Former minister of steel and petroleum and natural gas, Dharmendra Pradhan is set to handle the education and skill development after the Cabinet reshuffle on Wednesday, in which 36 new ministers were inducted.
The Rajya Sabha MP was in charge of the petroleum ministry from 2014. He was the longest-serving minister of this department. He first joined as minister of state and, later in 2017, he was promoted to Cabinet rank.
Pradhan, also known as "Ujjwala Man", has been appreciated for launching Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana under the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas during his tenure. This scheme helped in providing over eight million LPG connections to below poverty line (BPL) families in six years.
Pradhan hails from the Talcher city of Odisha. He did a post-graduate degree in Anthropology from Utkal University in Bhubaneswar. The 52-year-old is the son of former MoS Debendra Pradhan.
After undertaking various roles in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), he became a member of the 14th Lok Sabha. He was elected to Rajya Sabha twice. He represented Bihar in 2012 and has been representing Madhya Pradesh since 2018.
Published 08 July 2021, 10:05 IST