India gets new ministers for health, IT, oil amid COVID crisis

PM Narendra Modi drops 12 senior ministers and inducts a younger team aimed at refurbishing his government’s image.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has appointed new federal ministers for health, IT and oil as part of a reshuffle aimed at refurbishing his government’s image amid fierce criticism of its handling of the coronavirus pandemic. Modi appointed Mansukh Laxman Mandaviya as the country’s new health minister just hours after Harsh Vardhan, who was the face of the government’s efforts to fight COVID-19, was asked to step down along with his deputy. Official sources said Vardhan had to pay the political price for the government’s struggles to cope with a devastating second wave of coronavirus infections.