Ravi Shankar Prasad

Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad a politician from Bharatiya Janata Party is presently a Member of the Parliament of India representing Bihar in the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Indian Parliament. Prasad did his L.L.B. from Patna University.

As an advocate

Ravi Shankar Prasad is a practicing Senior Advocate at the Supreme Court of India. He was the main lawyer who argued the Public Interest Litigation against former Bihar Chief Minister and Current Railway Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav in the infamous Fodder scam and Bitumen Scam cases leading to his arrest. He was lawyer for Shri L.K.Advani, former Deputy Prime Minister in various proceedings in the Patna High Court; attended International Congress on Law and Medicine and on Patent Laws; has argued a large number of cases of public, private and corporate bodies; has been handling cases of major organisations including Railways, Bennett & Coleman, Dabur Company, etc.; was Senior Counsel, Bihar Banking Service Recruitment Board; Some of his cases were the Landmark Narmada Bachao Andolan Case, T.N.Thirumpalad v. Union of India, Rameshwar Prasad v. Union of India (Bihar Assembly Dissolution Case)and Prof. Yashpal's case on Medical Education in India. He started practicing before the Hon'ble Patna High Court since 1980. Prasad was designated Senior Advocate in 1999 by the Full Court of the Patna High Court. He was enrolled in Supreme Court in 2000.

As a politician

He has held national level assignments in the youth wing and the main party organisation of the BJP over the years. He became an M.P. in 2000 and became a Minister of State (Coal & Mines) in 2001 under A.B. Vajpayee as P.M. After taking over as Minister of State in the Ministry of Coal and Mines, Prasad had accelerated the reforms process in the mining and coal sectors. He initiated for reaching professional outlook in the Coal sector.

As a minister

Prasad was given the additional charge of the Minister of State in the Ministry of Law & Justice on 01-07-2002 within a fortnight of his joining, he prepared a bill for amending Representation of People’s Act. He speeded up the process of fast track Courts.

As Minister of Information & Broadcasting he initiated reforms in The Radio, Television and Animation Sector and establishment of Goa as the Centre of International Film Festival of India (IFFI). In April 2002, he was sent as the leader of Indian Delegation in the Non Aligned Ministerial meet in Durban (South Africa). Thereafter, he was sent as the Indian representative to meet Late Yasser Araft, the Palestinian Leader at Ramallah as a member of NAM Ministerial delegation to express solidarity with him. He was sent as the leader of Indian Delegation in the Commonwealth Law Minister Summit in St. Vincent (West Indies). He led the Indian delegation to Film festivals in Cannes, Venice and London. He became National Spokesperson of BJP in 2006 and has been re-elected to the Parliament Rajya Sabha from Bihar in April 2006. He was re-appointed as the Chief National Spokesperson of BJP in 2007. He is also the member of BJP National Executive, the top policy making body for last 10 years. He is also Member of various Parliamentary Committees. Recently, he was the incharge of the party for Uttaranchal Assembly Elections. He was sent to UNO to represent India in 61st UN General Assembly in New York in Oct 2006.

Student days

He was one of the front ranking student leaders in J.P.'s Bihar Movement in the seventies and also suffered imprisonment for organised resistance against the emergency in Bihar.

He was associated with Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (A.B.V.P.) for many years and held various offices in the said organisation; also, he was the General Secretary of the Peoples Union for Civil Liberty (P.U.C.L.), Bihar.

He is married to (Dr.) Maya Shankar who is a Professor of History in the Patna University. They have two children.

External links

* [http://www.hindu.com/2005/10/08/stories/2005100813370100.htm]