Prime Minister Narendra Modi held the first Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, after the reshuffle on 3 September. The Union Cabinet on Tuesday approved a series of proposals, including the approval of 1 percent Dearness Allowance to Central government employees.
The cabinet also approved a plan to hive off BSNL's mobile tower assets to a seperate company, among many others.
The reshuffle on 3 September saw Nirmala Sitharaman taking over the defence ministry, and Piyush Goyal assuming charge of the railways ministry, and nine other new MPs inducted into the cabinet.
The Cabinet on Tuesday approved the doubling of Daund-Manmad railway line to ease movement of passengers and goods across Pune, Ahmednagar and Nashik in Maharashtra.
The 247.5 km long railway line is expected to be completed in five years.
"Doubling of the line will greatly ease the ever increasing passenger and freight traffic on Daund-Manmad route, thereby increasing the revenue of Railways," the rail ministry said in a statement.
The Union Cabinet on Tuesday approved signing of an agreement with Morocco on healthcare and another with Armenia on cooperation in disaster management.
The memorandum of understanding with Morocco, once signed, will see cooperation in the fight against child cardiovascular diseases and cancer.
The two countries will also cooperate in the field of communicable diseases, maternal, child and neonatal health, an official statement said.
The Union Cabinet on Tuesday approved a series of proposals, including the approval of 1 percent Dearness Allowance to Central government employees.
They also approved the introduction of an amendment Bill to revise gratuity ceiling for private sector employees.
Union Cabinet also gave its go-ahead to development of six-laning of Narasannapeta-Ranastalam section of NH-16 in Andhra Pradesh, and the implementation of “Dairy Processing & Infrastructure Development Fund” scheme.
The cabinet also approved a plan to hive off BSNL's mobile tower assets to a seperate company.
Nine new ministers were also inducted in the Cabinet, including Raj Kumar Singh, Ashwini Kumar Choubey, Shiv Pratap Shukla, Virendra Kumar, Anant Kumar Hegde, Hardeep Singh Puri, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Satya Pal Singh and Alphons Kannanthanam.
The much-anticipated Cabinet rejig is touted to be the final major churn before the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. The reshuffle was scheduled to be held after President Ram Nath Kovind returned from his trip to Tirupati, and ahead of PM Modi’s departure to China, where he will attend the ninth BRICS summit.
From a former home secretary to a top retired diplomat, a former Mumbai police commissioner to a retired Army chief, nearly 10 percent of Narendra Modi's council of ministers is made up of former bureaucrats or ex-servicemen.
With the induction of Raj Kumar Singh, Hardeep Singh Puri, Satyapal Singh and Alphons – the number of former bureaucrats and ex-servicemen in the Modi government has risen to seven.
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