Kathmandu : President Ramchandra Paudel, at the recommendation of Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’, has formed the Council of Ministers.

President Paudel appointed the ministers, made changes and divided portfolio in the Council of Ministers formed on December 26 last year in line with the Article 76 (9) of the Constitution, informed Spokesperson of the President’s Office, Sagar Acharya.

The re-shuffled cabinet has 17 members. With the cabinet yet to take full shape, Prime minster Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ has taken the responsibilities of the Ministries of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, Foreign Affairs, Forest and Environment, Youth and Sports, Health and Population and Drinking Water.

The newly-formed council of ministers include Purna Bahadur Khadka as the deputy prime minister and minister for Defense and Narayan Kaji Shrestha as the deputy prime minister and minister for home affairs.

Among other minsters are Dr Beduram Bhusal (Minister for Agriculture and Livestock Development), Ashok Kumar Rai (Minster for Education, Science and Technology) and Sharat Singh Bhadnari (Minister for Labour, Employment and Social Security).

Likewise, the cabinet has Dr Prakssh Sharan Mahat (Minister for Finance), Mahendra Roy Yadav (Minister for Women, Children and Senior Citizen), Shakti Bahadur Basnet (Minster for Energy, Water Resource and Irrigation), Rekha Sharma (Minister for Communications and Information Technology), Sudan Kirati (Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation) and Aman Lal Modi (Minister for Federal Affairs and general Administration).

Communications Minster Sharma, Tourism Minster Kirati and Federal Minster Modi were already designated their ministerial responsbiliti8es.

Likewise, other ministers are Prakash Jwala (Minster for Physical Infrastructure and Transport), Ranjeeta Shrestha (Minister for Land Management, Cooperative and Poverty Alleviation, Ramesh Rijal (Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies) and Sita Gurung (Minister for Urban Development).

Likewise, the cabinet has a minister of state for culture, tourism and civil aviation.

At the special ceremony hosted at the President Office, newly-appointed Deputy Prime Ministers and ministers took oath of office and secrecy from the President in line with the Article 80 of the Nepal Constitution.