# Women just 9.9% of ministers across Indian states, UTs 2026-08-18T06:41:04+00:00 | Governance | Indian Opinion Desk Corroboration: 1 independent outlet Women account for only 9.9 per cent of ministers in 31 state and Union Territory councils, with just 60 women among 608 ministers, according to a Business Standard analysis. Karnataka's cabinet expansion last fortnight had zero women, highlighting the gap between the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam's promise of 33 per cent reservation and actual representation. Only 14 states have more than 10 per cent women ministers. Manipur leads with 20 per cent, followed by Jharkhand (18.2 per cent) and West Bengal (17.1 per cent). Six states and UTs, including Karnataka, Goa, and Himachal Pradesh, have no women ministers. Women are mostly assigned portfolios like women and child development, social welfare, health, and tourism, with few exceptions such as Andhra Pradesh's home minister. Ujjaini Halim, West Bengal state coordinator of the Association for Democratic Reforms, told rediff.com that parties treat women voters as a vote bank and lack political will to field more women candidates. She said women's empowerment often remains lip service. The question is whether parties will give women meaningful roles after reservation takes effect. ## Coverage - rediff.com This story was synthesised by AI from the source linked above. Tags: Association for Democratic Reforms, Business Standard, D K Shivakumar, Karnataka, Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, Ujjaini Halim Canonical: https://indianopinion.org/women-just-9-9-of-ministers-across-indian-states-uts/ License: Summary and commentary (c) Indian Opinion, reusable with attribution. Facts belong to the linked sources. Cite: https://indianopinion.org/women-just-9-9-of-ministers-across-indian-states-uts/#story-in-brief Review state: restored archive article, accurate at time of publication, not offered to search indexes. How this brief was made: an AI model read the report linked above and wrote this summary and analysis, which were published automatically. Published briefs are sampled every hour by an automated quality check; the editor verifies its findings and approves corrections, and corrected briefs carry a dated correction line. We do no original reporting. Methodology: https://indianopinion.org/ai-use-policy/