Rajiv Pratap Rudy
Member of Parliament, Former Union Minister (Skill Development and Entrepreneurship) and Former Chair, Parliamentary Standing Committee on Water Resources, India
Rajiv Pratap Rudy started his career as a student union representative, becoming an eminent political leader in India. He has served as the Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Skill Development & Entrepreneurship and Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs in Shri Narendra Modi’s government. In Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s government, he was the Minister of State for Commerce and Industry and later, the Minister of State with Independent Charge of Civil Aviation in 2003. He is currently serving his 4th term in the Lok Sabha and was previously also elected twice to the Rajya Sabha from the state of Bihar. He was elected as a State Legislator from Bihar at the age of 27 in the 1990s. He has served in various organizational roles, including the National General Secretary and the National Spokesperson of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), in his political career spanning nearly three decades. As a student union leader, he was the President, Students Union, Government College, Chandigarh, 1982, and General Secretary, Panjab University Students Union, 1984. He was elected as the youngest member of Bihar Legislative Assembly in 1990. Professionally an academician, a teacher of economics, he was a Lecturer in Economics in A.N. College, Patna (under Magadh, University), Bihar and has also had a stint as a Legal Counsel, apart from a deep association with the field of Aviation. During his tenure in the Civil Aviation Ministry between 2003 and 2004, he had witnessed comprehensive reforms and their footprints can be observed even today. Modernization of Indian Airports, launch of Low Cost Airlines, ATF tax reduction, abolition of IATT, revising the charter policy etc., were some the major milestones. He is credited as the only Parliamentarian in the world Captaining Airbus-320 Jets, flying with one of the largest airlines in India and he figures in the Limca book of World records. He also has the distinction of being one of the few civilians to have flown Sukhoi 30-MKI fighter aircraft, Grippen, and Rafale fighter. He makes special efforts to develop the District of Saran in Bihar as a model district by way of Industrial investment, infrastructure and raising resources and creating employment opportunities for the posterity and fulfilling their aspirations. He is also credited with having the largest GPS monitored Ambulance services numbering 65 in Chapra Parliamentary Constituency with a centralized toll free control room.