Six incumbent Ministers of State were dropped to make way for the newcomers. Others who were sworn in at a special function by President Pratibha Patil this evening included three Congress MPs, V. Narayanasamy, Rameshwar Oraon and Santosh Bagrodia and RJD MP Raghunath Jha. Except for Gill who was given independent charge, the others were inducted as Ministers of State.

Portfolios

Ministers of State

• M. S. Gill -- Youth Affairs & Sports (Independent Charge)

• V. Narayanasamy -- Parliamentary Affairs, Planning

• Santosh Bagrodia -- Coal

• Raghunath Jha -- Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises

• Rameshwar Oraon -- Tribal Affairs

• Jyotiraditya Scindia -- Communications and Information Technology

• Jitin Prasada -- Steel

• Jairam amesh (Minister of State Commerce) gets additional charge of power ministry.

• Kanti Singh shifted to tourism and cultural ministry

• Vayalar Ravi (Overseas Indian Affairs Minister) given additional charge of parliamentary affairs.

• Shakeel Ahmed (Minister of State) shifted to home ministry.

* B. K. Handique (Minister of State) gets additional charge of mines, divested of parliamentary affairs.

Jyotiraditya Scindia A brief Profile ....

He has had to wait a long while in the wings but the wait has paid off for 37-year-old Jyotiraditya Scindia, MP from Guna. His name was doing rounds as a possible minister ever since Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's government took office in May 2004.

Many believe Scindia, scion of the former royal family of Gwalior, was born to rule. He did his schooling from the prestigious Doon School - like former Congress prime minister Rajiv Gandhi and many of his cabinet colleagues - completed his graduation from Harvard University and then earned an MBA from Stanford University.

After graduation, he interned with the UN economic development cell and later worked as an investment banker with global financial services firms Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley. He also set up his own investment firm in Mumbai called Scindia Investments Private Limited.

A crowned 'Maharaja' after his father Madhavrao Scindia, a charismatic leader and seasoned politician who died in a plane crash in September 2001, Jyotiraditya Scindia was first elected to the Lok Sabha from his father's constituency in February 2002.

Just like his father, being a politician has not been very easy for him because he had to fight political battles against his own family - his father's sisters and his cousins are in the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Articulate and a good orator both in English and Hindi, Scindia is often seen fiddling with his latest model mobile phone in the Lok Sabha. He is, however, an active participant in debates. A regular in the house, Scindia takes an avid interest in discussions and his favourite issues are diverse - from economy to foreign policy and environment.

Though a regular in Page 3 parties, Scindia is equally passionate about endangered tigers and global warming just as he feels strongly about the lack of educational facilities for the poor in rural India.

Scindia, who loves sports, is a sharp shooter and interestingly enough has done a course in car racing from the US. He is married to Priyadarshini Raje Gaekwad of the erstwhile royal family of Vadodara and the couple has a 12-year-old son and a five-year-old daughter.

Jyotiraditya's Lok Sabha homepage maintained by NIC.

Interested in knowing Jyotiraditya's activities in the Lok Sabha. You can see the NIC maintained Lok Sabha homepage for Mr. Scindia which lists his participation in Debates (Proceedings), Special Mentions, Questions raised, Sup.Questions, Government Bills, and Committee Memberships.

This comes after the party had said after its recent central committee meeting that some of the policy positions of the government were "dictated by erroneous outlook that unjustifiable concessions must be given to foreign capital at the expense of domestic industry and the public sector to attract more FDI".

Admitting that there were differences, especially with regard to FDI, between the Left and the other partners in the government coalition, he said his party was not opposed to FDI provided it increased productive capacity, brought better technology and generated more employment.