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Dharmendra Pradhan

Dharmendra Pradhan is serving in the Indian government as Minister of Skill Development and Minister of Education and Entrepreneurship. He was born on June 26, 1969. He has likewise served as Minister of Steel and Minister of Natural Gas and Petroleum.

On September 3, 2017, Pradhan was appointed Cabinet Minister. As a Member of Parliament, Pradhan now represents Madhya Pradesh in the Rajya Sabha. He formerly served in the 14th Lok Sabha.

Politics & Early Life:

He is the son of Debendra Pradhan, who served in the Vajpayee government as a cabinet member from 1999 to 2004.

While an upper secondary student at Talcher College in Orissa, he became an A.B.V.P. activist and eventually became the president of Talcher College's student union. In 1983, Pradhan became an Akhil Bharatiya

Vidyarthi Parishad (A.B.V.P.) activist and was elected as the party's secretary. He has a postgraduate degree in Anthropology from Bhubaneswar's Utkal University.

He was elected to the 14th Lok Sabha after holding several posts in the B.J.P. He was also elected to the Rajya Sabha twice, once in Bihar and once in Madhya Pradesh.

Minister of the Union: Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas

Dharmendra Pradhan has served as India's Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas for the longest time in the country's independent history. In 2014, he was appointed as Minister of State (In-Charge), then in 2017, he was promoted to the Cabinet. Shri Pradhan started his second term at the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas of the Government of India on May 31, 2019.

The Ujjwala Man:

Pradhan, also known as the "Ujjwala Man," is credited with the success of the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana, which has delivered over 8 million L.P.G. connections to women from Below Poverty Line (BPL) families over the last six years.

The Ujjwala Yojana has been regarded as a mechanism for empowering women and bringing about social transformation.

Ujjwala Yojana has been dubbed a "game-changer" to fight against energy poverty by the International Energy Agency. A working paper on "Lighting up Lives with Cooking Gas and Transforming Society" was published by I.I.M. Ahmedabad. The PM Ujjwala Yojana, among other measures, is seen as one of the critical causes in the Modi government's re-election in the 2019 Lok Sabha election.

Reforms in Policy:

In the hydrocarbon sector, Pradhan has influenced some critical choices. Pradhan, with the support of the Union Cabinet, has introduced a new Hydrocarbon Exploration and Licensing Policy, which, through uniform licensing for all types of hydrocarbon exploration and production, open acreage policy, and marketing and pricing freedom, will boost domestic oil and gas production and generate significant employment. He also led consumer initiatives such as P.A.H.A.L., the world's largest Direct Benefit Transfer Scheme, and the Give It Up campaign, which was widely supported by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and aimed to persuade affluent citizens to donate their L.P.G. subsidy to the poor, with a successful response of 10 million consumers.

Changes in the Energy Sector:

As Petroleum Minister, Dharmendra Pradhan has been at the forefront of India's energy transition, reconciling its energy consumption with its commitment to climate change mitigation initiatives. He has been a driving force behind efforts to transform India into a gas-based economy. Pradhan has been trying to extend India's city gas distribution network and piped gas network, with roughly $60 billion in investments lined up in the country's gas infrastructure. He has stated that India will create its path of energy transformation that will balance India's energy demand and reduce carbon emissions.

Steel Minister of the Union:

Dharmendra Pradhan has worked to enable the expansion of production capacity, the growth of the secondary steel sector, job creation, value addition, and import substitution throughout his brief stint as Minister of Steel. He created Ispati Irada, a collaborative initiative to incorporate all stakeholders in this drive, focusing on increasing steel utilization in India. He also created Mission Purvodaya in the steel sector to transform eastern India through the growth of the steel industry, which is based in the region.

Minister of State for Skill Development:

As Minister of Skill Development including Entrepreneurship, Pradhan spearheaded several significant projects to resolve and upskilling India's workforce and bridge the skill gap for the country's youth. Until 2019, the overall number of Industrial Training Institutes (I.T.I.s) expanded by more than 40%, with student enrolment increasing by more than 28%. He ushered in new regulatory paradigms by proposing the National Council for Vocational Education and Training (N.C.V.E.T.) as a new unified national regulatory body for I.B.M., Adobe, and other companies to promote new age skills connected to Industry 4.0. He also established Skill Saathi, one of the world's most extensive counseling programs. Pradhan's Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas was extended in May 2019, and he was given the Ministry of Steel.

Education Minister of the Union:

• Following a Cabinet upheaval in July 2021, Pradhan was appointed Minister of Education in the Second Modi Ministry, replacing Ramesh Pokhriyal.

• Minister of Education, among other positions, held (Jul 2021 - Present)

• Madhya Pradesh (M.P.) Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha): April 2018 in B.J.P. – present Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha), Bihar: 2012–2018

• In-charge - The B.J.P. Bihar: In-charge B.J.P. 2011–2013 Bharatiya Janata Party All India General Secretary - 2010–now Co-Incharge of Karnataka - The B.J.P. In-charge of State Elections in Bihar In-Charge: Bharatiya Janta Yuva Morcha (B.J.Y.M.) B.J.P. Jharkhand is in charge of the election. Uttarakhand B.J.P.

• National Secretary, Bharatiya Janata Party, 2007–2010 In-charge Deogarh, Odisha, India: 2007–2010 Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha): 2004–2009

• Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha is a political party in India. President of the United States from 2004 to 2006.

• From 2000 until 2004, he was a member of the Odisha Legislative Assembly. The constituency of Pallahada in the Florida House of Representatives

• 1995 A.B.V.P. National Secretary

• Talcher College Students' Union President, 1985

• In 1983, he became an Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (A.B.V.P.) activist.

The Ministries of Education and Skill Development and Entrepreneurship are two of India's most essential ministries for its youth. It was therefore critical that they be managed by the same minister, so that they could work together to achieve mutual goals.

These key portfolios have been assigned to Dharmendra Pradhan, who has established a reputation for working very hard to deliver whatever work he is given.

Pradhan was elected to the House of Commons in 2004 after winning the Deogarh parliamentary constituency. Despite losing the 2009 assembly elections, he rose through the BJP ranks and became national secretary and eventually general secretary.

He was elected in 2012 from Bihar Rajya Sabha. When Narendra Modi was elected Prime Minister of India in 2014, he was appointed Union Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas with autonomous responsibility.

In 2017, he was promoted to the level of union minister for the same ministry, with additional responsibility for the ministry of skill development and entrepreneurship, as part of a cabinet shuffle. In the Modi 2.0 government, he was promoted to cabinet minister once more.