This archive report was first published on 7 July 2021.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has overseen a major cabinet expansion in India, ahead of seven state elections in 2022. The move has seen the resignation of twelve ministers, including the health chief, amid a catastrophic surge in Covid-19 cases earlier this year.
Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, 66, came under intense criticism during the spike in infections in April and May. The health service was under severe pressure in many areas, with hospitals running out of beds, medical oxygen, and drugs.
The Covid-19 explosion was blamed on new virus variants and the government's decision to allow mass religious and political gatherings from January. Modi had declared victory over the virus in January, but critics argue that his government failed to prepare the historically underfunded health system for another wave.
India's official death toll has exploded from around 160,000 at the end of March to more than 400,000 now, the third-highest in the world. However, many experts suspect that the figures are an undercount, and the real number of dead could be several times higher.
Published on July 7, 2021, the cabinet expansion has seen the induction of three dozen new faces, taking the number of ministers to 77, up from 52. More than a dozen ministers are from poll-bound states such as Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat, representing different castes and regional communities.
Four members from southern Karnataka state were also added, including millionaire media mogul Rajeev Chandrasekhar and Shobha Karandlaje, a sectarian rabble-rouser politician. Karandlaje has several police cases filed against her over her anti-Muslim remarks.
