Dharmendra Pradhan (; born 26 June 1969) is an Indian politician serving as the Minister of Education and Minister of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship in the

Government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, c ...

. He has also been the Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas and Minister of Steel. Pradhan was promoted to a Cabinet Minister on 3 September 2017. Shri Pradhan currently represents Madhya Pradesh in the Rajya Sabha as Member of Parliament. Earlier, he was a member of the 14th Lok Sabha.

Early life and politics

He is the son of Debendra Pradhan, who was also a Minister of State in the Vajpayee government from 1999-2004. Born on 26 June 1969, into the Khandayat

Kurmi Kurmi is traditionally a non-elite tiller caste in the lower Gangetic plain of India, especially southern regions of Awadh, eastern Uttar Pradesh and parts of Bihar. The Kurmis came to be known for their exceptional work ethic, superior tilla ...

caste in

Odisha Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the 8th largest state by area, and the 11th largest by population. The state has the third largest population of ...

state, he hails from the city of

Talcher Talcher is one of the 4 sub-divisions of Angul district in the Indian state of Odisha. History During the British Raj Talcher was the capital of Talcher State, one of the princely states of the Eastern States Agency.Malleson, G. B.: ''An histo ...

. He became an A.B.V.P. activist while studying as a higher secondary student in Talcher College (Orissa) and later became the president of student union of Talcher College. Pradhan started his political career as an Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) activist in 1983 and was elected as its secretary. He holds a post-graduate degree in Anthropology from Utkal University in Bhubaneswar. After serving in different positions in the BJP, he was elected to the

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, constitutionally the House of the People, is the lower house of India's bicameral Parliament, with the upper house being the Rajya Sabha. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by an adult universal suffrage and a first-past ...

in 2004 from Deogarh. He was also elected the member of the Rajya Sabha for two terms each from Bihar and Madhya Pradesh.

Union minister

Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas

Dharmendra Pradhan has been the longest serving Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas in the history of independent India. Joining as the Minister of State (In-charge) in 2014, he was later promoted to the Cabinet rank in 2017. On 31 May 2019, Shri Pradhan began his second consecutive tenure at the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas, Government of India.

The Ujjwala Man

Popularly called the "Ujjwala Man", Pradhan is credited with the success of

Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY, translation: Prime Minister's Lighting Scheme) was launched by Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi on 1 May 2016 to distribute 50 million LPG connections to women of Below Poverty Line (BPL) families. A bu ...

launched by the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas under which over 8 million LPG connections have been provided to women from Below Poverty Line (BPL) families over the past 6 years. Ujjwala Yojana has been hailed as the vehicle for driving women empowerment and social change. International Energy Agency termed Ujjwala Yojana as a "game-changer in ending

energy poverty Energy poverty is lack of access to modern energy services. It refers to the situation of large numbers of people in developing countries and some people in developed countries whose well-being is negatively affected by very low consumption of ene ...

IIM Ahmedabad Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIM Ahmedabad) is the world's number 1 business school, located in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India. The school has been accorded the status of an Institute of National Importance by Ministry of Human Resource ...

published a working paper on "Lighting up Lives through Cooking Gas and transforming society". PM Ujjwala Yojana, among other initiatives is also considered one of the key factors behind the re-election of the Modi Government in 2019 Lok Sabha election.

Policy reforms

Pradhan has led some key decisions in the hydrocarbon sector. Pradhan, supported by the Union Cabinet, has brought in a new Hydrocarbon Exploration & Licensing Policy, which through its uniform licensing for explorations and production of all forms of hydrocarbon, open acreage policy and marketing and pricing freedom will enhance domestic oil & gas production with substantial investment in the sector in India and generate sizable employment. He also led consumer initiatives like PAHAL which is the world's largest Direct Benefit Transfer Scheme and the Give It Up campaign, that was liberally supported by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, aimed at encouraging affluent citizens to surrender their LPG subsidy for the needy receiving a successful response of 10 million consumers.

Energy transition

Dharmendra Pradhan, as the Petroleum Minister has been driving India's

energy transition The energy transition is the process of downshifting fossil fuels and re-developing whole systems to operate on low carbon energy sources. More generally, an energy transition is a significant structural change in an energy system regarding ...

balancing India's energy demand and India's commitment to climate change mitigation efforts. He has provided leadership to efforts around making India, a gas-based economy. With around $60 billion of investments lined up in India's gas infrastructure, Pradhan has been working to expand the city gas distribution network and piped gas network in the country. He has underlined that India is going to chart its own path of energy transition which will balance India's energy demand and decarbonisation efforts.

Union Minister of Steel

In a brief tenure as the Minister of Steel, Dharmendra Pradhan has been working to facilitate augmentation of production capacity, ensure growth of secondary steel sector, jobs creation, ensures value addition and import substitution. With particular focus on enhancing steel usage in India, he launched Ispati Irada, a collaborative campaign to involve all stakeholders in this drive. He also launched Mission Purvodaya in steel sector to drive transformation of eastern India through the growth of steel industry which has majority presence in eastern India.

Union Minister of Skill Development

As Minister of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Pradhan launched many key initiatives focussing on reskilling and upskilling the manpower of India and focusing on bridging the skill gap for the Indian youth. During his tenure, the total number of Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) increased by over 40% and student enrolment increased by over 28% till 2019. He brought in new paradigms in the regulatory environment by mooting National Council for Vocational Education and Training (NCVET) as new unified national reg IBM, Adobe etc. to introduce new age skills related to Industry 4.0. He also launched one of the world's largest counselling programs named Skill Saathi. In May 2019, Pradhan continued his Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas and got the

Ministry of Steel The Ministry of Steel is an executive branch agency of the Government of India that is responsible for formulating all policies regarding steel production, distribution and pricing in India. As of July 2021, the ministry is headed by a Secretar ...

Union Minister of Education

In July 2021, Pradhan became Minister of Education in

Second Modi ministry The Second Ministry of Narendra Modi is the Council of Ministers headed by Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi that was formed after the 2019 general election which was held in seven phases in 2019. The results of the election were announce ...

after the Cabinet reshuffle replacing

Ramesh Pokhriyal Ramesh Pokhriyal "Nishank" (born 15 July 1959), is an Indian politician who was appointed on 31 May 2019 to serve as Minister of Human Resource Development and as of July 2020, following the ministry's name change, his title was changed to Min ...

Positions held

* In-charge - BJP Uttar Pradesh * Minister of Education, Skill Development & Entrepreneurship (Jul 2021 – Present) *Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas, Steel (May 2019 - Jul 2021) *Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas, Skill Development & Entrepreneurship (Sept 2017 - May 2019) *Minister of State (Independent Charge) : Petroleum & Natural Gas (May 2014 - Sept 2017) * Member of Parliament (

Rajya Sabha The Rajya Sabha, constitutionally the Council of States, is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of India. , it has a maximum membership of 245, of which 233 are elected by the legislatures of the states and union territories using si ...

), Madhya Pradesh (MP): April 2018 in BJP – present * Member of Parliament (

), Bihar: 2012– 2018 * In-charge BJP Karnataka: 2011–2013 *

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Modi ...

All India General Secretary - 2010 - 2015 * Co-Incharge - BJP Bihar: - State Elections * In-charge Bharatiya Janta Yuva Morcha (BJYM): * In-Charge BJP Jharkhand: * Election in Charge BJP Uttarakhand * Bharatiya Janata Party: National Secretary 2007–2010 * In-charge Chhattisgarh: 2007–2010 * Member of Parliament (

): 2004–2009 Deogarh, Odisha, India * Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha National President: 2004–2006 * Member of Odisha Legislative Assembly 2000–2004 Pallahada Assembly constituency * National Secretary of ABVP 1995 * President, Talcher College Students' Union 1985 * Started as an Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) activist in the year 1983

References

External links

Official Video Channel of Dharmendra Pradhan Ji on Veblr.com
, - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Pradhan, Dharmendra 1969 births Living people People from Odisha Bharatiya Janata Party politicians from Odisha India MPs 2004–2009 People from Angul district Rajya Sabha members from Bihar Lok Sabha members from Odisha Narendra Modi ministry People from Debagarh district Members of the Cabinet of India Steel Ministers of India Petroleum and Natural Gas Ministers of India Education Ministers of India