Nirmala Sitharaman: The Decisive Minister

The Country’s current Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman was born in a middle-class family in Madurai, Tamil Nadu. Sitharaman became the second woman to hold the post of Defence Minister after Indira Gandhi and the first to hold this office on debut as minister. Now, she is the second woman Finance Minister. She is serving as the perfect example of women in the Indian politics. 

She completed her graduation from Seethalakshmi Ramaswami College and then came to the capital, where she did her M. Phil in International Studies from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in 1984. While pursuing her masters, she met her to-be spouse Dr Parakala Prabhakar and they got married in 1986. The couple soon relocated to London, where Sitharaman briefly worked as a senior manager at PricewaterhouseCoopers as well as with BBC World before returning to India in 1991.

In 2003, during Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s tenure, Sitaraman became a member of National Women for Commission till 2005. The following year, she joined the BJP and became the national spokesperson of the party. Since 2016, she has been serving the member of the Rajya Sabha.

One of the reasons why she was chosen to lead the finance ministry of India after her term as defence minister is because of her decisive leadership. The department required someone to unclog the jammed financial channels, speedily privatise state-run businesses, and give private investments a decisive push. 

Her stint as Defence Minister was a tumultuous one, with many questions raised against the government on the Rafale deal. However, she was instrumental in establishing industrial defence corridors in Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, and many far-reaching policies.

The negotiation skills and her reputation for probity prove to be a great asset for her in the world of politics. As the BJP spokesperson, she is known as the voice and face of the party, and held her own against political stalwarts in face-offs and TV debates. 

Sitharaman’s stint as Defence Minister was a tumultuous one, with many questions raised against the government on the Rafale deal