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7 of Modi's Cabinet ministers are not even graduates
Congress leader Ajay Maken's stinging attack on Human Resource Development minister Smriti Irani has opened up a debate on whether educational qualification should determine ministerial competence.
While the Bharatiya Janata Party was quick to come to the defence of its new minister, the Congress too advised its members to attack the new government only on “substantive policy issues.”
Though Smriti Irani was singled out by Maken, the controversy has put the spotlight on other ministers in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Cabinet. While Modi holds a Masters in Political Science from Gujarat University, some of his ministers have only studied up to class 10.
Rediff.com lists Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 23 Cabinet ministers and their educational qualifications.
Click on NEXT for Uma Bharti's educational qualification…
Uma Bharti
The firebrand leader has always hogged the limelight whether she was with the Bharatiya Janata Party or out of it.
Portfolio:
Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation
Educational qualification:
Class 5
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Ashok Gajapathi Raju Pusapati
Ashok Gajapathi Raju Pusapati, who was elected from Vizianagaram, is the only member from the Lok Sabha to make it to the Cabinet rank from residual Andhra Pradesh.
Portfolio:
Civil Aviation
Educational qualification:
Matriculation
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Anant Geete
Anant Geete is Shiv Sena chief Uddhav's Thackeray's trusted lieutenant in Delhi.
Portfolio:
Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises
Educational qualification:
Matriculation
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Maneka Sanjay Gandhi
Animal-rights activist Maneka Gandhi made a comeback to the Union Cabinet as the only member of the Gandhi family in the BJP-led government.
Portfolio:
Women and Child Development
Educational qualification:
ISC
(The Indian School Certificate is an examination conducted by the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations for Grade 12.)
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Smriti Zubin Irani
From being one of the most popular faces on the small screen to taking on Congress Vice-president Rahul Gandhi in a high-profile Lok Sabha poll battle in Amethi, Smriti Irani's induction in the Narendra Modi ministry represents a crowing glory in her political career.
Portfolio:
Human Resource Development
Educational qualification:
B.Com-Part 1
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Harsimrat Kaur Badal
Daughter-in-law of Punjab Chief Minister Parakash Singh Badal, Akali Dal MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal is a prominent face of the party in Parliament.
Portfolio:
Food Processing Industries
Educational qualification:
Diploma in Textile Designing
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Jual Oram
The 53-year-old BJP stalwart, who had a 6-year long stint in a public sector company before jumping into politics, prevented BJP from drawing a blank this time as in the 2009 polls when he won from Sundagarh Lok Sabha constituency.
Portfolio:
Tribal Affairs
Educational qualification:
Diploma in Electrical Engineering
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Narendra Singh Tomar
Tomar, who made his debut in the Union Council of Ministers, has held several important positions in the party and was instrumental in ensuring a third term for Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan besides a thumping victory for the party in the Lok Sabha polls.
Portfolio:
Mines, Steel, Labour and Employment
Educational qualification:
BA
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Radha Mohan Singh
An RSS Swayamsevak since childhood, he has actively worked towards welfare of the downtrodden and SC/STs. A cricket enthusiast, the BJP MP was vice president of the Association of Bihar Cricket.
Portfolio:
Agriculture
Educational qualification:
BA
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Thaawar Chand Gehlot
Thawar Chand Gehlot is one of the most recognised BJP faces for Scheduled Castes in Madhya Pradesh. Gehlot has held several positions in state and was also head of BJP’s Scheduled Castes Cell.
Portfolio:
Social Justice and Empowerment
Educational qualification:
BA
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Kalraj Mishra
A Sangh pracharak and an associate of Jayaprakash Narayan, Kalraj Mishra is a veteran of Uttar Pradesh politics. The 71-year-old Mishra began his political career as a pracharak of RSS in Gorakhpur in eastern UP in 1963.
Portfolio:
Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises
Educational qualification:
MA
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Rajnath Singh
Rajnath Singh, a two-term BJP president, rose from a BJP activists in Gorakhpur, where he taught physics in a local college, to chief minister of politically crucial Uttar Pradesh and then transport and agriculture minister in the Atal Bihar Vajpayee government.
Portfolio:
Home Affairs
Educational qualification:
MSc
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Gopinathrao Munde
Brother-in-law of slain BJP leader Pramod Mahajan, Munde hails from a poor family in the backward Marathwada region and was brought into politics by the late BJP leader Vasantrao Bhagwat, who also groomed several other youngsters including Pramod Mahajan.
Portfolio:
Rural Development, Panchayati Raj, Drinking Water and Sanitation
Educational qualification:
BJL (New Law College)
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M Venkaiah Naidu
This is Naidu's second stint as a Union Minister, after heading the Rural Development Ministry in the year 2000.
After graduating from V R College, Nellore, he obtained a law degree from Andhra University in Visakhapatnam. He was also the president of Students Union, Andhra University Colleges in 1973.
Portfolio:
Urban development, housing and urban poverty alleviation, parliamentary affairs
Educational qualification
LLB
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Nitin Jairam Gadkari
The success of the Mumbai-Pune expressessway also brought him fame, with the then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee asking him to launch the national highway authority.
Portfolio:
Road Transport and Highways Shipping
Educational qualification:
LLB
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D V Sadananda Gowda
Mentored by BJP strong-man B S Yeddyurappa, Gowda was elected to the Karnataka Legislative Assembly in 1994 and 1999 from the Puttur Assembly Constituency in Dakshina Kannada. He became Deputy Leader of the Opposition in his second term as MLA.
Portfolio:
Railways
Educational qualification:
LLB
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Ravi Shankar Prasad
Ravishankar Prasad began his political career as a fiery student leader in Patna University under the leadership of Lalu Prasad, who was then its general secretary. But it was natural for him to turn to BJP as his father Thakur Prasad, himself a prominent lawyer, was one of the founding members of Jan Sangh.
Portfolio:
Communications and Information Technology, Law and Justice
Educational qualification:
LLB
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Arun Jaitley
Few people in the central leadership of BJP could claim to have the ears of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Arun Jaitley can. And it is also an evidence of Modi's faith in him that despite his loss in Lok Sabha elections, the legal luminary was always being seen as a certainty in the Modi cabinet for a high profile ministry.
Portfolio:
Finance, Corporate affairs, Defence
Educational qualification:
BCom, LLB
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Sushma Swaraj
Swaraj, 62, was long being spoken about as the brightest second generation politician to lead BJP but the former leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha was caught off-guard, like many others including her mentor L K Advani, by the Modi phenomenon.
Portfolio:
External affairs, overseas Indian affairs
Educational qualification:
BA, LLB
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Ananth Kumar
Kumar became a sixth time Lok Sabha member from Bangalore South, defeating Congress candidate and IT Czar Nandan Nilekani by a margin of 2,28,575 votes in what had appeared to be a keen contest that would throw up a challenge to him.
Portfolio:
Chemicals and Fertilisers
Educational qualification:
BA, LLB
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Ram Vilas Paswan
A seasoned politician, Ram Vilas Paswan is credited with removing the tag of 'political untouchability' from Narendra Modi by being the first to rejoin the NDA which he had quit following the 2002 Gujarat riots.
Portfolio:
Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution
Educational qualification
MA, LLB
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Harsh Vardhan
An RSS member since his younger days, 59-year-old Vardhan was BJP's chief ministerial nominee in the assembly polls in December last year and was made the city unit chief of the party in February replacing Vijay Goel.
Portfolio:
Health and Family Welfare
Educational qualification:
MBBS, MS(ENT)
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Najma A Heptulla
Once a prominent Congress member in the Rajya Sabha, she left the party in 2004 due to a strain in relationship with top party leaders for her close association with the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-headed NDA Government and joined the BJP.
Portfolio:
Minority Affairs
Educational qualification:
PhD