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.
I think even a modest reduction in the budgeted figure of 3.3% for the fiscal deficit sends out a message of prudent / responsible macroeconomic management. That should be reinforced by ensuring that the numbers can be taken at face value by all responsible stakeholders. Clearly, turbocharged growth is what the economy now needs. $ 5 trillion is a nice round figure, like 6 feet for a serious athlete who is training for the high jump. Each sector of the economy has to do its share of heavy lifting to get us there. Manufacturing and exports – two subjects FM has dealt with earlier – need special attention. Given how hard this government works, how little sleep it gets at nigh, the challenges must be top of its mind all the time.
… at night …
Working hard is not necessarily working well. I would rather they sleep well and delivered results rather than stayed awake for no effect.