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Not just the Prime Minister, 42% of his Cabinet Colleagues travelled abroad in the first 9 months

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The members of the Union Cabinet spent a total of 393 days in foreign visits. More than 42% of the Union Cabinet made foreign visits in the first 9 months of the NDA government. Most of these visits were made for bilateral and multilateral summits.

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One of the major talking points in the first year of the NDA Government has been the extensive foreign travel undertaken by the Prime Minister. While a lot has been written and said about the foreign visits undertaken by the Prime Minister, there is little written about his Cabinet colleagues. Factly compiled data about the foreign travel undertaken by the members of the Cabinet from May 2014 to March 2015. Twenty seven (27) of Modi’s Cabinet colleagues undertook at least one foreign visit. This is about 42% of the total strength of the Union Cabinet.

All-countries-visited-by-the-members-of-the-Union-Cabinet-1

* Number indicates no. of visits

Countries Visited

A total of sixty (60) countries were visited by at least one member of the Union Cabinet. All of them together spent 393 days abroad. Apart from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Six(6) of his cabinet colleagues visited at least five countries. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Minister of State (MoS) for External Affairs Gen. (Dr) V K Singh (Retd), MoS for Petroleum & Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan, Minister for Road Transport & Highways Nitin Gadkari, Mos for Environment Prakash Javdekar & MoS for Commerce & Industry Nirmala Sitharaman visited at least five countries.

Cabinet Members who visited Most Countries - Indian Minster Foreign Visits

Purpose of Such Visits

Many of them travelled abroad for bilateral & multilateral summits. They also travelled abroad for BRICS Summit, G-20 related meetings, attending World Economic Forum, SAARC meetings, World Congress & Asia meetings on various issues etc. Seven of the ministers undertook foreign travel for private visits.

Ministers who went Foreign Travel for Private Visits - Indian Minster Foreign Visits

The details of the visits by the members of the Union Cabinet are in the table below.

S NoName of the MinisterPortfolioNumber of Countries VisitedNumber of DaysPurpose
1Shri Narendra ModiPrime Minister1854Bi-lateral, Multi Lateral Summits
2Smt Sushma SwarajExternal Affairs1852Bi-lateral, Multi Lateral Summits
3Gen. (Dr) V K Singh (Retd)External Affairs (MoS)1125Bilateral Talks & Other Events
4Shri Dharmendra PradhanPetroleum and Natural Gas(MoS)514World Petroleum Congress,TAPI Gas Pipeline,World Petroleum Congress
5Shri Nitin GadkariRoad Transport and Highways512Nepal Summit, Bi-lateral Meetings, Private Visit (Sweden)
6Shri Prakash JavadekarEnvironment, Climate Change, Information & Broadcasting and Parliamentary Affairs (MoS)526United Nations meeting, Major Economic Forum, Climate Change Summit,UN Conference on Climate Change
7Smt. Nirmala SitharamanCommerce & Industry (MoS)523BRICS Summit, G-20, Bi-lateral meetings, Accompanied Vice President of India
8Shri Harsha VardhanHealth and Family Welfare (Earlier)417Global Meets of Health Ministers & World Conferences
9Shri M. Venkaiah NaiduParliamentary Affairs, Urban Development & Housing and Urban Poverty Alleivation418Leader of Parliamentary Delegation, Asia Pacific Ministerial Conference, Smartcity Expo World Congress
10Shri Santosh Kumar GangwarTextiles, Parliamentary Affairs, Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation414Goodwill delegation of Parliamentarians
11Shri Suresh  PrabhuRailways411Private Visit (Moscow), G-20 Meetings, 13thAnnual Flagship Conference India Unlimited
12Shri Rajnath SinghHome Minister38SAARC & Bi-lateral meetings
13Shri Ravi Shankar PrasadCommunications and Information Technology and Law & Justice39Asia-Pacific Telecommunity (APT) ICT Ministerial meeting,International Telecommunication Union (ITU) meeting
14Smt. Harsimrat Kaur BadalFood Processing Industries318Private Visit (Italy & UAE), SIAL Fair 2014
15Shri Arun JaitleyFinance216Annual BRICS Meeting, G-20, World Economic Forum, Private Visit (USA)
16Shri Kalraj MishraMicro, Small and Medium Enterprises27Interactive Business Sessions, Inauguration of Vocational Training with GOI Support
17Shri Narendra Singh TomarMines, Steel,  Labour & Employment28G-20 meeting & “MINING INDABA 2015”
18Shri P RadhakrishnanHeavy Industries and Public Enterprises(MoS)26Accompanied the President of India
19Shri Anant GeeteHeavy Industries & Public Enterprises12Annual Indian Investment Forum
20Shri Birender SinghRural Development19AARDO Conference
21Shri Inderjit SinghPlanning,Statistics and Programme Implementation and Defense (MoS)16Private Visit (Spain)
22Shri Jayant SinhaFinance (MoS)15G-20 meeting
23Shri Kiren RijijuHome Affairs (MoS)16Asian Ministerial Conference on various issues
24Shri Manoj Kumar SinhaRailways (MoS)110Private Visit (USA)
25Shri Piyush GoyalPower, Coal and NRE (MoS)13World Economic Forum
26Shri. Gowdara Mallikarjunappa SiddeswaraCivil Aviation(MoS)16Private Visit (USA)
27Shri. Shripad Yesso NaikAYUSH and Health and Family Welfare (MoS)14Ministerial segment of 83rd General Assembly of IMTERPOL
28Smt. Maneka Sanjay GandhiWomen & Child Development14Asian and Pacific Conference on ‘Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment

 

Source: Unstarred Question No 3678, answered on 18th March, 2015 in the Lok Sabha, Ministry of External Affairs

 

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About Author

Rakesh has been working on issues related to Right to Information (RTI) for a decade. He is a Data/Information enthusiast & passionate about Governance/Policy issues.

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