Newly-appointed 19 ministers take oath of office and secrecy

President Ram Chandra Paudel today administered the oath of office and secrecy to all 19 newly-appointed ministers in the KP Sharma Oli-led government.

Prithvi Subba Gurung has been appointed as the Minister for Communications and Information Technology, Ramesh Lekhak as  Minister for Home Affairs, Sharad Singh Bhandari as Minister for Labour, Employment and Social Security,  Arzu Rana as Minister for Foreign Affairs, Pradip Yadav as Minister for Water Supply and Sanitation, Balaram Adhikari as Minister for Land Management, Cooperatives, and Poverty Alleviation, Damodar Bhandari as Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies, and Nawal Kishor Shah Sudi as Minister for Women, Children, and Senior Citizens.

Likewise, Devendra Dahal has been appointed as the Minister for Physical Infrastructure and Transport, Tejulal Chaudhary as the Minister for Youth and Sports, Pradip Paudel as the Minister for Health and Population, Ajay Kumar Chaurasiya as the Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, Badri Prasad Pandey as the Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Ramnath Adhikari as the Minister for Agriculture and Livestock Development, Bidhya Bhattarai as the Minister for Education, Science and Technology, Manbir Rai as the Minister for Defense, Deepak Khadka as the Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation, Raj Kumar Gupta as the Minister for Federal Affairs and General Administration and Ain Bahadur Shahi as the Minister for Forests and Environment.

Prior to this, Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli took the oath of office and secrecy.

It was followed by the oath-taking ceremony of Deputy Prime Ministers Prakashman Singh and Bishnu Prasad Paudel.

Vice President Ram Sahaya Prasad Yadav, Prime Minister Oli, Chief Judge Bishowambhar Prasad Shrestha, Speaker Devraj Ghimire, National Assembly (NA) Chairperson Narayana Prasad Dahal, outgoing Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda', former Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, Jhalanath Khanal and Dr Baburam Bhattarai, various political leaders, lawmakers, government's senior officials, chiefs of security agencies, chiefs and representatives of Nepal-based diplomatic missions and distinguished personalities from different walks in the society were present on the occasion.