Pradhan was promoted to Cabinet Minister on 3 September 2017. Pradhan currently represents the state of Madhya Pradesh in the Lok Sabha as a Member of Parliament. Earlier, he was a member of the 14th Lok Sabha. In March 2024, he won from BJP from the Sambalpur Constituency for the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections.[4][5]
Dharmendra Pradhan currently has 5 pending cases under the IPC, most notably a case under IPC Section 153A for allegedly "Promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony".[6]
He became an A.B.V.P. activist while studying as a higher secondary student at Talcher College (Orissa) and later became the president of the student union of Talcher College. Pradhan started his political career as an Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) activist in 1983 and was elected as its secretary. He holds a post-graduate degree in Anthropology from Utkal University in Bhubaneswar.[8]
Dharmendra Pradhan has been the longest-serving Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas in the history of independent India.[10] Joining as the Minister of State (In-charge) in 2014, he was later promoted to the Cabinet rank in 2017.
On 31 May 2019, Pradhan began his second consecutive tenure at the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas, Government of India.
Popularly called the "Ujjwala Man",[11] Pradhan is credited with the success of the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana launched by the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas under which over 8 million LPG connections have been provided to women from Below Poverty Line (BPL) families over the past 6 years. International Energy Agency termed Ujjwala Yojana as a "game-changer in ending energy poverty".[12] PM Ujjwala Yojana, among other initiatives is also considered one of the key factors behind the re-election of the Modi Government in 2019 Lok Sabha election.[13]
Pradhan, supported by the Union Cabinet, brought in a new Hydrocarbon Exploration & Licensing Policy, which. Through its uniform licensing for explorations and production of all forms of hydrocarbon, open acreage policy, and marketing and pricing freedom, it is hoped to enhance domestic oil and gas production with substantial investment in the sector in India and generate sizable employment. He also led consumer initiatives like PAHAL which is the world's largest Direct Benefit Transfer Scheme and the Give It Up campaign, that was liberally supported by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, aimed at encouraging affluent citizens to surrender their LPG subsidy for the needy receiving a successful response of 10 million consumers.[14]
Dharmendra Pradhan, as the Petroleum Minister has been driving India's energy transition balancing India's energy demand and India's commitment to climate change mitigation efforts. He has provided leadership to efforts around making India, a gas-based economy. With around $60 billion of investments lined up in India's gas infrastructure,[15] Pradhan has been working to expand the city gas distribution network and piped gas network in the country.[16] He has underlined that India is going to chart its own path of energy transition which will balance India's energy demand and decarbonization efforts.[17]
Criticism
The effectiveness of the Ujjwala scheme has been questioned by opposition parties[18] and critics alike with several complaints of corruption[19] lodged. Multiple inadequacies were noted including but not limited to delayed installations,[20]some beneficiaries showing unusually high rates of consumption[20] and lack of proper data to suggest benefit to environment or women from this scheme.[20]
Almost 90 lakh beneficiaries participating in this scheme refused for a refill citing high prices of LPG cylinders even after subsidies [21] and continued using traditional approach to cooking thus creating environmental hazards. Over 1.18 crore beneficiaries bought no refills, while another 1.51 crore bought just one refill highlighting a huge failure in the implementation of the scheme. [22]
Minister of Steel
In a brief tenure as the Minister of Steel, Dharmendra Pradhan has been working to facilitate augmentation of production capacity, ensure growth of the secondary steel sector, jobs creation, and ensure value addition and import substitution. With a particular focus on enhancing steel usage in India, he launched Ispati Irada, a collaborative campaign to involve all stakeholders in this drive.[23] He also launched Mission Purvodaya in steel sector to drive transformation of eastern India through the growth of steel industry which has majority presence in eastern India.[24]
Minister of Skill Development
As Minister of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Pradhan launched many key initiatives focusing on reskilling and upskilling the manpower of India and focusing on bridging the skill gap for the Indian youth. During his tenure, the total number of Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) increased by over 40% and student enrollment increased by over 28% till 2019.[25] He brought in new paradigms in the regulatory environment by mooting National Council for Vocational Education and Training (NCVET) as new unified national reg IBM, Adobe to introduce new age skills related to Industry 4.0.[26][27] He also launched one of the world's largest counselling programs named Skill Saathi.[28]
Critics have expressed concerns over the discrepancies in the number of people who actually secured a job after graduating from such skill development projects as only 24.51 lakh people secured a job in a span of eight years [29] accounting for a lowly 20% placement rate among graduates.[30]The short nature of the course has also been questioned and criticized for being largely ineffective and failed to show any improvements in employment rates.[31]
He has been accused of mismanagement and systemic corruption by the opposition parties in conducting the 2024 NEET exam.[34] While the Supreme Court of India failed to find any large scale wrongdoing such as mass paper leak,[35] there were confirmed cases of cheating[36] and malpractice[36] with over 100 arrests made, indicating corruption at the highest levels, leading to large scale frustration among students.
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