Ravi Shankar Prasad

Ravi Shankar Prasad
Ravi Shankar Prasad
Union Cabinet Minister, Government of India
In office
26 May 2014 – 7 July 2021
30 May 2019–7 July 2021Minister of Communications
5 July 2016–7 July 2021Minister of Electronics and Information Technology
5 July 2016–7 July 2021Minister of Law and Justice
26 May 2014–9 November 2014Minister of Law and Justice
26 May 2014–5 July 2016Minister of Communications and Information Technology
In office
29 January 2003 – 22 May 2004
29 January 2003–22 May 2004Minister of Information and Broadcasting
Union Minister of State, Government of India
In office
1 September 2001 – 29 January 2003
1 July 2002–29 January 2003Minister of state in the Ministry of Law and Justice
1 September 2001–1 July 2002Minister of state in the Ministry of Coal and Mines
Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha
Incumbent
Assumed office
23 May 2019
Preceded byShatrughan Sinha
ConstituencyPatna Sahib
Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha
In office
3 April 2000 – 30 May 2019
Succeeded byRam Vilas Paswan
ConstituencyBihar
Personal details
Born (1954-08-30) 30 August 1954 (age 70)
Patna, Bihar, India
Political partyBharatiya Janata Party
SpouseMaya Shankar
Alma materPatna University (BA, MA, LLB)
ProfessionLawyer

Ravi Shankar Prasad (born 30 August 1954) is an Indian politician and lawyer, from the Bharatiya Janata Party.[1] A Member of Parliament since 2000, first in the Rajya Sabha (2000–2019) and then in the Lok Sabha (since 2019), Prasad has served as Union Minister multiple times: As Minister of State, he served in the ministries of Coal (2001–2003), Law and Justice (2002–2003), and Information and Broadcasting (2003–2004) under Atal Bihari Vajpayee's premiership; as Cabinet Minister, he held the Law and Justice (2014, 2016–2021), Communications (2014–2016, 2019–2021), and Electronics and Information Technology (2014–2021) portfolios under Narendra Modi's premiership.[2]

His term as Union Minister was marked with the repeal of 1500 archaic laws, handling of litigation over the purchase of Rafale fighter planes, and digitization of 15000 trial courts. On the other hand, his tenure also saw controversy over the proposed National Judicial Appointments Commission, constant friction between the judiciary and the executive, and rows with social media platforms Twitter and Facebook over local rules.[3]

  1. ^ "Ravi Shankar Prasad". National Portal of India. Retrieved 15 October 2021.
  2. ^ "Members Bioprofile". Lok Sabha. Retrieved 15 October 2021.
  3. ^ Das Gupta, Moushumi (7 July 2021). "Javadekar, Pokhriyal, RS Prasad, Harsh Vardhan — why Modi govt dropped big names from Cabinet". The Print. Retrieved 15 October 2021.