Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs explained

Post:	Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs
Native Name:	Hindi: आवासन एवं शहरी कार्य मंत्री
Insignia:	Emblem of India.svg
Insigniasize:	75
Insigniacaption:	Emblem of India
Incumbent:	Manohar Lal Khattar
Department:	Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs
Member Of:	Cabinet of India
Reports To:	President of India Prime Minister of India Parliament of India
Appointer:	President of India
Appointer Qualified:	on the recommendation of the Prime Minister of India
Formation:
Deputy:	Tokhan Sahu

The Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs (Hindi: आवासन और शहरी कार्य मंत्री) is the head of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs of the Government of India since the ministry's formation on 6 July 2017 and is a member of the union council of ministers. The minister is responsible for the execution, formulation and administration of the rules and regulations and laws relating to the housing and urban development in India.

The ministry is currently headed by Manohar Lal Khattar who has been the minister since 10 June 2024. Khattar is the Member of Parliament for Karnal and was formerly the 10th Chief Minister of Haryana, from 2014 to 2024. Khattar also jointly holds the post of Minister of Power. The cabinet minister is often assisted by a minister of state and formerly by a deputy minister.

History of office

The ministry came into existence on 15 August 1947 soon after the independence as the "Ministry of Works, Mines and Power". Narhar Vishnu Gadgil was appointed as the first Minister of Works, Mines and Power thereupon. On 26 December 1950, the ministry was reorganized and recognized as the Minister of Works, Production and Supply. In 1952, the ministry was renamed as the "Ministry of Works, Housing and Supply" after the Department of Production was separated and the Ministry of Production was formed. Swaran Singh was appointed as the inaugural Minister of Works, Housing and Supply and served from 1952 until 1957. In 1962, the Department of Supply was separated from the ministry and the Ministry of Rehabilitation was merged with the Ministry of Works and Supply to form the "Ministry of Works, Housing and Rehabilitation".

In 1964, the ministry was renamed as "Ministry of Works and Housing" after the Department of Rehabilitation was separated from it and further renamed in 1966 as "Ministry of Works, Housing and Urban Development" and in 1971 as "Ministry of Works and Housing". In 1977, the ministry was merged with Ministry of Supply and Rehabilitation to form the "Ministry of Works, Housing, Supply and Rehabilitation". In 1980, the ministry was renamed back as "Ministry of Works and Housing".

In 1985, with rapidly growing urban issues and to give more importance to those issues, the ministry was renamed as the "Ministry of Urban Development" and further renamed in 1995 as the "Ministry of Urban Affairs and Employment" with two constituent departments, namely, the Department of Urban Employment and Poverty Alleviation and the Department of Urban Employment.

The two departments were merged together in 1999 as the "Ministry of Urban Development" and bifurcated only months later into the "Ministry of Urban Development" and the "Urban Employment and Poverty Alleviation". The two independent ministries were re-united on 27 May 2000 as the "Ministry of Urban Development and Poverty Alleviation" with Jagmohan serving as the first office-holder.

Upon the formation of the First Manmohan Singh ministry on 22 May 2004, the ministry was again bifurcated. Two separate ministries were formed, one concerned with urban development and was named as "Ministry of Urban Development" and Ghulam Nabi Azad was appointed as the Minister of Urban Development, while the other ministry was concerned with urban employment and poverty issues and was named as "Ministry of Urban Employment and Poverty Alleviation" and Kumari Selja was appointed as the minister. The Ministry of Urban Employment and Poverty Alleviation was renamed as the "Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation" in 2006 and existed until 2017.

On 6 July 2017, the two independent ministries were re-united as the "Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs"^{[1] [2]} and has since existed in this form. Venkaiah Naidu who served as the Minister in both the ministries prior to their merger was appointed as the first minister thereupon. He resigned the following month after being nominated as a candidate for the 2017 vice presidential election and was elected as the Vice President in August 2017. Upon his resignation, Rural Development minister Narendra Singh Tomar briefly officiated in the ministry until the appointment of Hardeep Singh Puri in September 2017. Puri has since then served as the Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs and is the longest serving minister in the ministry.

Titles of office

The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has undergone several minor and major organizational and nominal changes since its establishment as the "Ministry of Works, Housing and Supply" in 1952.

• 19471950: Minister of Works, Mines and Power
• 19501952: Minister of Works, Production and Supply
• 19521962: Minister of Works, Housing and Supply
• 19621964: Minister of Works, Housing and Rehabilitation
• 19641966: Minister of Works and Housing
• 19661971: Minister of Works, Housing and Urban Development
• 19711977: Minister of Works and Housing
• 19771980: Minister of Works, Housing, Supply and Rehabilitation
• 19801985: Minister of Works and Housing
• 19851995: Minister of Urban Development
• 19951999: Minister of Urban Affairs and Employment
• 19992000: Minister of Urban Development
• 20002004: Minister of Urban Development and Poverty Alleviation
• 20042017: Minister of Urban Development
• 2017present: Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs

Cabinet Ministers

• Key: Died in office

	Portrait		Minister	Term of office			Political party	Ministry	Prime Minister
				From	To	Period
Minister of Works, Mines and Power
1			Narhar Vishnu Gadgil	15 August 1947	26 December 1950		Indian National Congress	Nehru I	Jawaharlal Nehru
Minister of Works, Production and Supply
(1)			Narhar Vishnu Gadgil	26 December 1950	13 May 1952		Indian National Congress	Nehru I	Jawaharlal Nehru
Minister of Works, Housing and Supply
2			Swaran Singh	13 May 1952	17 April 1957		Indian National Congress	Nehru II	Jawaharlal Nehru
3			K. Chengalaraya Reddy	17 April 1957	5 April 1961			Nehru III
4			Bezawada Gopala Reddy (MoS)	5 April 1961	10 April 1962
5			Mehr Chand Khanna (MoS)	10 April 1962	15 November 1962			Nehru IV
Minister of Works, Housing and Rehabilitation
(5)			Mehr Chand Khanna (MoS)	15 November 1962	16 April 1964		Indian National Congress	Nehru IV	Jawaharlal Nehru
Minister of Works and Housing
(5)			Mehr Chand Khanna (MoS)	16 April 1964	27 May 1964		Indian National Congress	Nehru IV	Jawaharlal Nehru
				27 May 1964	9 June 1964			Nanda I	Gulzarilal Nanda (Acting)
				9 June 1964	11 January 1966			Shastri	Lal Bahadur Shastri
				11 January 1966	24 January 1966			Nanda II	Gulzarilal Nanda (Acting)
Minister of Works, Housing and Urban Development
(5)			Mehr Chand Khanna (MoS)	24 January 1966	13 March 1967		Indian National Congress	Indira I	Indira Gandhi
6			Jagannath Rao (MoS)	13 March 1967	14 November 1967			Indira II
7			Satya Narayan Sinha	14 November 1967	14 February 1969
8			Kodardas Kalidas Shah	14 February 1969	18 March 1971		Indian National Congress (R)
Minister of Works and Housing
9			Inder Kumar Gujral (MoS)	18 March 1971	2 May 1971		Indian National Congress (R)	Indira III	Indira Gandhi
10			Uma Shankar Dikshit	2 May 1971	5 February 1973
11			Bhola Paswan Shastri	5 February 1973	10 October 1974
12			Kotha Raghuramaiah	10 October 1974	23 December 1976
13			Hitendra Kanaiyalal Desai	23 December 1976	24 March 1977
Minister of Works, Housing, Supply and Rehabilitation
14			Sikander Bakht	24 March 1977	28 July 1979		Janata Party	Desai	Morarji Desai
15			Ram Kinkar	28 July 1979	14 January 1980		Janata Party (Secular)	Charan	Charan Singh
Minister of Works and Housing
16			Prakash Chandra Sethi	14 January 1980	19 October 1980		Indian National Congress (I)	Indira IV	Indira Gandhi
17			Bhishma Narain Singh	19 October 1980	29 January 1983
18			Buta Singh	29 January 1983	31 October 1984
				4 November 1984	31 December 1984			Rajiv I	Rajiv Gandhi
19			Abdul Ghafoor	31 December 1984	25 September 1985			Rajiv II
Minister of Urban Development
(19)			Abdul Ghafoor	25 September 1985	22 October 1986		Indian National Congress	Rajiv II	Rajiv Gandhi
20			Mohsina Kidwai	22 October 1986	2 December 1989
21			Murasoli Maran	2 December 1989	10 November 1990		Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	Vishwanath	V. P. Singh
22			Daulat Ram Saran	21 November 1990	21 June 1991		Samajwadi Janata Party (Rashtriya)	Chandra Shekhar	Chandra Shekhar
23			Sheila Kaul	21 June 1991	3 May 1995		Indian National Congress (I)	Rao	P. V. Narasimha Rao
Minister of Urban Affairs and Employment
(23)			Sheila Kaul	3 May 1995	10 September 1995		Indian National Congress (I)	Rao	P. V. Narasimha Rao
			P. V. Narasimha Rao (Prime Minister)	10 September 1995	15 September 1995
24			R. K. Dhawan (MoS, I/C)	15 September 1995	21 February 1996
			P. V. Narasimha Rao (Prime Minister)	21 February 1996	16 May 1996
(14)			Sikander Bakht	16 May 1996	1 June 1996		Bharatiya Janata Party	Vajpayee I	Atal Bihari Vajpayee
25			M. Arunachalam	1 June 1996	29 June 1996		Tamil Maanila Congress (Moopanar)	Deve Gowda	H. D. Deve Gowda
			H. D. Deve Gowda (Prime Minister)	29 June 1996	21 April 1997		Janata Dal
			Inder Kumar Gujral (Prime Minister)	21 April 1997	9 June 1997			Gujral	Inder Kumar Gujral
26			M. P. Veerendra Kumar (MoS, I/C)	9 June 1997	2 July 1997
27			Ummareddy Venkateswarlu (MoS, I/C)	2 July 1997	14 November 1997		Telugu Desam Party
28			T. G. Venkatraman	14 November 1997	12 December 1997		Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
(27)			Ummareddy Venkateswarlu (MoS, I/C)	12 December 1997	19 March 1998		Telugu Desam Party
29			Ram Jethmalani	19 March 1998	8 June 1999		Independent	Vajpayee II	Atal Bihari Vajpayee
Minister of Urban Development
30			Jagmohan	8 June 1999	13 October 1999		Bharatiya Janata Party	Vajpayee II	Atal Bihari Vajpayee
				13 October 1999	22 November 1999			Vajpayee III
Minister of Urban Development and Poverty Alleviation
(30)			Jagmohan	22 November 1999	26 November 1999		Bharatiya Janata Party	Vajpayee III	Atal Bihari Vajpayee
Minister of Urban Development
(30)			Jagmohan	26 November 1999	27 May 2000		Bharatiya Janata Party	Vajpayee III	Atal Bihari Vajpayee
Minister of Urban Development and Poverty Alleviation
(30)			Jagmohan	27 May 2000	1 September 2001		Bharatiya Janata Party	Vajpayee III	Atal Bihari Vajpayee
31			Ananth Kumar	1 September 2001	12 July 2003
32			B. C. Khanduri	12 July 2003	8 September 2003
33			Bandaru Dattatreya (MoS, I/C)	8 September 2003	22 May 2004
Minister of Urban Development
34			Ghulam Nabi Azad	23 May 2004	1 November 2005^[3]		Indian National Congress	Manmohan I	Manmohan Singh
			Manmohan Singh (Prime Minister)	1 November 2005	18 November 2005
35			S. Jaipal Reddy	18 November 2005	22 May 2009
				28 May 2009	19 January 2011			Manmohan II
36			Kamal Nath	19 January 2011^[4]	26 May 2014
37			M. Venkaiah Naidu	26 May 2014	6 July 2017		Bharatiya Janata Party	Modi I	Narendra Modi
Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs
(37)			M. Venkaiah Naidu	6 July 2017	17 July 2017^[5]	'	Bharatiya Janata Party	Modi I	Narendra Modi
38			Narendra Singh Tomar	18 July 2017^[6]	3 September 2017
39			Hardeep Singh Puri (MoS, I/C until 7 July 2021)	3 September 2017	30 May 2019
				31 May 2019^[7]	5 June 2024			Modi II
40			Manohar Lal Khattar	9 June 2024	Incumbent			Modi III

Ministers of State

	Portrait		Minister	Term of office			Political party	Ministry	Prime Minister
				From	To	Period
Minister of State for Works, Housing and Urban Development
1			Jagannath Rao	13 March 1967	14 February 1969		Indian National Congress	Indira II	Indira Gandhi
2			Sripati Chandrasekhar	14 November 1967	26 June 1970
3			Bayya Suryanarayana Murthy	18 February 1969	13 March 1971		Indian National Congress (R)
4			Parimal Ghosh	26 June 1970	18 March 1971
5			Inder Kumar Gujral	18 March 1971	2 May 1971			Indira III
Minister of State for Works and Housing
(5)			Inder Kumar Gujral	2 May 1971	22 July 1972		Indian National Congress (R)	Indira III	Indira Gandhi
6			D. P. Chattopadhyaya	2 August 1972	5 February 1973
7			Om Mehta	5 February 1973	10 October 1974
8			Mohan Dharia	10 October 1974	2 March 1975
9			H. K. L. Bhagat	1 December 1975	24 March 1977
Minister of State for Works, Housing, Supply and Rehabilitation
10			Ram Kinkar	14 August 1977	11 July 1978		Janata Party	Desai	Morarji Desai
				26 January 1979	15 July 1979
Minister of State for Works and Housing
(9)			H. K. L. Bhagat	2 September 1982	14 February 1983		Indian National Congress (I)	Indira IV	Indira Gandhi
Minister of State for Urban Development
11			Dalbir Singh	25 September 1985	2 December 1989		Indian National Congress (I)	Rajiv II	Rajiv Gandhi
12			M. Arunachalam	21 June 1991	18 January 1993			Rao	P. V. Narasimha Rao
13			Prem Khandu Thungan	18 January 1993	13 September 1995
Minister of State for Urban Affairs and Employment
14			S. S. Ahluwalia (Urban Employment and Poverty Alleviation)	15 September 1995	8 March 1996		Indian National Congress (I)	Rao	P. V. Narasimha Rao
(14)			S. S. Ahluwalia	8 March 1996	16 May 1996
15			Ummareddy Venkateswarlu	29 June 1996	21 April 1997		Telugu Desam Party	Deve Gowda	H. D. Deve Gowda
				21 April 1997	9 June 1997			Gujral	Inder Kumar Gujral
16			M. P. Veerendra Kumar	26 May 1997	2 July 1997		Inder Kumar Gujral
17			Bandaru Dattatreya	20 March 1998	13 October 1999		Bharatiya Janata Party	Vajpayee II	Atal Bihari Vajpayee
Minister of State for Urban Development
(17)			Bandaru Dattatreya	13 October 1999	27 May 2000		Bharatiya Janata Party	Vajpayee III	Atal Bihari Vajpayee
Minister of State for Urban Development and Poverty Alleviation
(17)			Bandaru Dattatreya	27 May 2000	1 July 2002		Bharatiya Janata Party	Vajpayee III	Atal Bihari Vajpayee
18			O. Rajagopal	1 July 2002	29 January 2003
19			Pon Radhakrishnan	29 January 2003	8 September 2003
Minister of State for Urban Development
20			Ajay Maken	29 January 2006	22 May 2009		Indian National Congress	Manmohan I	Manmohan Singh
21			Saugata Roy	29 May 2009	22 September 2012		All India Trinamool Congress	Manmohan II
22			Deepa Dasmunsi	28 October 2012	26 May 2014		Indian National Congress
23			Babul Supriyo	9 November 2014	12 July 2016		Bharatiya Janata Party	Modi I	Narendra Modi
24			Rao Inderjit Singh	5 July 2016	6 July 2017
Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs
25			Rao Inderjit Singh	6 July 2017	3 September 2017		Bharatiya Janata Party	Modi I	Narendra Modi
26			Kaushal Kishore	7 July 2021	11 June 2024			Modi II
26			Tokhan Sahu	11 June 2024	Incumbent			Modi III

Deputy Ministers

	Portrait		Minister	Term of office			Political party	Ministry	Prime Minister
				From	To	Period
Deputy Minister of Works, Mines and Power
1			Surendranath Buragohain	14 August 1950	26 December 1950		Indian National Congress	Nehru I	Jawaharlal Nehru
Deputy Minister of Works, Production and Supply
(1)			Surendranath Buragohain	26 December 1950	13 May 1952		Indian National Congress	Nehru I	Jawaharlal Nehru
Deputy Minister of Works, Housing and Supply
(1)			Surendranath Buragohain	13 May 1952	4 October 1953		Indian National Congress	Nehru II	Jawaharlal Nehru
2			Anil Kumar Chanda	1 May 1957	10 April 1962			Nehru III
3			Purnendu Sekhar Naskar	16 April 1962	5 December 1962			Nehru IV
4			Jagannath Rao	8 May 1962	26 November 1962
Deputy Minister of Works, Housing and Rehabilitation
(3)			Purnendu Sekhar Naskar	5 December 1962	16 April 1964		Indian National Congress	Nehru IV	Jawaharlal Nehru
Deputy Minister of Works, Housing and Urban Development
5			B. C. Bhagawati	24 January 1966	13 March 1967		Indian National Congress	Indira I	Indira Gandhi
6			Iqbal Singh	18 March 1967	14 February 1969			Indira II
7			Bayya Suryanarayana Murthy	14 November 1967	18 February 1969
Deputy Minister of Works and Housing
8			Chaudhary Dalbir Singh	10 October 1974	1 December 1975		Indian National Congress (R)	Indira III	Indira Gandhi
9			Mohammed Usman Arif	8 June 1980	15 January 1982		Indian National Congress (I)	Indira IV
10			Brajamohan Mohanty	15 January 1982	29 January 1983
11			Mallikarjun Goud	15 January 1982	31 October 1984
(9)			Mohammed Usman Arif	14 February 1983	31 October 1984
(11)			Mallikarjun Goud	4 November 1984	31 December 1984			Rajiv I	Rajiv Gandhi
(9)			Mohammed Usman Arif	4 November 1984	31 December 1984

External links

• Ministry website

Notes and References

1. Web site: MoHUA is the new name for urban development & housing ministry. 8 July 2017. Times of India.
2. Web site: Ministries Of Urban Development, Housing And Urban Poverty Alleviation Merged. 8 July 2017. NDTV.
3. Web site: Ghulam Nabi Azad's resignation accepted. 1 November 2005. Rediff.com.
4. Web site: Cabinet reshuffle: Jaipal gets Petroleum; Kamal Nath moved to Urban Development. 19 January 2011. NDTV.
5. Web site: NDA's vice president nominee Venkaiah Naidu resigns as Union minister. 18 July 2017. 27 August 2023. India Today.
6. Web site: Smriti Irani, Tomar get addl charge of Venkaiah Naidu’s portfolios. 19 July 2017. Indian Express.
7. Web site: Hardeep Singh Puri re-appointed as housing and urban development minister. 31 May 2019. 27 August 2023. The Economic Times.