NEW DELHI: Former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan was appointed the new rural development minister on Monday, while ally Janata Dal (United) leader Rajiv Ranjan alias Lalan Singh was given the panchayati raj ministry. This is the first time that the two ministries have gone to different ministers in the Narendra Modi cabinet.
The rural development ministry, which looks after socio-economic development of rural India, has the key responsibility of implementing flagship schemes like Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee (MGNREGA) scheme and Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY), among others.
The panchayati raj ministry, which was created first in 2004, looks after transferring grants to rural local bodies for civic programmes and their functioning.
While different ministers handled the two ministries under the previous United Progressive Alliance (UPA) governments, since the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government came to power, the posts had been held by the same minister.
Under the first Modi government, the post has been held by Nitin Gadkari (June 2014 to November 2014) and Birender Singh (November 2014 to July 2016), before it came to Narendra Singh Tomar, who took over the posts in July 2016, and held it till the end of the first term of NDA.
He was again given the two ministries in 2019 after the BJP came back to power, and held the two ministries till July 7, 2021. Giriraj Singh was made the rural development and panchayati raj minister on July 7, 2021, and held the post till June 9, before the new cabinet was sworn in.
