Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Nirmala Sitharaman took charge of the Finance Ministry for the second consecutive term on Wednesday. She will soon present the final budget for the financial year 2025. This budget will determine the priorities of the third government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the direction of developed India. Finance Secretary T.V. Somanathan and other senior officials welcomed Sitharaman at the office in North Block. According to the news of Bhasha, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary was also present during this time. Chaudhary took charge on Tuesday evening.
Reforms made since 2014 will continue
According to the news, the official statement said that after taking charge, the Finance and Corporate Affairs Minister was briefed on the current policy issues by the secretaries of different departments. Sitharaman said that the government is fully committed to ensuring the ease of living of its citizens and will continue to take further steps in this regard. She said that the reforms undertaken since 2014 will continue, which will enable India to achieve macroeconomic stability and growth. She underlined India’s commendable growth story in recent years amid global challenges and said that the economic outlook for the coming years is optimistic.
Sitharaman made this appeal to everyone
Sitharaman urged the departments to carry forward the NDA government’s development agenda with renewed vigour and ensure responsible policy making to realise the Prime Minister’s dream of a ‘developed India’. Sitharaman said the government believes in ‘Sabka Sath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas, Sabka Prayas’. She called for continued support and cooperation from all stakeholders, including industry leaders, regulators and citizens, to ensure a strong and vibrant economy.
She will present her seventh consecutive budget
Sitharaman will create a record by presenting her seventh consecutive budget and sixth consecutive full budget. The full budget for the financial year 2024-25 is likely to be presented in the newly constituted 18th Lok Sabha next month. Sitharaman also holds the record of becoming the first woman to join the Modi government as a minister for a third consecutive term. She achieved many major achievements in her political career. In 2017, she became the first woman Defense Minister. Earlier she was the Minister of Industry and Commerce.
First full-time woman finance minister in independent India
Sitharaman took charge of the finance portfolio in the newly elected Modi government after the 2019 general election when Arun Jaitley (Finance Minister 2014-19) fell ill. She became the first full-time woman finance minister in independent India. Earlier, Indira Gandhi had held finance as an additional portfolio for a short time while she was the Prime Minister of India. Sitharaman was born on 18 August 1959 in Madurai to Narayan Sitharaman and Savitri, who worked in the railways. Sitharaman has a master’s and M.Phil in economics from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU).
Before politics, he was associated with the corporate world
Before joining politics, Sitharaman was part of the corporate world in the UK, where she was living with her husband Parakala Prabhakar. The two met while studying at JNU and got married in 1986. They have a daughter, Parakala Vangmayi. Sitharaman served as the deputy director of the Centre for Public Policy Studies in Hyderabad. She also started a school in the city. She was also a member of the National Commission for Women from 2003 to 2005.
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