In the latest Cabinet reshuffle, Piyush Goyal assumed charge as the new Railways Minister, while his power portfolio has a new incumbent in Ravi Kumar Singh. Goyal’s appointment as the railways minister is aimed at turning around the railways sector, whose image has taken a battering following the spate of serious accidents in recent history. There is all-round hope that Goyal will effect a significant transformation in the railways sector, based on his track record in the power sector.

Piyush Goyal assumed charged as the power minister with additional charge of coal and renewable energy, in May 2014. It must be admitted that in Goyal’s tenure, the power sector changed much, and very positively at that. What is most noticeable in Goyal’s approach was that his ministry looked not at just the power sector, but its adjacencies. The key areas in which he strived were ensuring coal supplies to starved thermal power plants, providing impetus to solar energy, and addressing demand-side management (DSM) issues by championing the cause of LED-based energy efficient lighting.