Ravi Shankar Prasad facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Ravi Shankar Prasad
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| Union Cabinet Minister, Government of India | |
| In office 26 May 2014 – 7 July 2021 |
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| 30 May 2019–7 July 2021 | Minister of Communications |
| 5 July 2016–7 July 2021 | Minister of Electronics and Information Technology |
| 5 July 2016–7 July 2021 | Minister of Law and Justice |
| 26 May 2014–9 November 2014 | Minister of Law and Justice |
| 26 May 2014–5 July 2016 | Minister of Communications and Information Technology |
| In office 29 January 2003 – 22 May 2004 |
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| 29 January 2003–22 May 2004 | Minister of Information and Broadcasting |
| Union Minister of State, Government of India | |
| In office 1 September 2001 – 29 January 2003 |
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| 1 July 2002–29 January 2003 | Minister of state in the Ministry of Law and Justice |
| 1 September 2001–1 July 2002 | Minister of state in the Ministry of Coal and Mines |
| Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha | |
| Assumed office 23 May 2019 |
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| Preceded by | Shatrughan Sinha |
| Constituency | Patna Sahib |
| Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha | |
| In office 3 April 2000 – 30 May 2019 |
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| Succeeded by | Ram Vilas Paswan |
| Constituency | Bihar |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 30 August 1954 Patna, Bihar, India |
| Political party | Bharatiya Janata Party |
| Spouse | Maya Shankar |
| Alma mater | Patna University (BA, MA, LLB) |
| Profession | Lawyer |
Ravi Shankar Prasad (born 30 August 1954) is an Indian politician and a lawyer. He belongs to the Bharatiya Janata Party. He has been a Member of Parliament since 2000. First, he was in the Rajya Sabha (from 2000 to 2019). Later, he joined the Lok Sabha (from 2019 onwards).
Mr. Prasad has served as a Union Minister many times. He was a Minister of State for Coal (2001–2003), Law and Justice (2002–2003), and Information and Broadcasting (2003–2004). These roles were during Atal Bihari Vajpayee's time as Prime Minister.
As a Cabinet Minister, he held important jobs. He was in charge of Law and Justice (2014, 2016–2021). He also handled Communications (2014–2016, 2019–2021). And he was the Minister for Electronics and Information Technology (2014–2021). These roles were during Narendra Modi's time as Prime Minister.
During his time as a Union Minister, many old laws were removed. He also helped with legal issues related to buying Rafale fighter planes. Plus, 15,000 trial courts became digital. However, there were also some disagreements. These included talks about how judges are chosen and issues with social media companies like Twitter and Facebook.
Early Life and Education
Ravi Shankar Prasad was born on August 30, 1954. His family was religious and lived in Patna, Bihar. His father, Thakur Prasad, was a well-known lawyer at the Patna High Court. He also helped start the Jan Sangh, which later became the Bharatiya Janata Party. Ravi Shankar Prasad's sister, Anuradha Prasad, owns a media company. She is married to Congress politician Rajeev Shukla.
Mr. Prasad studied at Patna University. He earned degrees in Arts (BA Hons), Political Science (MA), and Law (LL.B). In 1969, he joined the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, a student group. He was part of a student movement in Bihar led by Jayaprakash Narayan. He was even put in jail during the Emergency, a time when strict rules were in place in India.
Law Career
Ravi Shankar Prasad started working as a lawyer at the Patna High Court in 1980. He became a Senior Advocate at the Patna High Court in 1999. Then, in 2000, he became a Senior Advocate at the Supreme Court of India. He also served as the General Secretary for the People's Union for Civil Liberties in Bihar.
Mr. Prasad worked on several important legal cases. He represented the Hindu Mahasabha in the Ram Janmabhoomi case, which was a big land dispute. He also defended Lal Krishna Advani in court in 1990. This was when Advani was arrested during his political journey called the Ram Rath Yatra. Mr. Prasad was also the main lawyer in a case against former Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav. This case, known as the Fodder Scam, led to many politicians and officials being jailed.
Political Journey
Ravi Shankar Prasad started his political journey as a student leader in the 1970s. He helped organize protests against Indira Gandhi's government at that time.
Joining the Bharatiya Janata Party
Mr. Prasad has always been loyal to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). From 1991 to 1995, he was the National Vice President of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha. This is the youth group of the BJP. In 1995, he became a member of the BJP's National Executive Committee.
First Roles as Minister (2000-2004)
In April 2000, Ravi Shankar Prasad was elected to the Rajya Sabha. This is the upper house of the Indian Parliament. It was his first time becoming a Member of Parliament.
During Atal Bihari Vajpayee's time as Prime Minister, Mr. Prasad served as a Minister of State.
- From 2001 to 2003, he was in the Ministry of Coal. Here, he worked to speed up reforms in coal and mining.
- From 2002 to 2003, he was in the Law and Justice.
- From 2003 to 2004, he was in the Information and Broadcasting. In this role, he brought changes to radio, television, and animation. These changes helped improve their quality.
Years in Opposition
In March 2006, Mr. Prasad was chosen as a national spokesperson for the BJP. He was later promoted to Chief National Spokesperson in 2007. In 2010, he became the party's general secretary.
He was re-elected to the Rajya Sabha two more times, in April 2006 and April 2012. As a MP, he was part of different parliamentary committees. One of these was a committee that looked into matters related to the 2G spectrum case from 2011 to 2013.
Under Narendra Modi's Government
When the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance won the 2014 general election, Mr. Prasad became part of the Narendra Modi Cabinet. On May 27, 2014, he was appointed as Minister of Law and Justice and Minister for Communications and Information Technology.
He served as Law Minister for more than five years in total. This was from May 27 to November 9, 2014; then from July 5, 2016, to May 25, 2019; and again from May 30, 2019, to July 7, 2021. This was one of the longest tenures for a Law Minister.
He was Minister of Communications and IT until July 5, 2016. At that time, the ministry was split into two: a Ministry of Communications and a Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology. After this, he took charge of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology. He held this job until May 25, 2019, and again from May 30, 2019, to July 7, 2021. During the later period, he also managed the Communications portfolio.
How Judges are Appointed
When Mr. Prasad became Law Minister in 2014, one of his first actions was to propose a new law. This law was for the National Judicial Appointments Commission. It aimed to change how judges are chosen for courts. The old system, called the collegium system, was sometimes criticized for not being clear enough.
Parliament passed this new law, and many states approved it. However, in 2015, the Supreme Court of India rejected it. The court said that having the Law Minister on the commission might affect how independent judges are.
The next year, the Law Ministry paused many judge appointments. They had concerns about some names suggested by the Supreme Court. Mr. Prasad defended the government's actions. He showed that many judges were appointed in 2016, proving progress was being made.
Law on Triple Talaq
On August 22, 2017, the Supreme Court made an important decision. It ruled that the Muslim practice of instant divorce, called talaq-e-biddat or triple talaq, was unfair. This practice allowed a man to divorce his wife by saying "talaq" three times. The court said it went against women's right to equality.
After this decision, the government introduced a new bill in Parliament in December 2017. This bill, called The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, aimed to make it a crime to use instant triple talaq. If someone broke this law, they could go to jail for three years.
Some people disagreed with the bill, saying it was making a civil issue into a criminal one. But Law Minister Prasad argued against these criticisms. The first version of the bill did not pass in the Rajya Sabha. However, it was brought back in 2019 and passed by both houses of Parliament. It became a law on August 1, 2019. This was seen as a success for Mr. Prasad and the government.
Digital India Program
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As Minister for Electronics and Information Technology, Mr. Prasad led the government's big program called Digital India. He has often talked about the success of the common service center scheme under Digital India. This scheme helps deliver government services digitally and creates jobs.
He also highlighted the creation of business processing and outsourcing units (BPOs) in distant areas. And he noted the growth of electronic manufacturing units in India. These were all successful government efforts. In 2018, a UK-based group called Apolitical named him one of the top twenty leaders in digital government worldwide. This was because of his work on the Digital India program and his support for net neutrality.
Startup India Initiatives
Mr. Prasad played a key role in helping India's startup businesses grow. He started special meetings to understand what the startup community needed. He then helped create government policies and programs to support new businesses in the country.
Discussions with Big Tech Companies
Mr. Prasad has openly supported net neutrality. This means that all internet content should be treated equally, and no company should block or slow down certain websites. He insisted that internet access "is not negotiable."
As Minister for Communications and IT, he did not allow Facebook to launch its Free Basics platform in India in 2016. He explained that this platform only gave access to a few websites and services, not the whole internet.
In February 2021, new rules were announced for social media companies. These were called the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021. They aimed to control how social media works and prevent its misuse. However, Mr. Prasad and his Ministry soon had disagreements with big tech companies, especially Twitter. This was about following the new local laws. The conflict grew when the government removed Twitter's legal protection in India in June. This happened because Twitter did not follow the new IT rules. At one point, Twitter even temporarily blocked Mr. Prasad's official account due to a copyright issue.
In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Ravi Shankar Prasad won in the Patna Sahib constituency. He defeated Dr. Anshul Avijit by a large number of votes.
Personal Life
On February 3, 1982, Ravi Shankar Prasad married Maya Shankar. She is a historian and a professor of history at Patna University.
See also
- List of politicians from Bihar
