Tough tasks ahead for India's youngest chief minister...

Akhilesh Singh Yadav, 38, became India’s youngest chief minister on Thursday, after a short swearing-in ceremony in Lucknow as the top boss of Uttar Pradesh. Mr. Yadav is the new hot property in Indian politics, having bested both Rahul Gandhi and Mayawati in the U.P. elections, while managing to repackage his father’s rough-and-tumble Samajwadi Party with a message tapping into the aspirations of India’s youth.

What many voters found refreshing about Mr. Yadav was his openness and accessibility; he has a politician’s love of glad-handing, coupled with a shrewd understanding of the hunger among ordinary people for development, education and progress. Caste politics still prevail in Uttar Pradesh, but Mr. Yadav bet that a younger generation was more interested in the sort of improving governance and economics now occurring in neighboring Bihar.

Of course, Mr. Yadav’s challenge will be to deliver. The economy in Uttar Pradesh has been growing at roughly 7 percent in recent years, but the state remains India’s basket case. Poverty is extreme in many parts of the state, and corruption was rampant under Ms. Mayawati.  Full story...

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