Average age is not that young in Manmohan's team

New Delhi: Almost 50 years divide the oldest and the youngest member of Manmohan Singh's new council of ministers that took shape Wednesday. The average age of the 78-member council is 57.

External Affairs Minister S M Krishna is the oldest member in the council. He is 77.

At the other end of the spectrum, the youngest minister in the prime minister's newly formed government is 28-year-old Agatha Sangma, member of the Nationalist Congress Party. Sangma is the daughter of former Lok Sabha speaker P.A Sangma.

The 78-member council of ministers includes 33 cabinet ministers and 45 ministers of state, who were named after three days of intense negotiations.