Singh, Cabinet take oaths as Gandhi looks on

NEW DELHI - Manmohan Singh, the Oxford-educated economist responsible for India's sweeping economic liberalization policies, was sworn in as prime minister Saturday, placing the Congress party back in control of the nation after eight years.

Singh, India's first prime minister from the country's influential Sikh minority, was sworn in by President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, whose family comes from India's large Muslim minority.

His move to the top job ended a week of political turmoil in which Congress leader Sonia Gandhi - a member of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty - declined to become prime minister.

The shift in leadership came after Congress ousted Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's Hindu-nationalist government in tumultuous elections held in stages during April and May.

With Gandhi looking on, Singh, 71, took the oath of office dressed in a light blue Sikh turban and white, high-neck cotton tunic.

Kalam also swore in 28 members of Singh's Cabinet and 40 ministers of state and junior ministers in a ceremony at the pink sandstone presidential palace in the heart of New Delhi. The group included seven women and Bollywood star Sunil Dutt.

"The Cabinet is a reflection of India's diversity and richness," Singh said. He acknowledged there were "difficulties in finalizing the Cabinet" and said portfolios would be announced today.

"The government will be stable," Gandhi said. "We'll be working on that."

It was widely reported that Singh might assume a dual role as prime minister and finance minister, a position he held in a Congress government from 1991-96. During that time, he brought about the most wide-ranging finance and economic policy changes in the nation's history.

Among his reforms: slashing subsidies, partial privatization of state-run companies and inviting foreign investment. He opened up long-isolated India to outside investment and began dismantling decades of socialist economic policies.

Because Congress failed to gain an outright majority in the 545-seat parliament, it will be forced to rely on two powerful communist parties for support from outside the coalition. That prospect spooked investors, causing them to send the Bombay Stock Exchange to an all-time low.

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