Nirmala Sitharaman

Nirmala Sitharaman
Minister of Defence
Incumbent
Assumed office 3 September 2017
Prime Minister	Narendra Modi
Preceded by	Arun Jaitley
Minister of Commerce and Industry[1]
In office 26 May 2014 – 3 September 2017
Prime Minister	Narendra Modi
Preceded by	Anand Sharma
Succeeded by	Suresh Prabhu
Spokesperson for the Bharatiya Janata Party
In office 2010–2014
Succeeded by	Shaina NC
MP of Rajya Sabha for Karnataka [2]
Incumbent
Assumed office 1 July 2016
Preceded by	M. Venkaiah Naidu, BJP
MP of Rajya Sabha for Andhra Pradesh
In office 26 June 2014 – 21 June 2016
Preceded by	N. Janardhana Reddy, Indian National Congress
Succeeded by	Suresh Prabhu
Personal details
Born	18 August 1959 (age 58) Madurai, Madras State, (now Tamil Nadu, India)
Political party	Bharatiya Janata Party
Spouse(s)	Parakala Prabhakar
Children	1
Residence	Hyderabad, Telangana, India[3][4]
Alma mater	Seethalakshmi Ramaswamy College, Tiruchirapalli Jawaharlal Nehru University

Nirmala Sitharaman (born 18 August 1959) is an Indian politician^[3][5] currently serving as the Defence Minister of India.^[6] She is also a member of the Rajya Sabha for Karnataka.^[7]

Sitharaman has formerly served as the Minister of State for Finance and Corporate Affairs under the Ministry of Finance and the Minister for Commerce and Industry with independent charge. Prior to that, she has served as a national spokesperson for the Bharatiya Janata Party.^[8]

Contents

  [hide] 

• 1Personal life
• 2Political career
• 3Non-political career
• 4References
• 5External links

Personal life[edit]

Nirmala was born in Madurai to Narayanan and Savitri.

Her father, Narayanan Sitaraman, hailed from Musiri, Tiruchirappalli district in Tamil Nadu. Her mother's family had its roots in Thiruvenkadu and Salem district. Her father was an employee of Indian Railways and hence she spent her childhood in various parts of the state. She was schooled in Madras and Tiruchirappalli.^[9] She obtained a BA in economics at the Seethalakshmi Ramaswamy College in Tiruchirapalli. And her Master's degree in Economics from Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi.^[10]

She met her husband Parakala Prabhakar, from Narsapuram, while studying at the Jawaharlal Nehru University. While Nirmala leaned towards the BJP, her husband was from a pro-Congress family.^[11] He is currently a communications advisor to the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, Chandrababu Naidu.^[12]

Political career[edit]

Nirmala Sitharaman joined the BJP in 2008 and has served as a spokesperson for the party. In 2014, she was inducted in Narendra Modi's cabinet as a junior minister.

In May 2016, she was one of the 12 candidates nominated by the BJP to contest the Rajya Sabha elections due on 11 June 2016. She successfully contested her seat from Karnataka.^[13] On 3 September 2017, she was elevated to Defence Minister, being only the second woman after Indira Gandhi to hold the Defence Minister post.^[14][15]

Non-political career[edit]

Outside the political sphere, Sitharaman has served as an assistant to Economist in the Agricultural Engineers Association in the UK. During her stay in the UK, she has also served as a Senior Manager (R&D)^[12] for Price Waterhouse and briefly at the BBC World Service.^[16] She has also served as a member of the National Commission for Women.^[17] As of 2017, she is one of the founding directors of Pranava school in Hyderabad.^[18]