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Sunday, October 12, 2025
TopicFinance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman

Topic: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman

Nirmala Sitharaman is an Indian politician with the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP), and has served as Minister of Finance and Minister of Corporate Affairs since 2019 (this is as of March 2024). In the first Modi government, Sitharaman served as the Minister of Defence between 2017 and 2019, thereby becoming India’s second female defence minister and the second female finance minister after Indira Gandhi, and the first full-time female minister to hold each of those portfolios.

Sitharaman first joined the BJP in 2004 and was appointed party spokesperson six years later. She was first elected to the Rajya Sabha in 2014. While presenting her first budget, she made a statement by replacing the traditional budget briefcase with a ‘bahi-khata’ with the National Emblem to carry the speech and other documents.

‘Average tax under GST dropped from 15.8 % to 11.3 %,’ Nirmala Sitharaman says in RS Budget session

ANI -
Sitharaman was answering question raised by AITC MP Nadimul Haque on reforms under GST and if govt was planning to simplify rates & structure by reducing the number of tax slabs.

In Sitharaman’s budget speech, a verse from Thirukkural on good governance, a quote from Apparao

Sonika Kumar -
Finance minister had quoted Tamil poet Thiruvalluvar in her 2020 and 2021 Union Budget speeches as well. Even PM Modi has mentioned lines from the poet on several occasions.

Union Budget: Tourism sector to get boost with visa waivers, medical tourism push & homestay loans

Vandana Menon -
The govt laid out a plan to make tourism a key sector for employment-led growth in India. FM Sitharaman announced a plan to develop 50 tourist destinations in the country.

Modi 3.0 gives giant relief to middle class—no tax on income up to Rs 12 lakh

Sampurna Panigrahi -
In Budget speech, FM Sitharaman said this will reduce tax burden & leave more money in their hands. The govt also raised TDS exemption limit & TCS threshold on foreign remittances.

Watch Live: ThePrint Editors discuss Union Budget 2025, pain points in economy & political expectations

ThePrint Team -
Apart from breaking down key Budget expectations, ThePrint editors will also analyse whether the government will revive its infrastructure push after a year of slowdown.

Budget 2025 highlights: Middle class gets relief as govt announces no tax on income up to Rs 12 lakh

ThePrint Team -
This is Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's record 8th consecutive budget presentation, coming in the backdrop of slowing economic growth.

Over-regulation is holding back MSME growth, states need to lead in easing these: Economic Survey

TCA Sharad Raghavan -
The next round of easing business regulations—a much bigger problem for MSMEs than for big firms—needs to be driven by states in areas of land, labour, transport, & penalties, it said.

As growth slows & capex falls, Economic Survey suggests prioritising ‘efficient’ investment

TCA Sharad Raghavan -
Survey says that India, in light of significantly-changed external scenario, needs to focus on domestic growth drivers and reduce regulations impeding them.

Nirmala Sitharaman tables Economic Survey 2024-25, Parliament adjourned for the day

ANI -
The document gives insights into the state of economy, and outlook for the next fiscal. The Union Budget will be presented on Saturday.

4 revenue secretaries in 4 weeks. Modi govt’s quest for ‘committed bureaucracy’ continues

D.K. Singh -
PM Modi evidently reposes more faith in serving and retired bureaucrats than in politicians. IAS officers must, however, be taking it with a pinch of salt.
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Opinion

If fundamental right to property can be taken away, so can all the others: AG Mulgaokar

AG Mulgaokar -
If this step even partially achieves its desired results, there will be so much dislocation in the country’s economic structure as to prove a national calamity, advocate AG Mulgaokar wrote in 1969.

Chhindwara’s Coldrif deaths show India’s dangerous irony—pharmacy of the world, failing at home

In Great Game for Kabul, India plays a patient hand. Multi-alignment to compartmentalisation

Economy

Niti Aayog recommends fully decriminalising 12 offences under new I-T Act to ‘foster more trust’

Udit Bubna -
Recommendations appear in Niti Aayog’s Tax Policy Working Paper Series–II. It says there is a need to shift away from fear-based enforcement to trust-based governance.

Defence

India, UK sign £350 mn deal for Martlet. What are these Lightweight Multirole Missiles

Snehesh Alex Philip -
In service with the British military since 2019, it is also known as the Martlet missile. Ukrainians have also deployed these missiles against Russian troops.

National Interest

CJI, IPS, IAS & Homebound: A wake-up call 75 years in the making

Shekhar Gupta -
Education, reservations, govt jobs are meant to bring equality and dignity. That we are a long way from that is evident in the shoe thrown at the CJI and the suicide of Haryana IPS officer. The film Homebound has a lesson too.

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