Catholic woman is youngest government minister in Indian government

(May 28, 2009) A Catholic woman has become the youngest minister in India’s new federal government. Twenty eight year old Agatha Sangma, took the oath of office along with 59 other ministers on May 28, the second phase of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s allotment of portfolios. Singh was returned as prime minister for a second term after his Congress party emerged as the single largest party in parliament in the recent general election. Congress heads the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) that has promised to uphold India’s secularism and democracy. The prime minister and 19 other senior ministers took their oaths of office on May 22, two days after President Pratibha Devising Patel invited Singh to form a government. Sangma, a member of the Nationalist Congress Party, is a member of the Garo tribe and has a master’s degree in environmental science. She is one of three Christian ministers. She represents Tura constituency in the north eastern Indian state of Meghalaya. The other Christian in the council of ministers is K.V. Thomas, 63, from Kerala and the Defence Minister A.K. Antony also from Kerala