In a big cabinet reshuffle by PM Modi, Ashwini Vaishnaw has been given the charge of Ministries of Communications, and Electronics and Information Technology, as the former minister Ravi Shankar Prasad steps down from his position. Vaishnaw will also be heading the ministry of railways.
Vaishnaw, a Rajya Sabha MP from Odisha is a former IAS officer (1994 batch). He went to study management at Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, and joined the corporate sector after serving as a bureaucrat for 15 years. As a government official, Vaishnaw handled important responsibilities and was known for his contribution to the public-private partnership (PPP) framework in infrastructure. Post that, he has held leadership roles across major global companies such as General Electric and Siemens.
Vaishnaw authored the law that required social media firms to remove and identify the first originator of posts deemed to undermine India’s sovereignty, state security or public order.
The Narendra Modi government underwent a significant overhaul on July 7, 2021, with several leaders taking oath as new ministers of the government.
