Who is Mansukh Mandaviya?

Mansukh Laxmanbhai Mandaviya is the Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare and is a Rajya Sabha member from Gujarat. He assumed the health ministry office on July 7, preceded by Dr Harsh Vardhan, after a Cabinet reshuffle in Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government.

 

Before this, Mandaviya was a Minister of State for Shipping and Minister of State for Chemical and Fertilizers since 2019.

Born in a small village of Bhavnagar district to a middle-class farmer family, he did his MA in Political Science and a certificate course in Veterinary Live Stock Inspector.

 

Mandaviya started his career in politics in 2002 where he fought the Palitana Constituency and became the youngest MLA in Gujarat. In 2004, he organised a 123 km long walk, titled "Kanya Kelavani Jyot Padyatra" for the "Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao" cause, which covered 45 educational backward villages of his constituency.

 

During his first tenure, Mandaviya raised 448 Parliamentary questions out of which, assurances were given in 86 by the government. He was nominated as the Youngest State Secretary in BJP in the year 2013.

 

In the year 2015, the 49-year-old was appointed as General Secretary of BJP and was selected to represent India at the United Nations to talk about sustainable development.

 

In 2016, he was sworn in as a Minister of State for Road Transport & Highways, Shipping, and Chemical & Fertilizers and during this tenure, Mandaviya helped to increase the per day road construction speed, decreasing the cost of Urea and other fertilizers, and establishing over 5,200 Jan Aushadhi stores under "Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Jan Aushadhi Pariyojana" initiative.

 

He was honored by Unicef for his contribution to women's healthcare initiatives and for distributing 100 million sanitary napkins through Jan Aushadhi stores.