The Young Chronicle: For Grade 3 3rd graders or 8-9 year olds | Page 5

YOUNG CHRONICLE

November 14th, 2014

General
What is the Cabinet of Ministers?
Rambo and Pranks had been
wondering what the swearing
ceremony was all about. They
were curious to know why so many
ministers were being inducted now,
when the elections were long over.

The mighty African Lion in
trouble?

Mummy then explained that certain
ministers had a huge portfolio and
were leaving charge of some of
their ministries and so new people
had to be brought in.
This confused Rambo and Pranks even more. What was a
cabinet, and why were these ministers even needed?
Papa then pitched in.
The Cabinet of India is a collective decision making body of
the Government of India. Under the cabinet, each possible
aspect of the government is covered. Each aspect, like
Finance, Economy, Human Resource, Railways, Defence
etc, is covered. These aspects are called ministries. Each
ministry is headed by a Cabinet Minister, and assisted by a
Minister of State. The Prime Minister heads the Cabinet.
Essentially, it is the job of the Cabinet Ministers to brief the
PM on the progress in their respective ministries, decide the
development areas, and bridge the gap.
What are the Main ministries in India,
and which ministers head them?

Rajnath Singh: Home Minister
Sushma Swaraj: External Affairs, Overseas Indian Affairs
Arun Jaitley: Finance, Corporate Affairs, Information &
Broadcasting
Venkaiah Naidu: Urban Development, Housing and Urban
Poverty Alleviation, Parliamentary Affairs
Nitin Jairam Gadkari: Road Transport and Highways
Manohar Parrikar: Defence minister
Suresh Prabhu: Railways Minister
D.V. Sadananda Gowda: Minister of law and justice
Ram Vilas Paswan: Consumer Affairs, Food and Public
Distribution
Ravi Shankar Prasad: Communications and Information
Technology
Smriti Zubin Irani: Human Resource Development (HRD)
minister
Harsh Vardhan: Science and Technology, Earth Sciences

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Looks like the most majestic cat in the world is in
trouble. The U.S Fish and Wildlife Service
(USFWS) has asked for African Lions to be listed
as “threatened”, under the Endangered Species
Act. They fee, that doing so could save the Lion
from becoming an endangered species.
In 1980, there were 75,800 African Lions
predicted to be alive. Today, they say, the number
has dropped by 30%. About 70% of all Lions today
inhabit just 10 areas in Eastern and Southern
Africa.
Unless the situation improves, the Lions face the
risk of Extinction. The USFWS also feels that this
listing will discourage humans from inhabiting their
habitats, and hunting Lions to use as trophies.
Listing the Animal as a threatened species would
also bring to the notice of people,that the species
is in danger. People see animals in National Parks,
and have a misconception that they are still huge in
number. This misconception needs to be broken.