Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and Mrs Krishna Raj took charges for the Minister of State for Agriculture & Farmers Welfare on Monday. They were welcomed by Union Minister Radha Mohan Singh in Krishi Bhawan.
Earlier, on Sunday Prime Minister Narendra Modi had inducted them as Ministers of state at the agriculture ministry.
Shekhawat is a Member of Parliament from Jodhpur and is also the Gen Secretary of BJP’s farmers’ wing called BJP Kisan Morcha. He beats even Barack Obama when it comes to social media; Shekhawat’s answers on the social media platform have counted a record 5.8 Million times, more than that of the former U.S. president, says Wikipedia.
Another junior Minister who has joined to assist Radha Mohan is Mrs Krishna Raj from Faizabad. She contested the 2014 Lok Sabha election from Shahjahanpur of Uttar
Together with Parshottam Rupala, the farm ministry will now have three ministers of state. S. S. Ahluwalia and Sudarshan Bhagat, who earlier were junior ministers of agriculture, were moved to the ministries of drinking water and sanitation and tribal affairs respectively, as junior ministers.
Prime Minister Modi has the target of doubling farmers’ income by 2022 from their current levels and this would be the job of the new team.
Welcoming the new Ministers Radha Mohan Singh wrote on his FB wall “With the cooperation of these two Ministers of State, I am confident that the resolution of the creation of a new India and doubling the income of the farmers will be completed by 2022.”