Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment (May 2019 – Present): Dr. Thawar Chand Gehlot
Date of Birth: Dr. Gehlot was born on May 18, 1948.
Place of Birth: He was born at Nagda in Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh (MP).
Parents: His father was Shri Ramlalji Gehlot, and mother was Shrimati Suman Bai.
Spouse: He is married to Anita Gehlot since 1965, and together they have 4 children.
Political Party: He is a member of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Education: Dr. Gehlot completed his BA (Bachelor of Arts) degree from the Vikram University in Ujjain, MP. In 2016, Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar Social University at Mhow in MP awarded him a Doctorate Degree (Doctor of Literature).
Career: From 1965 to 1970, he was a worker in the Grasim Industries, the Nagda Junction, and Birla Udyog. Till 1975, he was also the Secretary of the Grasim Engineering Shramik Sangh as well as the Treasurer of the Chemical Shramik Sangh. During this period, he took part in several labour movements. As a result of the same, he was incarcerated on a number of occasions as well.
In 1971, he was held in judicial custody for 10 months at the Bhairavgarh Jail of Ujjain. He also spent time in the same jail at the time of Emergency. He was there from November 14, 1975 to January 6, 1976 for a total of 54 days. The reasons in this case were understandably social and political in nature. He also took part in political agitations in Ujjain, Bhopal as well as in Delhi, and for these too he was put behind bars.
He is an avid participant in various social, cultural, literary, sporting, and other activities. He regularly writes articles for Vidhayani, which is a quarterly magazine brought out by the legislative assembly of MP. He has helped an entity named Balai Samaj stop various social and religious malpractices.
Political Milestones: From 1996 to 2009, Dr. Gehlot served as the Lok Sabha Member of Parliament (MP) of Shajapur in MP. After 2009, the constituency was abolished. He has been a Rajya Sabha MP from Madhya Pradesh from April 3, 2012. On June 17, 2019 he assumed the position of the Leader of the House in Rajya Sabha. From May 26, 2014 he has been the Union Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment as well. In an illustrious political career, he has also served as a member of the Central Election Committee as well as the Parliamentary Board.
Dr. Gehlot has also served as the General Secretary of the BJP. He belongs to the Balai community of the Scheduled Castes and has also functioned as In-charge of the BJP SC Morcha.
Till date, he has visited a number of countries in various capacities that may be enumerated as below:
- USA (United States of America)
- Durban, South Africa
- China
- Australia
- Jordan
- Israel
- Palestine
- Edinburgh, Scotland
- London, England
- Kenya
- Seoul, South Korea
- Buenos Aires, Argentina
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Speaker of Lok Sabha: Om Birla
