The central government has reconstituted the Cabinet committees, including the one on parliamentary affairs, ahead of the Monsoon Session, scheduled between July 19 and August 13.

These are sub-committees within the Union Cabinet that looks at remits and various topics, including the economy, security matters and dates for Parliament sessions.

Union ministers Anurag Singh Thakur, Kiren Rijiju and Virendra Kumar have been included in the new Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs led by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh. This panel will chalk out the schedule of the Parliament sessions, scrutinise non-government business and decide on the bills and resolutions to be presented in the House, reported the Hindustan Times.

The Cabinet committee on Political Affairs, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, will comprise 12 Union ministers – Rajnath Singh, Home Minister Amit Shah, Transport minister Nitin Gadkari, Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, Union minister Piyush Goyal, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi, Environment minister Bhupender Yadav and Minister of Ports Sarbananda Sonowal.

No changes were made to the composition of the Cabinet Committee on security, which is comprised of the prime minister, Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, Nirmala Sitharaman and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar. The panel on appointments, comprised of Modi and Shah, which decides all important appointments in the government from the rank of joint secretary and above was also not changed.

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The newly inducted members of the Cabinet Committee on Investment and Growth, led by the prime minister, are Union minister Narayan Rane, Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia and Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw. This committee has to identify important projects that need to be implemented within a deadline, according to the Hindustan Times.

In 2019, the Modi-led administration had set up the two committees on investment and growth and employment and skill development. Vaishnaw and Yadav have been added to the employment and skill development sub-committee.

The Cabinet Committee on Employment and Skill Development, led by Modi, also has new members, including Union ministers G Kishan Reddy, Bhupender Yadav, Ashwini Vaishnaw, and Ramchandra Prasad Singh. No replacements were made to fill up the spots left vacant in the committee on economic affairs after Ravi Shankar Prasad and DV Sadanand Gowda’s exit from the Union Cabinet.

On July 7, the prime minister inducted 43 leaders into the Union Cabinet. With this, the total number of members in the prime minister’s council of ministers went up to 78.

Out of the 78 ministers in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Cabinet, 33 – or 42% – have declared criminal cases against them, showed a report released by the Association for Democratic Reforms on Thursday. The report showed that 24 ministers have declared serious criminal cases against them, including for murder, attempt to murder and robbery.

The report was based on analysis of the “self-sworn affidavits of all 78 ministers”, the organisation said.