In India, Modi Expands His Council of Ministers NEW DELHI - Prime Minister Narendra Modi expanded his council of ministers on Sunday in a long-expected move to reward his political allies and spread out some of the work needed to fulfill his agenda. While no details were offered about the duties of the 26 new ministers, the government announced that four had been given cabinet rank. It is widely expected that Manohar Parrikar, a former chief minister from the small state of Goa, will be made the defense minister. Arun Jaitley is now both the finance and defense minister, a situation that he has said is only temporary. All of the new ministers took the oath of office on Sunday, but most did not give any comments to reporters. The Confederation of Indian Industry, a business group, said it welcomed the leadership expansion. "The induction of new ministers and ministers of state would streamline governance and bring in new ideas for the economic reforms process," said Ajay Shriram, the organization's president. But Gurcharan Das, an Indian author and commentator, said the expansion would do little to change the policies or governing style of the government because Mr. Modi had centralized policy-making in his own office and had empowered the top bureaucrats in each ministry to execute those policies. "Modi's ministers are less powerful than those in the past," Mr. Das said. This is a different model of governing than we've ever had in India. Among the ministerial newcomers are Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, an Olympic silver medalist and first-time member of Parliament from Rajasthan; and Babul Supriyo, a singer who records songs for Indian films and is a new lawmaker from West Bengal.