Majority of ministers sworn in are old hands

Some young faces likely to find place during Cabinet expansion

 Prime Manmohan Singh might have promised a government with an equal balance of experience and youth, but majority of his Cabinet colleagues, who were sworn in on Friday, are above 60.

The youngest member turned out to be Mamata Banerjee (54) followed by Anand Sharma (56).

Led by 77-year-old Prime Minister, the Cabinet has as many as five septuagenarian ministers — S M Krishna (76), B K Handique (75), Pranab Mukherjee (73), Murli Deora (72) and Vyalar Ravi (72).

However, maximum members belonged to the age group 60-69, with Sharad Pawar and A K Antony, both 69, being the seniormost in the group.

They are closely followed by Sushil Kumar Shinde (68) and Jaipal Reddy and Veerappa Moily, both 67.

Next comes Ambika Soni (66), Meira Kumar and Chidambaram at 64, Kapil Sibal (61) and Ghulam Nabi Azad (60)

However, this will be followed in the next few days by an expansion of the Council of Ministers, including other Cabinet Ministers, Ministers of State with independent charge as well other Ministers of State, when some young faces are likely to be inducted in the government.

Three women ministers

Meanwhile, Mamata Banerjee, Ambika Soni and Meira Kumar are the three lone women ministers who took oath on Friday.

While Soni and Meira Kumar were also ministers in the previous Congress-led UPA government, Trinamool Congress chief Banerjee has been a central minister though in the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government. There were 10 women in the previous government headed by Manmohan Singh.

While Meira Kumar was minister of social justice and empowerment, Soni headed the culture and tourism ministry.

The other women ministers in the previous government were Renuka Chowdhury, Minister of State for women and child development, and Kumari Selja, Minister of State for housing and urban poverty alleviation. They held independent charge.

Apart from them, there were six women ministers of state in the previous cabinet: Panabaka Lakshmi (health and family welfare), Kanti Singh (culture and tourism), V Radhika Selvi (home affairs), Suryakanta Patil (rural development and parliamentary affairs), Subbulakshmi Jegidessan (social justice and empowerment) and D Purandareswari (human resource development).
DH News Service & agencies