Nirmala Sitharaman will continue as India’s finance minister in the BJP-led NDA government under Modi 3.0.
Yesterday, while Modi took his oath of office for his historic third term as the prime minister of India, Sitharaman was inducted as a cabinet minister.
Nirmala Sitharaman, who is a two-time Union minister, has been included in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cabinet in his third consecutive term, creating a record of sorts for a woman minister.
Earlier, Sitharaman was inducted into PM Modi’s cabinet in 2014 as the industry and commerce minister and was handed the defence portfolio in 2017.
When Arun Jaitley was taken ill, Sitharaman became the country’s first woman to be given charge of the finance portfolio for a full term.
Nirmala Sitharaman was born on August 18, 1959, in Madurai, Tamil Nadu. She pursued her undergraduate studies in economics at Seethalakshmi Ramaswami College in Tiruchirapalli.
She further moved to New Delhi to further her education, earning both a Master’s and a Master of Philosophy degree in Economics from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU).
Before entering into Indian politics, Sitharaman had an accomplished career in the corporate sector in the United Kingdom.
On Monday, after being sworn in as Prime Minister for the third time, PM Modi signed his first file authorizing release of 17th installment of PM Kisan Nidhi.
This will benefit 9.3 crore farmers and distribute around Rs 20,000 crores.
After signing the file, PM Modi said, “Ours is a Government fully committed to Kisan Kalyan. It is therefore fitting that the first file signed on taking charge is related to farmer welfare. We want to keep working even more for the farmers and the agriculture sector in the times to come.”