India's youngest minister Agatha Snagma took oath in Hindi. (AP image)
English was the preferred language for most of the ministers who took oath on Thursday.
While 38 of their colleagues from the South, East and West took the oath of office in English, 21 MPs, mostly from the Hindi speaking states in the north, opted for the national language. These included six Cabinet ministers, three Ministers of State with independent charge and 12 ministers of state.
Cabinet minister Virbhadra Singh, wearing a traditional Bushehr cap, was the first to take oath in Hindi. He was followed by Vilasrao Deshmukh, Kumari Selja, Subodh Kant Sahay, Mukul Wasnik and Kanti Lal Bhuria.
The three ministers of state who chose Hindi were Salman Khurshid, Dinsha Patel and Krishna Tirath.
Most of the "young brigade" of the newly formed government also chose Hindi - Jyotiraditya Scindia, Jitin Prasada, Sachin Pilot and Agatha Sangma.
Joining them were Namo Narain Meena, Harish Rawat, Bharatsinh Solanki, Mahadev Khandela, Tusharbhai Chaudhary, Arun Yadav, R P N Singh and Pradeep Jain.