Then and Now

Our Then is a picture of Sir R.K. Shanmukham Chetty (from the RKS Commemoration Volume, 1952) first Union Finance Minister of India getting ready to present the budget. Our Now, is of Nirmala Seetharaman, the present Finance Minister arriving in Parliament to present the latest budget (from The Hindu). Both are people with Madras connects. We have, of course, had several men of Madras who have served as Union Finance Ministers – T.T. Krishnamachari, R. Venkataraman and P. Chidambaram. We can stretch a little and include C.D. Deshmukh as well, for after all, did he not marry ‘our very own’ Durgabai?