India makes history, appoints first woman defence minister

Nirmala Sitharaman will take over the chairmanship of the Ministry of Defence, which was held for many months by Arun Jaitley in addition to his post at the helm of the Finance Ministry, while India is involved in a dispute with China over the Himalayan Plain and tensions are still higher in Kasmir, a territory divided with Pakistan.

Sitharaman has held the post of Secretary of State for Trade. The Indian government already numbers six women, including Sushma Swaraj at the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The government's “Security Committee, which numbers only four ministers, already has two women, and these will equally decide with men on domestic security issues” stressed Sitharaman for Indian TV station News18.

This is a wonderful message for the entire country that gets India for model and for all who observe India asking: What's going on with the women in India?

In the 1970s and 1980s, Indira Gandhi, who was then prime minister, has held the post of defence minister twice briefly. She was killed in 1984.