, RURAL DEVELOPMENT
MINISTER
In a surprise move, the influential and
maverick Jairam Ramesh was moved to the
rural development ministry from
environment, where he took a strong
stance in blocking multi-billion-dollar
industrial projects over green concerns.
With a reputation as a blunt policy-maker,
the silver-haired Ramesh reaffirmed India's
commitment to bolstering nuclear power
plant construction following Japan's nuclear
crisis, brushing off anti-nuclear protests.
He differed with Singh on several policy
decisions, including on clearance for South
Korean firm POSCO's proposed $12 billion
steel mill. The prime minister has said he
had pressured Ramesh to change several
decisions.
Ramesh is close to Congress party president
Sonia Gandhi and will be expected to help
drum up crucial grassroots support
amongst India's rural electorate ahead of a
key election in Uttar Pradesh, the country's
most populous state, next year.
His ministry is in charge of implementing a
rural jobs scheme, which costs nearly 1
percent of India's GDP and has been
criticised for being inefficient, but which
has been popular amongst Congress' rural
voters.
Analysts cite this scheme as the single
biggest reason for the government's re-
election in 2009. Ramesh's move is seen as
bringing an efficient administrator to a
ministry that has long been neglected.
JAYANTHI NATARAJAN, ENVIRONMENT
MINISTER
Natarajan, a spokeswoman for the Congress
party, is seen as a loyalist of Sonia Gandhi.
She was last a minister 13 years ago and
unlike Ramesh, is not expected to differ on
policy issues with the prime minister.
Analysts say the 57-year-old Natarajan will
bring in a more measured style to the
ministry, and hope this will remove a key
obstacle to the granting clearances for coal
mining, setting up power plants or building
factories.
SALMAN KHURSHEED, LAW AND JUSTICE
MINISTER
As the government grapples with a multi-
billion dollar telecoms licensing graft
scandal, Salman Khursheed, former
corporate affairs minister, takes on a
potentially important role in steering a
police investigation into the massive fraud,
a move sorely needed to restore
government credibility.
Analysts say Khursheed, trained as a lawyer,
will need to better articulate the
government's positions to the Supreme
Court as it grapples with rising public anger
at a string of scandals ranging from the
Commonwealth Games last year to telecoms.
A member of the ruling Congress party, the
Uttar Pradesh (UP) native began his career
in the office of former Prime Minister Indira
Gandhi in the early 1980s. An Oxford
graduate, he is an amateur playwright and
stage actor.
Close to Sonia Gandhi, Khursheed is seen as
a key player in the party's campaign to
rebuild its strength in UP.
Congress needs to rebuild itself in the state
if it is to lessen its reliance on coalition allies.
It has been a minor player in UP for over
two decades now, and the state is
controlled by Mayawati, the leader of the
former untouchable castes, who has often
held the balance of power in parliament.
VEERAPPA MOILY, CORPORATE AFFAIRS
MINISTER
Moily, former law and justice minister,
becomes the new corporate affairs minister.
A senior member of the ruling Congress
Party, his power base is in Karnataka state,
the capital of which is Bangalore.
Known for his occasional public gaffes, he
takes on corporate affairs at a time of
discontent amongst foreign investors at
India's failure to embrace economic reforms
including simplifying land acquisitions for
investment and further opening up India's
potentially lucrative retail sector to goliaths
like Wal-Mart
DINESH TRIVEDI, RAILWAYS MINISTER
Dinesh Trivedi, a politician with Trinamool
Congress becomes railways minister,
replacing his party chief Mamata Banerjee,
who resigned in May to become chief
minister of West Bengal.
Trivedi comes to a ministry which has long
been used by politicians to distribute
largesse in the form of new trains, engine
and coach factories, and jobs.
Critics say this has rotted infrastructure and
caused a safety neglect, underlined by two
major railway accidents this month.