Written By : Dr Amit Mishra
“With five hundred men, the conquest of India might take fifty years; with as many women not more than a few weeks”. Swami Vivekananda
With the rise of outstanding women entrepreneurs, administrators, leaders, scientists, writers, and religious teachers, have gradually proved the truth of these divine words of Swami Vivekananda.
On 31st May 2019, the swearing-in ceremony of the new Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, 59, in New Delhi has come up as a beacon of hope for a stable economic future for India, presently being Asia’s third-largest fastest growing economy. She is India’s first female Full-time Finance Minister and Corporate Affairs bearing the highest credentials among many leaders of her status.
In recent years, she has proved herself being an eloquent English-speaker (BJP spokesperson), an articulate visionary leader, a non-controversial background hard-working leader, a vociferous defender of the party, a lady with a flawless encyclopedic knowledge on a range of subjects including law, business, technology, management, finance, etc. and above all a leader who can be called an icon of simplicity and honesty. But the big question is will she be able to create the magic in Indian Economic growth? What is her master plan?
The news brings good hope for Start-ups business and Young Entrepreneurs because it was her tenure as commerce minister (Minister of state) when the Start-up India was launched in the year 2016. Presently the country is facing the situation like Low per capita income, Huge dependence of population on agriculture and related people, Increasing population pressure, the existing chronic unemployment (6.1%) and under-employment, Slow moving rate of Capital Formation (Liquidity issues being faced by Public-sector banks and private sector microfinance companies), disproportion in wealth distribution, Inferior technology, Lack of access to basic amenities to common people, Losing Demographic dividend due to weak manufacturing growth, High global crude oil prices making compulsion to replace it with natural resources or alternative source of energy, and Lack of basic infrastructure.
People are hoping that the new finance minister, who has been serving as Rajya Sabha member from 2016, will improve optimism on the economy with her finance and business background and will quickly adapt to deal with the economic challenges. Here are some interesting facts about her fascinating life and struggle journey from a middle-class family girl to one of the world’s top prestigious profile ministers.
- She was born on August 18th, 1959, Tuesday, with a zodiac sign Leo, in Madurai, Tamilnadu to a middle-class family of Shri Narayan Sitharaman and Smt. Savitri.
- Her father worked in Railways while her mother was a homemaker.
- She inherited discipline from her father and love for books from her mother’s . While studying at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), she found Parakala Prabhakar and later got married to him in the year 1986 and moved to London. Dr. Parakala Prabhakar, her husband, is an alumnus of the London School of Economics (LSE) and JNU.
- She as a child was an obedient daughter, who later developed herself into a responsible sensitive mother, great visionary, nationalist, and a headstrong personality. She is very fond of traveling, trekking, listening to music, and cooking foods.
- She completed schooling and her graduation in Economics, from Seethalakshmi Ramaswamy College in Tiruchirapalli. She completed her Masters in Economics from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. She had taken ‘Indo-European Textile Trade’ as the topic for her draft Ph.D. thesis in 1984. She is also an alumnus of the London School of Economics.
- In London, she served as Senior Manager at Pricewater Coopers and BBC World Service.
- She worked as a salesgirl at Habitat, a home decor store in London’s Regent Street where she won a bottle of Champagne for the record Christmas sales.
- She was earlier a member of the National Commission for Women from 2003-2005.
- She was involved in the establishment of a school in Hyderabad called Pranava School.
- She became the second woman Defense Minister of India in 2017, earlier she had managed the portfolio of the Minister of State (Independent charge) in the Ministry of Finance and Corporate Affairs and Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
