NEW DELHI
\nPrime Minister Narendra Modi\u2019s loyalist and Delhi\u2019s new chief minister, Rekha Gupta, was sworn in on Thursday, as India\u2019s ruling party regained power in the national capital region after a 27-year gap.
\nThe national vice president of the BJP\u2019s women\u2019s wing, Gupta had previously served as the party\u2019s general secretary in Delhi.
\nShe is the fourth woman to hold the office of Delhi\u2019s chief minister.
\n\u201cWe will empower Delhi through modern infrastructure, excellent healthcare services, excellent education and new employment opportunities,\u201d she said upon inauguration.
\n\u201cToday, I took oath as the chief minister with the resolve to develop Delhi under the guidance of Honorable Prime Minister Narendra Modi. This is not just a responsibility but an opportunity to fulfill the aspirations of the people of Delhi.\u201d
\nA first-time legislator, Gupta won the capital\u2019s Shalimar Bagh Assembly constituency in February\u2019s assembly elections.
\nModi\u2019s party won 48 of the 70 assembly seats \u2014 over twice more than the opposition Aam Aadmi Party of the previous chief minister, Arvind Kejriwal, Modi\u2019s fierce critic.
\nThe win was a boost for the Hindu-nationalist leader after last year\u2019s general election saw him lose his parliamentary majority.
\nThe BJP\u2019s victory came on the promise of cleaning the capital\u2019s Yamuna River, one of the most polluted waterways in the world. The Yamuna is particularly polluted downstream of New Delhi, which dumps about 60 percent of its waste into the river. At the same time, the river provides more than half of the Indian capital\u2019s water.
\nAnother promise was to tackle Delhi\u2019s air pollution, which during winters soars to hazardous levels. In December, it was 35 times over the safe limit set by the World Health Organization, leaving residents complaining of breathing problems.
\nThe toxic smog, which seasonally chokes the city for months, is caused by several factors, including construction activities, vehicle emissions, industrial pollutants and the seasonal burning of crop residue in neighboring states.
\n\u201cThe two biggest issues in Delhi are the river and the air. And I don\u2019t see how they can do it,\u201d said Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay, a political analyst and the author of Modi\u2019s biography \u201cNarendra Modi: The Man, The Times.\u201d
\nWhile the farmers around Delhi have regularly been blamed for the pollution, the region\u2019s air quality remained bad in February, even as there was no burning of paddy stubble to clear the soil for the next crops.
\n\u201cSo why is Delhi still so polluted at the moment? … Automobile pollution is possibly one of the biggest things, but would the Indian government be doing anything to reduce the numbers of vehicles which have been sold in Delhi and the National Capital Region? No, it will not because it involves a lot of further financial matters,\u201d Mukhopadhyay told Arab News.
\nAnother promise was monthly payments of 2,500 Indian rupees ($28) to poor women, a one-time payment of 21,000 rupees to every pregnant woman, subsidized cooking gas, a monthly pension of 2,500 rupees for the elderly, and 15,000 rupees for youth preparing for competitive exams.
\n\u201cFiscally it is going to be a big challenge. I do not know from where they will provide this money,\u201d Mukhopadhyay said.
\n\u201cIt is going to be very difficult, but they will have to do it otherwise within three months, there will be a backlash against the BJP. It is going to be fiscally mind-blowing.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NEW DELHI Prime Minister Narendra Modi\u2019s loyalist and Delhi\u2019s new chief minister, Rekha Gupta, was sworn in on Thursday, as India\u2019s ruling party regained power in the national capital region after a 27-year gap. The national vice president of the BJP\u2019s women\u2019s wing, Gupta had previously served as the party\u2019s general secretary in Delhi. She […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":462846,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-462824","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world"],"yoast_head":"\n