New Delhi, May 28, SPA --Indian President Pratibha Patil todayadministered the oaths of office to 59 new ministers, completing theformation of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, according to dpa. The ceremony was held at the Presidential Palace in New Delhiafter the alliance, led by the Indian National Congress party,recorded a resounding victory in month-long national elections. Nineteen cabinet ministers were sworn in with Prime MinisterManmohan Singh last week. Thursday's additions, consisting of 14cabinet ministers and 45 junior ministers, brought the council ofministers to 79. Singh's cabinet is described as a blend of young and oldrepresenting various castes, religions and regions of the country. The swearing-in followed days of intense negotiations overincluding leaders of key UPA constituents. Singh, the second Indian leader after Jawaharlal Nehru to be swornin as prime minister for a second term after completing a full firstterm in office, and Congress party chief Sonia Gandhi were present atthe ceremony. "It is an energetic cabinet - a mixture of experience and youthfulenergy," Singh told reporters after the ceremony. Gandhi confessed that forming the cabinet was a difficult task."It took a lot of managing," she said. The cabinet includes 19 ministers from UPA allies: seven each fromthe Dravida Munnetra Kazagham and Trinamool Congress party, threefrom the Nationalist Congress Party and one each from the MuslimLeague and National Conference. As portfolios were distributed by the government later Thursday,Anand Sharma, was named the country's trade minister, a crucial postas India pushes the agenda of the developing world at the Doha roundof global trade talks. Formerly a junior foreign affairs minister, Sharma is anarticulate leader, who defended India's controversial nuclear pactwith the United States last year. A government statement said Murli Deora was reappointed petroleumminister and Kamal Nath, trade minister in the first UPA term, willminister for road transport and highways. A Raja and Praful Patelwill continue in their positions as telecom and aviation ministerrespectively. The new cabinet ministers also include three former chiefministers - Vilasrao Deshmukh, Farooq Abdullah and Virbhadra Singh -and 29 newcomers. Prominent among the new faces was Shashi Tharoor, a former UnitedNations diplomat, who was named junior foreign minister. Tharoor wasIndia's candidate for the post of secretary general in 2006. Agatha Sangma, 28, a lawmaker from the northeastern state ofMeghalaya, is the youngest of Singh's ministers. Other young ministers included Congress' Jyotiraditya Scindia, 38;Sachin Pilot, 31; and Jitin Prasada, 36. The number of young ministers brought down the average age of theUPA cabinet to 62 from 66 in the last government. Rahul Gandhi, the rising star of the Gandhi-Nehru dynasty, was notnamed to a ministry, contrary to rumours that the 38-year-old, who isconsidered the architect of the party's election win, could be givena cabinet position. Singh had on Saturday allotted the key ministries in his cabinetto senior Congress leaders, including Pranab Mukherjee as thecountry's finance minister and SM Krishna as foreign minister. AK Antony has been retained as the defence minister and PChidambaram as home minister. Singh's UPA swept to power in five-phase general elections held inApril and May, securing enough seats to form a stable government withjust a handful of allies. The performance of the Congress party - which bagged 206 seats inthe 545-member Lok Sabha, or lower house, of Parliament - was itsbest since 1991. The rival National Democratic Alliance, led by theHindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, secured 158 seats. After the election victory, Singh drew up a 100-day action planfor his government and emphasized its key priority would be economicrevival and inclusive growth. The Indian elections, the world's largest democratic exercise, sawa turnout of 428 million people, a little less than the combinedpopulations of the United States and Russia, in polling for which 2.1million security personnel were deployed. The conduct of the elections was largely successful althoughnearly 50 people lost their lives, the majority in Maoist rebelviolence.--SPA www.spa.gov.sa/669065