On 31st May, 2019 Nirmala Sitharaman was appointed as the Finance Minister in the cabinet of the 2019 NDA government. Before her, the only female to hold the position was Indira Gandhi.
From joining the BJP in 2008, to becoming the second female finance minister of India, her rise is nothing short of meteoric.
From Academics To Politics
Nirmala Sitharaman was born in Madurai, Tamil Nadu and did her schooling from Madras (now Chennai), and Tiruchirapalli. Her mother was a homemaker and her father worked in the Indian Railways. She did her Bachelor’s in Economics from the Seethalakshmi Ramaswami College in Tiruchirapalli.
Recalling her student days at the college the Head of the English Department (retd.) Usha Chandrasekar had said, “The student days of Ms. Nirmala Sitharaman was as much impressive…[she] had a continuous association with the English Department as an active participant in debates, discussions, and quiz competitions… The self-confidence and leadership material in her was very much evident even then.”
In 1982 she joined the Centre of Economic Studies and Planning (CESP) of the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) for an M.A. in Economics and later moved to the International Trade Department of the School of International Studies (SIS) of JNU for her MPhil. It was here that she had her first stint with politics.
While in JNU, Ms. Sitharaman was a member of the ‘Free Thinkers’, an organisation founded by Anand Kumar which was aimed at mobilising the students who were opposed to the ideologies of the communist politics that were prominent in the JNU campus at that time.
A picture from my days in JNU. pic.twitter.com/WRGxCmOnha
— Nirmala Sitharaman (@nsitharaman) July 14, 2013
In a personal profile on Ms. Sitharaman, a fellow student and student politician during her time at JNU, Nalini Ranjan Mohanty said, “Unlike the members of the communist student organisations like the SFI and the AISF who suffered from the herd mentality and followed the dictate of the national communist parties… Sitharaman and her co-warriors in the Free Thinkers always kept aloft the spirit of individual liberty and rationality.”
Commenting on her ability to communicate her ideas Nalini writes, “Sitharaman was very good at putting across [her] argument forcefully; she would address small groups of students and pose this question to them – would they like to mortgage their independence of thinking for an elusive and economic justice that remained a chimaera?… Sitharaman and her friends…contributed a lot to the success of the panel.”
Foray Into The Indian Political Scenario
Her first semi-formal entry into politics was in 2003 when she became a member of the National Commission for Women. She stayed with the commission till 2005. In 2008 she officially joined the BJP as a national executive. Within two years, in 2010, she was elected as only the second woman spokesperson for the party after Sushma Swaraj.
When the NDA came into power in the 2014 elections, Ms. Sitharaman was inducted into the Modi Cabinet as a junior minister and was appointed as the Minister of State in the Ministries of Finance and Corporate Affairs, and the Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
In 2014, she was nominated by the BJP to contest in the Rajya Sabha elections for a seat in Andhra Pradesh. She successfully contested the seat and stayed in the office till 2016. She resigned from the seat in 2016 and again contested the Rajya Sabha elections for a seat in Karnataka and won.
Within a year, in 2017, when PM Modi reshuffled the cabinet, Ms. Sitharaman was appointed as the Minister of Defence, one of the four most powerful positions in the cabinet. She became the second woman to have held the position after Indira Gandhi and the first woman to hold it on the mandate of the PM and in-effect full-time.
Recalling their experiences in working with her, officials told the economic times, “[She is quick and meticulous in clearing files] and won’t hesitate to ask questions or return the file if the need arises. She would often say, “If I don’t know, I don’t know. There is no harm in learning.” The only allowance is that she would give a reasonable deadline to rework the file… She follows a disciplined life in the office… [and] reaches the ministry only after reading the newspaper and finishing her party work. She never brought any party-related papers to the defence ministry. In the ministry, she would invariably meet the three defence chiefs first, if they were present in Delhi.”
During her tenure as the defence minister, she followed a collaborative approach and delegated a lot of power to the defence chiefs and the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
“She would stay in the office till about 8:30 PM, which meant that her assistants and close officials had to work overtime at least for two-three hours daily.”
Appointment As The Finance Minister
Breaking yet another glass-ceiling, on May 30, 2019, Nirmala Sitharaman swore her oath as the Finance Minister in the NDA 2.0 cabinet. She is the second woman to hold the position after Indira Gandhi and the first female to hold the post-full-time as the finance minister.
She took the helm of the ministry from Arun Jaitley and has come in at a time when the growth and employment have taken a beating. Tasked with the job of pulling up the diseased economic growth, the appointment of Nirmala Sitharaman to the position is emblematic of the trust in her experience and capabilities.
Immediately after taking the office she held meetings with several delegates from the government and various industry representatives, and also opened up avenues for the public at large to share their opinions and suggestions for the Budget 2019 that she would be unveiling on July 5, 2019.
Posed with one of the toughest jobs in the country, to revive growth amid slowing global economy, Nirmala Sitharaman is poised to take the challenge head-on and bring in much needed fresh perspective to the economy of India.
Grateful for every thought/idea that’s being shared by scholars, economists and enthusiasts through print, electronic, and on social media. I read many of them; also, my team carefully collates them for me. Value every bit. Thanks. Please keep them coming. #Budget2019
— Nirmala Sitharaman (@nsitharaman) June 6, 2019
Also Read: PM Modi Ups the Ante On Growth And Employment, Constitutes Two New Cabinet Committees
