Three women in Manmohan Singh's cabinet

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's 19-member cabinet includes three women - Mamata Banerjee, Ambika Soni and Meira Kumar - who took oath of office in New Delhi on Friday.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's 19-member cabinet includes three women - Mamata Banerjee, Ambika Soni and Meira Kumar - who took oath of office in New Delhi on Friday.

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While Soni and Meira Kumar were also ministers in the previous Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, Trinamool Congress chief Banerjee has been a central minister though in the Bharatiya Janata Party (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 minister, 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).