The week long Manmohan Singh government today completed the expansion of his Ministry by adding another 59 Ministers to his previous council of 19 thereby taking the tally to 78 ministers in his cabinet.
The news finally came in at 9.30 pm on Thursday when all the portfolios were out and it was eventually clear as to which Minister got what portfolio. Initially it as felt that the whole affair was on expected lines but then came in a few surprises. The former commerce Minister Mr Kamal Nath was moved to surface transport while a new commerce minister in Anand Sharma came in. Veerappa Moily as the law minister was also a surprise for many.
The tough balancing act with due consideration to regions, caste, political experience, political weight, religion, aptitude and merit had to be all taken into account before the exhaustive process of allocating the ministries was finally done. The government was also expecting efficiency from the new incumbents and as the Prime Minister noted that "business as usual' would not do.
No MP from Goa or UP could find a place in the cabinet either as a cabinet minister or as a minister of state.There are currently two congress MPs from Goa in the parliament with Mr Francisco Sardinha elected to the Lok sabha from Mormugao Constituency while Mr Shantaram Naik represents Goa in the Rajhya sabha. Other notable exclusions from the cabinet include the former KRD minister Mr Arjun Singh, Mr HR Bhardwaj, Jat veteran Mr Sisram Ola and outgoing Ministers Saifuddin Soz and Ashwini Kumar.
With 33 ministers of cabinet rank, seven Ministers of State( MoS) with independent charge and 38 MoS, there is hardly any more space for any more candidates as the council of ministers cannot cross 81 and therefore only 3 more can be accommodated.
The 78 ministers has 29 first timers and nine ex- Chief Ministers. the Nationalist Congress party's (NCP) Agatha Sangma is the youngest ever Minister at 28. She is the junior minister to CP Joshi who will also hold the additional charge of Panchayati Raj
The following is the exhaustive list of the ministers in the Manmohan Singh cabinet, with their portfolios
| No | Name | Age | Portfolio |
| Manmohan Singh | 76 | Prime Minister | |
| 1 | A K Antony | 68 | Defence |
| 2 | S M Krishna | 77 | External Affairs |
| 3 | Ghulam Nabi Azad | 60 | Health |
| 4 | Vayalar ravi | 71 | Overseas Indian Affairs |
| 5 | Murli Deora | 72 | Petroleum |
| 6 | Ambika Soni | 65 | Information and Broadcasting |
| 7 | Anand Sharma | 56 | Commerce & Industry |
| 8 | G K Vasan | 44 | Shipping |
| 9 | Vilasrao Dehsmukh | 64 | Heavy Industries |
| 10 | M S Gill | 72 | Youth Affairs and Sports |
| 11 | Pranab Mukherjee | 74 | Finance |
| 12 | Mukul Wasnik | 50 | Social Justice |
| 13 | Sharad Pawar | 69 | Agriculture |
| 14 | Dayanidhi Maran | 42 | Textiles |
| 15 | P Chidambaram | 64 | Home Affairs |
| 16 | A Raja | 47 | Communications and IT |
| 17 | Mamata Banerjee | 54 | Railways |
| 18 | Sushilkumar Shinde | 68 | Power |
| 19 | M Veerappa Moily | 69 | Law |
| 20 | Mallikarjun Kharge | 67 | Labour |
| 21 | S Jaipal Reddy | 67 | Urban Development |
| 22 | Kamal Nath | 63 | Surface Transport |
| 23 | Meira Kumar | 64 | Water Resources |
| 24 | Kapil Sibal | 61 | Human Resources |
| 25 | Pawan K Bansal | 60 | Parliamentary Affairs |
| 26 | Kumari Selja | 47 | Housing, Tourism |
| 27 | B K Handique | 75 | Mines, NE Development |
| 28 | C P Joshi | 58 | Rural Development, Panchati Raj |
| 29 | M K Azhagiri | 58 | Chemicals & Fertilizers |
| 30 | Virbhadra Singh | 75 | Steel |
| 31 | Farooq Abdullah | 72 | New and Renewable energy |
| 32 | Subodh Kant Sahay | 58 | Food Processing industries |
| 33 | Kantilal Bhuria | 58 | Tribal Affairs |
| Ministers of state | Independent charge | ||
| 34 | Prithviraj Chavan | 63 | Science and Tech,PMO,Personnel |
| 35 | Jairam Ramesh | 55 | Environment & Forest |
| 36 | Praful Patel | 52 | Civil Aviation |
| 37 | Sriprakash Jaiswal | 64 | Coal, Statistics |
| 38 | Salman Khursheed | 56 | Corporate, Minorities |
| 39 | Dinsha Patel | 72 | MSM Enterprises |
| 40 | Krishna Tirath | 54 | Women & Child Development |
| Ministers of state | |||
| 41 | Srikant Jena | 58 | Chemicals |
| 42 | E Ahamed | 71 | Railways |
| 43 | Mullapally Ramachandran | 53 | Home affairs |
| 44 | V Narayanasamy | 61 | Planning, Parliamentary affairs |
| 45 | Jyotiraditya Scindia | 38 | Commerce and Industry |
| 46 | D Purandeswari | 50 | Commerce and Industry |
| 47 | K H Muniyappa | 61 | Railways |
| 48 | Ajay Maken | 45 | Home Affairs |
| 49 | Panabaka Lakshmi | 50 | Textiles |
| 50 | Namo Narain Meena | 65 | Finance |
| 51 | M M Paliam Raju | 46 | Defence |
| 52 | Saugata Roy | 62 | Urban Development |
| 53 | S S Palanimanickam | 58 | Finance |
| 54 | Jitin Prasad | 36 | Petroleum and natural Gas |
| 55 | A Sai Prathap | 64 | Steel |
| 56 | Gurudas kamat | 55 | Communications and IT |
| 57 | Harish Rawat | 62 | Labour and Employment |
| 58 | K V Thomas | 63 | Agri, ConsAffairs, food and PD |
| 59 | Mahadev Khandela | 65 | Road transport and highways |
| 60 | Dinesh Trivedi | 59 | Health and family welfare |
| 61 | Sisir Adhikari | 66 | Rural Development |
| 62 | Sultan Ahmed | 56 | Tourism |
| 63 | Mukul Roy | 55 | Shipping |
| 64 | Mohan Jatua | 71 | I&B |
| 65 | D Napoleon | 46 | Social Justice & Empowerment |
| 66 | S Jagathrakhshakan | 61 | I&B |
| 67 | S Gandhiselvan | 46 | Health and Family Welfare |
| 68 | Preneet Kaur | 64 | External Affairs |
| 69 | Tusharbhai Chaudhury | 42 | Tribal Affairs |
| 70 | Sachin Pilot | 31 | Communications and IT |
| 71 | Arun Yadav | 35 | Youth Affairs and Sports |
| 72 | Prateek P Patil | 35 | Heavy Industries & Public Ent. |
| 73 | R P N Singh | 39 | Road transport and Highways |
| 74 | Shashi Tharoor | 53 | External Affairs |
| 75 | Vincent Pala | 41 | Water Resources |
| 76 | Pradeep Jain | 49 | Rural Development |
| 77 | Bharatsinh solanki | 55 | Power |
| 78 | Agatha Sangma | 28 | Rural Development |
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