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Monday, January 26, 2026
TopicNirmala Sitharaman

Topic: 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.

7,000 firms relocated from Bengal in last 14 yrs, Sitharaman says in debate with TMC’s Sagarika Ghose

Apoorva Mandhani -
Responding in Parliament to the TMC MP's allegations of Centre neglecting Bengal, Union finance minister doubles down with GDP figures.

India says IMF’s sub-par ‘C’ rating on data is because of old base year

Bloomberg News -
In its report on India last week, IMF assigned a ‘C’ rating to the country’s national accounts statistics, which includes data on GDP, consumption and income levels.

New cess on ‘pan masala’ to fund national security and healthcare programmes

Udit Bubna -
The Health Security Se National Security Cess Bill, 2025, explained. Oppn has attacked the proposed cess as 'a new financial burden' on the citizens.

Sitharaman’s eighth Budget faces fiscal headwinds — and a calendar dilemma

A K Bhattacharya -
Barring her first two Budgets, Nirmala Sitharaman has always ended the year with either a lower fiscal deficit figure than what she had projected or by adhering to the target.

At launch of NITI Aayog report, Sitharaman calls for regulation to run at par with AI adoption

Udit Bubna -
FM adds that AI-assisted technologies should be adopted in all districts to bring development & highlights importance of collaborative ecosystems in tech innovation.

GST 2.0: India streamlines indirect tax regime amid Trump tariffs & what it means for consumers

Sampurna Panigrahi -
Goods and Services Tax Council paves way for a broad two-slab structure of 5% and 18% with a demerit rate of 40% for super luxury and 'sin' goods.

Nirmala Sitharaman was asked what keeps her up at night—‘I sleep well, actually’

Udit Hinduja -
What are India's top 3 economic priorities? Nirmala Sitharaman answers

Nirmala Sitharaman asked for a change that made finance secretary Garg quit the IAS

Subhash Chandra Garg -
In ‘No, Minister’, Subhash Chandra Garg pulls the curtain back on how the finance secretary’s office functions and his interactions with politicians across the spectrum.

Oppn-BJP squabble on missing PM & President’s Rule overshadows Manipur budget discussion in Lok Sabha

Moushumi Das Gupta -
Several Oppn MPs said that it was unfortunate that the Manipur budget was being discussed in Parliament and not the state assembly.

Budget 2025 shows how well Nirmala Sitharaman handled govt resources

A K Bhattacharya -
It would not be improper to say that a small proportion of India’s population has become the limelight of the Union Budget for 2025-26....
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On Camera

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Opinion

Mark Tully was a colossus on the Indian subcontinent. He had sources at all levels

Saeed Naqvi -
I was in Islamabad when Mark Tully broke the news of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto being hanged. I held it against him—he could have tipped me off. But he was a journalist before he was a friend.

Mark Tully’s BBC assignment to India wasn’t by chance. It was a karmic connection

From the Bangladesh War to the Babri demolition—it wasn’t news until Mark Tully aired it

Economy

India wants Canada’s resources as nations build on truce, British Columbia’s Premier says

Thomas Seal -
Premier David Eby, the leader of the minerals- and gas-rich province of British Columbia, spoke with executives at Tata Steel and Reliance Industries on a trade mission to India.

Defence

Shaurya Chakra for Lt Col who led op to ‘eliminate’ terror leadership along Indo-Myanmar border

Snehesh Alex Philip -
President Murmu has also conferred Kirti Chakra on Major Arshdeep Singh of 1 Assam Rifles for eliminating armed cadres when patrol led by him came under fire along Indo-Myanmar Border last May.

National Interest

Non-alignment is coming back in a new avatar: Trump-peedit alliance

Shekhar Gupta -
No nation other than China can negotiate one-on-one with Trump on an equal footing. That’s why the middle powers who so far formed the core of multilateral bodies now feel orphaned.

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