Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday effected the first major reshuffle of his 20-month council of ministers.
He brought in a new petroleum minister and appointed for the first time a minority affairs minister while retaining charge of the foreign ministry himself.
In the much-awaited reshuffle, Manmohan Singh did not make changes in the major ministries of defence, home and finance but took away petroleum from Mani Shankar Aiyar and gave it to first-time minister Murli Deora, a Congress veteran from Mumbai.
He appointed AR Antulay, another party veteran from Maharashtra, as the government's first ever minority affairs minister while Vayalar Ravi, another old-timer from Kerala, has been named overseas Indian affairs minister.
Other new Cabinet ministers are Ambika Soni (tourism and culture), Sushil Kumar Shinde (power), Saifuddin Soz (water resources) and Shibu Soren (coal).
They were administered the oath of office by President APJ Abdul Kalam at a ceremony held at Rashtrapati Bhavan that was attended by the prime minister, other senior ministers and Congress party chief Sonia Gandhi.
Cabinet rank for Sibal, Deb and Gupta
Central ministers Santosh Mohan Deb, Kapil Sibal and Prem Chand Gupta were given the status of Cabinet ministers.
Deb, a Congress veteran from Assam, earlier was minister of state in charge of heavy industries while Sibal was minister of state with independent charge of science and technology. Both are senior Congress leaders and there was no change in their portfolios.
Gupta, a senior Rashtriya Janata Party (RJD) leader and a confidant of Railway Minister Lalu Prasad, too was a minister of state with independent charge of company affairs. There was no change in his portfolio.
Maken, Anand, Subbirami inducted
Gupta, a senior Rashtriya Janata Party (RJD) leader and a confidant of Railway Minister Lalu Prasad, too was a minister of state with independent charge of company affairs. There was no change in his portfolio.
Maken, Anand, Subbirami inducted
Upcoming Congress leaders Ajay Maken, T Subbirami Reddy and Anand Sharma were among the new faces inducted in the council of ministers.
Maken was earlier transport minister in the Delhi government and was ostensibly inducted into the central ministry to give representation to Delhi following the resignation of Jagdish Tytler who was linked to the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.
Subbirami Reddy from Andhra Pradesh is a Rajya Sabha member. He is a noted film producer.