Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu Takes Over as Minister of Railways
Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu took over charge as Minister of Railways here today. Speaking to media persons soon after taking over, Shri Prabhu said that we will fulfill passengers’ expectations of providing comfort, safety and good catering services. The Indian Railways is growth engine for country’s economy and has the potential to give further boost to country’s economic development He has directed the railway Board to launch a web portal soon for receiving suggestions, feedback, questions etc. He also held a meeting with Chairman, Railway Board, Board Members and senior officials of Railway Board soon after taking over the charge. The Railway Minister also held discussions with representatives of various federations of railway employees.
Shri Suresh Prabhu is a Chartered Accountant by profession and a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India. He is credited with academic degrees namely B.Com (H), LLB and FCA. Shri Prabhu was four times Member of Parliament of Lok Sabha from Rajapura Constituency of Maharashtra.
During 1998 to 2004 when there was NDA government under the leadership of Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Shri Prabhu held various important portfolios such as Industry Minister, Minister of Environment and Forests, Minister of Fertilizers & Chemicals, Power, Heavy Industry and Public Enterprises. As the Union Minister for Power he had imparted a new dynamism to the functioning of the Ministry and was committed to the all round development of this crucial sector. He was also Chairman of Task Force for Interlinking of Rivers with a status and rank of Union Cabinet Minister. Recently, he has been heavily involved in the international sphere. He was elected a member of the World Bank parliamentary network and nominated as the Chairman of the South Asia Water conference. The Prime Minister has named Shri Suresh Prabhu as Indian ‘Sherpa’ for the Group of 20 annual summit. Sherpa is a senior official responsible for preparing the agenda for leaders to consider during the summit. The present government has appointed Shri Prabhu as the head of a high-level panel on power revamp — “Advisory Group for Integrated Development of Power, Coal and Renewable Energy.
Shri Prabhu is associated with many social and charitable organisations. He is the founder of ‘Youth for Democracy’, a student organisation. Shri Suresh Prabhu is the Chairperson of an NGO –Manav Sadhan Vikas Sanstha, working towards empowerment of people. He has published several columns on Finance, Economy, Socio-Economic issues in national and regional press. He has presented papers and delivered lectures at various national and international fora. He is Chairman, Maharashtra State Table Tennis Academy and also Vice President, Table Tennis Federation of India.
He has been actively associated with UNESCO activities. He is also the winner of UNESCO fellowship and visited Africa in that connection to study the problems of youth in developing countries. Shri Prabhu is presently working on 16 global organisations and nine strategic dialogues. Shri Prabhu has travelled to more than 100 countries. He is also pursuing his Ph.D in Climate Change from Frel University Berlin and Public Finance from Mumbai University.
Shri Prabhu remained active in various Parliamentary committees and bodies which include Chairman, Indo-German Parliamentary Forum, Chairman, Parliamentary Forum on Environment, Parliamentary Maritime Group, Cooperative Forum of Parliamentarians, Indo-US Parliamentary Forum, Indo-UK Parliamentary Forum, Parliamentary Standing Committee on Ministry of External Affairs, Public Accounts Committee, Joint Parliamentary Committee to draft Women’s Reservation Bill, Parliamentary Standing Committee and Consultative Committee on Finance, Consultative Committee for the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Parliamentary Forum on Renewable Energy, Indo-Japan Parliamentary Forum, Indo-EU Parliamentary Forum etc.
(Photographs also available on pib.nic.in)
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