PHOTOS: The 7 women in team Modi

The new Narendra Modi Cabinet has seven women ministers in its fold.

Rediff.com takes a look at the women ministers

We start off with surprise entrant, second-time Shiromani Akali Dal MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal.

Harsimrat is daughter-in-law of Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal and wife of deputy chief minister Sukhbir Badal.

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At the age of 38, Bharatiya Janata Party vice-president Smriti Irani will be one of the younger Cabinet ministers in the Modi government.

Irani had unsuccessfully contested against Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi from Amethi in the just concluded Lok Sabha elections. But she managed to give the Gandhi scion a scare by reducing his victory margin to just over one lakh votes.

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The articulate and gracious Nirmala Sitharaman has been named Minister of State in Narendra Modi administration.

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BJP vice-president Dr Najma Heptulla is the grand-niece of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, a prominent Indian freedom fighter and a strong proponent of united India.

She contested the 13th Vice-Presidential Elections held in August 2007 but lost to Hamid Ansari by 233 votes.

Heptullah was earlier with the Congress party, headed several divisions of the party's grassroots organizations. She joined BJP in 2004.

Media sources reported that she left the Congress apparently due to strained relations with Congress president Sonia Gandhi. 

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A former Union minister and animal rights activist, Maneka Gandhi joined the BJP in 2004 and won from Pilibhit.

In 1988, Maneka merged her Rashtriya Sanjay Manch with the main opposition party, the Janata Dal, and became its general secretary. The party won the general elections and at 33, Maneka Gandhi became India's youngest minister.

As minister of environment and forests in two successive governments, Maneka introduced a number of historic legislations, including the Coastal Zone Regulation Act and The Public Liability Act for Hazardous Chemicals.

She was the minister for environment and forests from 1989-91, and the minister for social justice and empowerment from 1998-99. In 1999, Maneka lent support to the BJP led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The party was elected to power and Maneka became minister for social justice and empowerment.

In 2009, Maneka fought and won from neighbouring Aonla while her son, Varun Gandhi fought and won from Pilibhit. In 2014, Maneka fought and won the LS polls from Pilibhit. She is a Lok Sabha member for seven terms.

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Sushma Swaraj, who has been known as a powerful orator and a popular face of the Bharatiya Janata Party, is set to play a key role in the Modi government.

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Uma Bharti, the firebrand BJP vice-president, was one of the most vocal proponents of the Ram Janmabhoomi movement Ram Janmabhoomi movement.

Today, she is set to take up the water resources ministry in the Narendra Modi cabinet