NEW DELHI — India’s newly sworn in Prime Minister Narendra Modi named a Cabinet on Friday, handing the powerful home affairs portfolio to the president of his Hindu nationalist party credited with delivering him a thunderous reelection. Bharatiya Janata Party President Amit Shah was named home minister and Modi’s first-term defence minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, was put in charge of finance. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, the former ambassador to the United States, will oversee the external affairs ministry, India’s press information bureau said. Modi was sworn in for a second term as prime minister on Thursday. But Modi faces immense challenges including a slowing economy, high joblessness and low agricultural prices that have hurt farmers.

Source: National Post May 31, 2019 07:41 UTC