India’s Second Female Finance Minister – Nirmala Sitharaman

Prime Minister Modi's cabinet welcomed India's second female finance minister this year

Image Source: livemint.com

Nirmala Sitharaman, the previous Defence Minister of India, once again found her place in the Cabinet Ministry of India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

After a landslide victory in the 17th Lok Sabha (lower House of the Indian parliament) elections, the much-publicised Indian elections came to an end on 30th May when Narendra Modi took his oath as the Prime Minister of India. He also announced his list of 50 ministers who took their charge in the grand ceremony conducted at the Rashtrapati Bhawan. The 17th Lok Sabha’s Union Cabinet consists of 24 cabinet ministers, 24 Ministers of State (MoS), and 9 ministers of states with independent charges.

Nirmala Sitharaman taking oath

Among them emerged Nirmala Sitharaman as the country’s second female finance minister. Previously India’s defence minister, Nirmala Sitharaman took to office as the female finance minister of India after 48 years. Back in 1969, former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi held this portfolio for a year between July 1969 and June 1970. Before entering politics, Sitharaman worked for the BBC World Service and the Pricewater Coopers.

Here is a glimpse of how Nirmala Sitharaman rose in power to become the second female finance minister of India:

Nirmala Sitharaman

– Born in Tiruchirapalli of Tamil Nadu, Sitharaman completed her graduation from the Seethalakshmi Ramasamy College. She holds a degree from Jawaharlal Nehru University in MA Economics.

– She joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the year 2006 and was later inducted into National Executive Council in 2010. In the same year, she was appointed as the national spokesperson.

– In the year 2014, Sitharaman was placed into Prime Minister Modi’s cabinet as a junior minister and rose through the ranks since.

– Since the year 2016, she has also been a member of the Karnataka Rajya Sabha.

– She previously served as the Minister for Commerce and Industry with independent charge and the Minister of State for Finance and Corporate Affairs under the Ministry of Finance.

– Until the 17th Lok Sabha, she had served as the second female Defence Minister of India, which was once held by the former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. She made history in 2017 by standing as the first full-time woman Defence Minister of India and held the Ministry confidently during the tensions of the Pulwama Terror Attack between India and Pakistan.

Nirmala Sitharaman

She is one among the three women cabinet members of PM Modi.

Popularly regarded as BJP’s go-to-woman, Nirmala Sitharaman took to the office after ex-Finance Minister Arun Jaitley opted out resorting to health issues.

Nirmala Sitharaman is expected to look into the following issues:

– Creating measures to look into the growth of the economy.

– Creating jobs for the masses.

-Designing initiatives to get a flow in private investments.

– Addressing the troubles of the financial sector.

– Checking into the weakness in exports of the country.

– Devising measures to raise public investments without effect on the fiscal prudence.

– Taking care of the rural stress caused due to low growth and soft prices.

Nirmala Sitharaman

Making women all over the country proud, Nirmala Sitharaman, we hope, will bring efficient changes in the economy.

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