Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu (born 11 July 1953) is an Indian politician. He served as a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1996 to 2009, representing Rajapur in the

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, also known as the House of the People, is the lower house of Parliament of India which is Bicameralism, bicameral, where the upper house is Rajya Sabha. Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha, Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by a ...

. He was also a member of the ''

Rajya Sabha Rajya Sabha (Council of States) is the upper house of the Parliament of India and functions as the institutional representation of India’s federal units — the states and union territories.https://rajyasabha.nic.in/ It is a key component o ...

'', representing

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (ISO 15919, ISO: , , AP) is a States and union territories of India, state on the East Coast of India, east coast of southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, seventh-largest state and th ...

and

Haryana Haryana () is a States and union territories of India, state located in the northern part of India. It was carved out after the linguistic reorganisation of Punjab, India, Punjab on 1 November 1966. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with les ...

from 2014 to 2022. He held several ministerial portfolios in the Union Government, including Ministry of Civil Aviation, Minister of Commerce and Industry, Minister of Railways, Minister of Fertilizers & Chemicals, and Minister of Environment and Forests. He is the current chancellor of Rishihood University and chairman of the Indian Chamber of Food and Agriculture (ICFA). Prabhu was appointed to the Bloomberg New Economy Advisory Board as the only representative from

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. In addition, he also worked in the Global Advisory Council of the

World Economic Forum The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international non-governmental organization, international advocacy non-governmental organization and think tank, based in Cologny, Canton of Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded on 24 January 1971 by German ...

Education and career

Suresh Prabhu is a chartered accountant by profession, becoming qualified in 1977. He attended Sharad Ashram Vidyamandir, Dadar,

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

for schooling. He earned a Bachelor of Commerce degree with Honours from M. L. Dahanukar College, Vile Parle, Mumbai, and a Bachelor of Law degree from the New Law College ( Ruparel College campus), Mumbai.

Political career

Suresh Prabhu has been elected from Rajapur Constituency, Madhya Pradesh from 1996-2004 under Shiv Sena. Prabhu held ministerial positions during the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government (1998–2004). His first portfolio was Minister of Industry. Prabhu served as Minister of Environment and Forests from 9 March 1998 to 13 October 1999 under the Vajpayee government. During this period, initiatives included developing bamboo resources, drafting the Biological Diversity Act, preparing the National Environment Action Plan, and finalizing various waste management rules. He held the Ministry of Fertilizers and Chemicals from 1999 to 2000. He worked on policies for the fertilizers, pharmaceutical, petrochemicals, and chemicals sectors. He served as Minister of Power from 2000 to 2004. The Electricity Act of 2003 was enacted during his tenure. Reforms made under his ministry encouraged the people to set up their business without being dependent on captive power generation. Prabhu was appointed Chairperson of the Task Force for Interlinking of Rivers under the Vajpayee government. In the first term of the Narendra Modi government, Suresh Prabhu was appointed Minister of Railways but resigned in 2017 following train accidents. In January 2016, the World Bank invited Prabhu to speak on the role of transport and cities in achieving climate goals. He served as Minister of Commerce and Industry from 2017 to 2019. Prahbu also visited Russia to participate in “Timber in the Far East-Increasing Industry’s Economic Return” and talked about India-Russia ties with Russian minister Dmitry Kobylkin. In the final period of the first term of the Narendra Modi government, he served as Minister of Civil Aviation. During this time, Prahbu helped construct seven airports across the country.

Awards and recognition

On 18 August 2016, Prabhu received the Goud Saraswat Brahmin Samaj Maharatha Award. Media surveys between 2014 and 2017 apparently ranked him among the top performing ministers. He was appointed as Visiting Professor in Practice by the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment. In 2024, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Economic Policy Group (EPG).

Social work and interests

* Founder and trustee of Manav Sadhan Vikas Sansthan, which is a non-profit organisation. * Formed CoOperative Development Forum (CDF) for the promotion of cooperative movement in the country.

References

External links

*
Detailed Profile: Suresh Prabhu
{{DEFAULTSORT:Prabhu, Suresh 1953 births Living people Railway ministers of India University of Mumbai alumni India MPs 1996–1997 India MPs 1998–1999 India MPs 1999–2004 India MPs 2004–2009 People from Ratnagiri Marathi politicians Indian accountants Lok Sabha members from Maharashtra Shiv Sena politicians Bharatiya Janata Party politicians from Maharashtra Rajya Sabha members from Haryana Narendra Modi ministry Rajya Sabha members from Andhra Pradesh Ministers of power of India Commerce and industry ministers of India D. G. Ruparel College alumni