New Delhi, May 22 2009: "The father of India's economic reform" Dr Manmohan Singh was sworn-in as the Prime Minister along with a 19-member team, which was administered oath of office and secrecy by President Pratibha Patil at the Rashtrapati Bhawan this evening.

The 76-year-old, soft-spoken economist is the first Prime Minister since the country's post-independence leader Jawaharlal Nehru to be returned to office after completing a full term.

Senior Congress leader Pranab Mukherjee, NCP supremo Sharad Pawar, A K Antony, P Chidambaram, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, former Chief Ministers S M Krishna, Ghulam Nabi Azad, and Veerappa Moily were among those who were inducted in the Cabinet.

Sushilkumar Shinde, S Jaipal Reddy, Kamal Nath, Vayalar Ravi, Meira Kumar, Murli Deora, Kapil Sibal, Ambika Soni, B K Handique, Anand Sharma and C P Joshi also took oath.

Those who were a part of the previous government but did not find a place this time around were Law Minister H R Bhardwaj, HRD Minister Arjun Singh, Water Resources Minister Saifuddin Soz and Mines Minister Sis Ram Ola.

Cabinet Expansion.

Today's swearing-in would be followed by an expansion of the Council of Ministers on May 26.The expansion would include Cabinet Ministers, Ministers of State (MoS) with independent charge as well as other Ministers of State.

National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah, Mukul Wasnik, Vilas Muttemwar figure in the list of names, who will likely find place on Tuesday in the expanded Cabinet.

The Congress would also be looking to bring the DMK around by then so as to also include its representatives in the Cabinet.

The Prime Minister was originally supposed to submit a full list of Ministers to the President yesterday and his full-fledged team was supposed to take oath today.

However the plan got derailed after DMK and Congress could not resolve an impasse over cabinet berths.

DMK chief M Karunanidhi thus gave the swearing-in ceremony a miss and flew back to Chennai this morning.

The doors for negotiations have been kept open though.

Karunanidhi has confirmed that he is taking back a proposal from the Congress about the possible ministries that can be allocated to them and that a final decision on the same would be taken at their party meeting.

The Ceremony and Agenda.

Meanwhile, the grand swearing-in ceremony, which started around 6:30 pm, took place in Ashoka Hall of the Rashtrapati Bhavan where President Pratibha Patil administered the oath of office and secrecy to Dr Singh and his council of ministers.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi, former Railway Minister, Lalu Prasad Yadav of RJD, LJP leader, Ram Vilas Paswan, BJP Parliamentary party leader and prime ministerial candidate of the party in the recent elections, LK Advani, former minister and JMM leader Shibu Soren, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi, et al were present at the ceremony.

Chiefs of the three forces�Army, Navy and Air Force were also present.

The first session of the newly-constituted Lok Sabha is expected to begin from June 2, and is likely to continue till June 10 .

Starting his second term, the Prime Minister has made it clear that the people have spoken in favour of good governance and he intends to focus on performance and accountability while choosing his ministers.

The PM had in fact stressed on a "responsive" and "efficient" government and also made a case for major economic reforms during a speech to the newly elected Congress MPs this week.

Known as "Mr Clean" for his incorruptible image and the "father of India's economic reforms" for unshackling the Indian economy in 1991, Singh has steered the economy through a period of nine percent growth in recent years.

The boom has slowed due to the global financial crisis, but growth is still targeted at around six percent this year, which would make India the world's second fastest expanding economy after China.

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