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NEW DELHI: The government on Friday appointed Nirmala Sitharaman as the new finance minister . Apart from the finance ministry , she has also been given the charge of corporate affairs (MCA).Sitharaman was the defence minister under the previous Narendra Modi government. Here's a brief profile of the new finance and corporate affairs minister:Born in Madurai (Tamil Nadu), she did her schooling and her graduation in Economics, from Seethalakshmi Ramaswamy College in Tiruchirapalli. She went on to do her Masters in Economics from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. 'Indo-European Textile Trade' was the focus of her draft Ph.D thesis.She served as an assistant to economist in the Agricultural Engineers Association, UK in London. She subsequently worked as senior manager (Research and Analysis) with Price Waterhouse, London. During the time, she also briefly worked with BBC World Service.On her return to India, she served as deputy director of the Centre for Public Policy Studies at Hyderabad. Her interest in education led her to lay the foundation of ‘Parnava’, a reputed school in Hyderabad. She was a member of the National Commission for Women from 2003-2005 and instrumental in voicing various issues of women empowerment.Sitharaman joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 2008, and was made a member of the national executive. She was nominated as party spokesperson in March 2010, from when she has been a full-time party worker.She was inducted in the Union Cabinet led by Prime Minister Modi in 2014 as the minister of state (Independent Charge) for commerce and industry.Sitharaman is married to Dr. Parakala Prabhakar, alumnus of Jawaharlal Nehru University and London School of Economics and they have one daughter.She is an avid reader and maintains a personal twitter handle @nsitharaman, and can be reached at nsitharaman@nic.in