May 24 (Bloomberg) -- The following are profiles of some key ministers in Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's federal government. The ministers were sworn in by President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam on Saturday in India's capital New Delhi along with Singh.

The Congress-led 20-party coalition government was formed after it defeated the National Democratic Alliance in the general election that took place from April 20 to May 10. Singh took over as prime minister from Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The portfolios were allocated late last night.

Pranab Mukherjee, 69, is the new defense minister. He was finance minister from 1982 to 1984 in the Congress government of Indira Gandhi, who was assassinated in 1984. He holds post- graduate degrees in history and political science, apart from having a law degree. Mukherjee joined the upper house of parliament in July 1969. He was deputy minister of industrial development from February 1973 to January 1974 and commerce minister from January 1980 to January 1982. Mukherjee was also the deputy chairman of the Planning Commission, a government body that sets growth and investment targets, in P.V. Narasimha Rao's 1991-1996 Congress government. He has been elected to the lower house first time.

Arjun Singh, 73, is the new minister for human resource development. He was twice chief minister of the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, commerce minister in the federal government from 1985 to 1986 and communications minister from 1986 to 1988. He was minister for human resources development from 1991 to 1994. Singh, who holds a graduate degree in law, pioneered a special training and employment program to improve the lot of the urban poor when he was chief minister of Madhya Pradesh.

One of his tasks will be to undo changes made to history textbooks undertaken under his predecessor Murli Manohar Joshi's stewardship. He may also seek to ease tensions that rose between the Joshi-run ministry and the Indian Institutes of Management over autonomy.

Sharad Pawar, 63, is the new minister for food and agriculture, and is president of the Nationalist Congress Party, an ally of the ruling Congress party. The National Congress Party had originally broken away from the Congress party in 1999 over the issue of Italian-born Sonia Gandhi's foreign origin. He was chief minister of the western Indian state of Maharashtra for four terms and defense minister in the federal government from 1991 to 1993. This is his sixth term in the lower house of parliament.

Pawar will have to ensure that the interests of the 70 percent of Indians who depend directly or indirectly on agriculture are protected as the country lifts import restrictions in line with World Trade Organization norms.

Laloo Prasad Yadav, 55, the new railway minister, is the president of the Rashtriya Janata Dal that has ruled the eastern Indian state of Bihar for 14 years. The Rashtriya Janata Dal, with 21 members, is a key ally of the Congress party. Yadav, a graduate of law and a student leader, was the chief minister of Bihar, India's poorest state, before he resigned on charges of corruption, anointing his wife, Rabri Devi, as successor. He has been elected to the lower house of parliament for a fourth term. Yadav will need to ensure that safety and services are improved on the railways, one of the largest state employers in the world.

Ram Vilas Paswan, 57, is the new minister for steel and chemicals and fertilizer. He heads the Lok Jan Shakti Party that has three members in the lower house. His party was an ally in Atal Bihari Vajpayee's government until April 2002 when he forged an alliance with the Congress party. Paswan quit as a minister in the Vajpayee government over religious riots in the western Indian state of Gujarat in 2002, saying the government failed to stop them. Between 1989 and 2002 he has been minister variously in charge of telecommunications, railways, labor and coal. Paswan was elected to the lower house for the eighth time. He will need to persuade local steel producers to curb steel price increases because of global demand to meet the needs of the local manufacturing and construction industries.

Ghulam Nabi Azad, 55, is the new parliamentary affairs minister. He was in charge of the ministries of parliamentary affairs, civil aviation and tourism between 1991 and 1996, when Manmohan Singh was finance minister in the P.V. Narasimha Rao government. Azad, who holds a masters degree in zoology, comes from the north Indian state of Jammu & Kashmir. Azad joined the lower house of parliament in 1980. Azad was also India's junior law minister from 1982 to 1983 and junior minister for information and broadcasting from 1983 to 1984.

Jaipal Reddy, 62, the main spokesman for the Congress party, is the new information minister. He was India's minister for information and broadcasting from 1997 to 1998. Reddy holds a graduate degree in journalism and a master's degree in English literature. Reddy, who comes from the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, has served on parliamentary panels on finance, patents and power among others.

K. Natwar Singh, 73, is the new foreign minister. He was junior foreign minister in Rajiv Gandhi's government for three years from 1986 to 1989. A career diplomat, Singh joined the diplomatic service in 1953. He was India's high commissioner to Pakistan, ambassador to Poland and deputy high commissioner to the U.K. Singh holds a graduate degree in history from Delhi University and studied at the Universities of Cambridge and Peking. Singh will have to maintain and build on the previous government's policy of improving ties with neighbor Pakistan.

Kamal Nath, 57, is the new trade minister. The Congress leader earlier served twice as junior minister from 1991 to 1996. A commerce graduate, he has been re-elected to the lower house for his seventh term. Nath takes charge of the ministry from Arun Jaitley, one of the more vocal spokesmen of the group that sought to protect the interests of developing countries at the World Trade Organization.

Mani Shankar Aiyar, 63, is minister for petroleum and local government. He has been a member of the lower house of parliament since 1999, and was India's consul-general in Karachi, Pakistan from 1978 to 82. Aiyar was also a special assistant to former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, who was assassinated in 1991. Aiyar, a former member of India's diplomatic service, has written three books including ``Pakistan Papers.'' Aiyar will have to balance the needs of the state oil refiners to raise fuel prices in line with global rates and colleagues who will want to prevent unpopular measures that will add to the burden of consumers.

To contact the reporter on this story: Bibhudatta Pradhan in New Delhi bpradhan@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: May 23, 2004 14:36 EDT