Newly appointed Union home minister Amit Shah took charge on Saturday afternoon. Two days earlier, he had taken his oath of office, at the Capital’s North Block.
He was welcomed at the ministry of home affairs by Intelligence Bureau director Rajiv Jain and Union Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba.
Shah is the current president of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He took over the Union home minister after former home minister in the previous term, Rajnath Singh, took over as the Union Defence minister on Friday.
Shah has taken over the ministry while it has been struggling with issues of rising militancy in the Kashmir valley, especially in the light of the Pulwama attack that reportedly killed 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) soldiers.
Minister of State for Home Affairs, G. Kishen Reddy also took over on Saturday.
In addition, with the Kashmir Valley issue, the Union home ministry is also dealing with the mammoth exercise of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam, while it also awaits the contentious Citizenship Amendment Bill and its passage in the Rajya Sabha.
The NRC exercise, however, is a Supreme Court mandated exercise.
Shah’s ministry will also focus more closely on challenges posed in J&K as well as on Naxalism in the state of Chhattisgarh.