Modi's ministers' average age is now 58, down from 61

The average age of the new Union council of ministers has reduced to 58 years from 61 years previously following Wednesday’s reshuffle. 

Nisith Pramanik (35), the Lok Sabha MP from West Bengal's Cooch Behar, is the youngest minister to be sworn in, while the oldest member in the council of ministers is 72-year-old Som Parkash.

There are 77 members in the council of ministers now.

Other ministers below 50 years of age in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's cabinet are -- Smriti Irani (45), Kiren Rijiju (49), Mansukh Mandaviya (49), Kailash Choudhary (47), Sanjeev Balyan (49), Anurag Thakur (46), Dr Bharati Pravin Pawar (42), Anupriya Singh Patel (40), Shantanu Thakur (38), John Barla (45) and Dr L Murugan (44).

The average age of the newly sworn- in 43 ministers is 56 years, while the average age of the new council of ministers is 58 years. Previously, the average age of the council of ministers was 61 years.

The 43 ministers took oath in a major expansion-cum-reshuffle of the Union council on Wednesday evening after several Union ministers, including Harsh Vardhan and Ramesh Pokhriyal "Nishank", resigned and a number of new entrants met the prime minister at his residence in New Delhi.

Those who were sworn in included the Bharatiya Janata Party's Sarbananda Sonowal, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Ajay Bhatt, Bhupender Yadav, Shantanu Thakur and Kapil Patil, and the Lok Janshakti Party's Pashupati Paras.

Some ministers of state, including G Kishan Reddy, Parshottam Rupala, Anurag Thakur, Hardeep Singh Puri, Mansukh Mandaviya, RK Singh and Kiran Rijiju, were also elevated as Cabinet ministers.