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More than 42% the Union Cabinet collectively spent 393 days on foreign visits in the first 9 months of the NDA government, according to data compiled by Factly.in, a data-journalism portal.

Twenty-seven of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cabinet colleagues went on at least one foreign visit between May 2014 and March 2015, Factly.in reported.

One of the major talking points in the first year of the NDA Government has been the extensive foreign travel by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

What has not been quite so strongly discussed is the foreign trips by his Cabinet colleagues.

A total of 60 countries were visited by at least one member of the Union Cabinet. Together, they spent 393 days abroad.

Apart from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, six of his cabinet colleagues visited at least five countries. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Minister of State (MoS) for External Affairs Gen. (Dr) V K Singh (Retd), MoS for Petroleum & Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan, Minister for Road Transport & Highways Nitin Gadkari, Mos for Environment Prakash Javdekar & MoS for Commerce & Industry Nirmala Sitharaman visited at least five countries.

Many of the ministers travelled abroad for bilateral & multilateral summits. They also travelled abroad for BRICS Summit, G-20 related meetings, attending World Economic Forum, SAARC meetings, World Congress & Asia meetings on various issues. Seven ministers travelled abroad on private visits.

Details of who went where:

S NoName of the MinisterPortfolioNumber of Countries VisitedNumber of DaysPurpose
1Narendra ModiPrime Minister1854Bilateral, Multilateral Summits
2Sushma SwarajExternal Affairs1852Bilateral, Multilateral Summits
3Gen. (Dr) V K Singh (Retd)External Affairs (MoS)1125Bilateral Talks & Other Events
4Dharmendra PradhanPetroleum and Natural Gas(MoS)514World Petroleum Congress,TAPI Gas Pipeline,World Petroleum Congress
5Nitin GadkariRoad Transport and Highways512Nepal Summit, Bilateral Meetings, Private Visit (Sweden)
6Prakash JavadekarEnvironment, Climate Change, Information & Broadcasting and Parliamentary Affairs (MoS)526United Nations meeting, Major Economic Forum, Climate Change Summit,UN Conference on Climate Change
7Nirmala SitharamanCommerce & Industry (MoS)523BRICS Summit, G-20, Bilateral meetings, Accompanied Vice President of India
8Harsha VardhanHealth and Family Welfare (Earlier)417Global Meets of Health Ministers & World Conferences
9M. Venkaiah NaiduParliamentary Affairs, Urban Development & Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation418Leader of Parliamentary Delegation, Asia Pacific Ministerial Conference, Smartcity Expo World Congress
10Santosh Kumar GangwarTextiles, Parliamentary Affairs, Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation414Goodwill delegation of Parliamentarians
11Suresh PrabhuRailways411Private Visit (Moscow), G-20 Meetings, 13th Annual Flagship Conference India Unlimited
12Rajnath SinghHome Minister38SAARC & Bilateral meetings
13Ravi Shankar PrasadCommunications and Information Technology and Law & Justice39Asia-Pacific Telecommunity (APT) ICT Ministerial meeting,International Telecommunication Union (ITU) meeting
14Harsimrat Kaur BadalFood Processing Industries318Private Visit (Italy & UAE), SIAL Fair 2014
15Arun JaitleyFinance216Annual BRICS Meeting, G-20, World Economic Forum, Private Visit (USA)
16Kalraj MishraMicro, Small and Medium Enterprises27Interactive Business Sessions, Inauguration of Vocational Training with GOI Support
17Narendra Singh TomarMines, Steel, Labour & Employment28G-20 meeting & ?MINING INDABA 2015?
18P RadhakrishnanHeavy Industries and Public Enterprises(MoS)26Accompanied the President of India
19Anant GeeteHeavy Industries & Public Enterprises12Annual Indian Investment Forum
20Birender SinghRural Development19AARDO Conference
21Inderjit SinghPlanning,Statistics and Programme Implementation and Defense (MoS)16Private Visit (Spain)
22Jayant SinhaFinance (MoS)15G-20 meeting
23Kiren RijijuHome Affairs (MoS)16Asian Ministerial Conference on various issues
24Manoj Kumar SinhaRailways (MoS)110Private Visit (USA)
25Piyush GoyalPower, Coal and NRE (MoS)13World Economic Forum
26Gowdara Mallikarjunappa SiddeswaraCivil Aviation(MoS)16Private Visit (USA)
27Sripad Yesso NaikAYUSH and Health and Family Welfare (MoS)14Ministerial segment of 83rd General Assembly of IMTERPOL
28Maneka Sanjay GandhiWomen & Child Development14Asian and Pacific Conference on ?Gender Equality and Women?s Empowerment

Source: Lok Sabha

(Dubbudu has been working on issues related to the Right to Information for a decade. He is a data/information enthusiast & is passionate about governance/policy issues. Factly.in is dedicated to making public data meaningful.)

Image: PIB

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