Taking charge as the Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, Anupriya Singh Patel said that she is happy to see a talented pool of women in the Council of Ministers.
"I am thankful to PM Modi for this opportunity. There should be maximum women participation in the Council of Ministers, happy to see a talented pool of women in the CoM," said Patel.
Patel is among the seven women MPs who took oath as union ministers on Wednesday in the expansion of the council of ministers carried out by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The Apna Dal leader was elected to the lower house from Mirzapur in 2019.She is into her second term as an MP and had served as Union Minister of State for Health in the first term of the Modi government. She was the first woman to take oath as Union Minister yesterday.
It was the first expansion of the union council of ministers by PM Modi in his second term as Prime Minister. The swearing-in ceremony, which took place at Rashtrapati Bhavan amid COVID-19 protocols, came days ahead of the monsoon session of parliament.
The women MPs who took oath of office on Wednesday are Anupriya Patel, Shobha Karandlaje, Darshana Vikram Jardosh, Meenakshi Lekhi, Annpurna Devi, Pratima Bhoumik, and Bharati Pravin Pawar.
The expansion saw more representation to states which will go to the polls next year including Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat and are apparently aimed at infusing more young talent in the government.
While the representation of OBCs, SCs, and youth has gone up the average age of cabinet has come down. The changes were made days ahead of the monsoon session of parliament.
Forty-three ministers, including seven who were elevated as cabinet ministers, took the oath of office at a function at Rashtrapati Bhavan held with protocols related to COVID-19.
( With inputs from ANI )
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