Union Budget 2022: Here is a look at the education qualifications and brief employment history of the current and past finance ministers of India.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is set to announce her fourth Union Budget 2022 on February 1. Amid fear of the third wave of Covid-19, Budget 2022-23 will be announced in a paperless format. There will be no Halwa ceremony this year. The pandemic-hit country is expecting the budget to be focused on healthcare. Apart from healthcare, a great disruption has been caused in the education and employment sectors which too demand relaxations and greater allocation.
With a few hours to go for the Budget, here is a look at the education qualifications and brief employment history of the current and past finance ministers of India.
Nirmala Sitharaman: The current finance minister of India, Sitharaman is an economist too. She holds an MA in economics and MPhil from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU). She completed her graduation from Seethalakshmi Ramaswamy College, Tiruchirapalli. Borm in Tamil Nadu, Sutharaman had her schooling from Madras and Tiruchirappalli. She had also enrolled for a PhD in economics with a focus on Indo-Europe trade, however, she had to drop out of it as she moved to London with her husband who secured a scholarship in the London School of Economics.
Arun Jaitley: A lawyer, politician, writer, Arun Jaitley was also the former finance minister of India. He had studied at St Xavier’s Senior Secondary School, Delhi. He graduated with an honours degree in BCom from Shri Ram College of Commerce, New Delhi in 1973. He completed his LLB from the Faculty of Law, the University of Delhi in 1977. He had practised law before the Supreme Court of India and several High Courts in the country since 1977. He was designated as a senior advocate by the Delhi High Court. Later Jaitley was appointed additional Solicitor General.
P Chidambaram: Palaniappan Chidambaram has served India as a finance minister four times. An MBA from Harvard Business School, Chidambaram studied at the Madras Christian College Higher Secondary School, Chennai till class 10 and moved to Loyola College, Chennai for classes 11 and 12. After graduating with a BSc degree in statistics from the Presidency College, Chennai, he completed his Bachelor of Laws from the Madras Law College, now known as Dr Ambedkar Government Law College. He also holds a master’s degree from Loyola College, Chennai. He enrolled as a lawyer in the Madras High Court, becoming a senior advocate in 1984. He had offices in Delhi and Chennai and practised in the Supreme Court and various high courts of India.
Pranab Mukherjee: The 13th President of India who served from 2012 until 2017, Pranab Mukherjee was a teacher by profession before joining politics. In 1963, he became an assistant professor of political science at Vidyanagar College, Kolkata, affiliated to the University of Calcutta. He had studied at the University of Calcutta and obtained a BA, LLB, and MA from the same university where he later started to teach.
