The Minister for Road Transport Highways Dr. Chandra Prakash Joshi has taken over additional charge of the Ministry of Railways, here today. Dr. Joshi is a Member of Parliament from Bhilwara Lok Sabha Constituency in Rajasthan. Earlier he also held the portfolio of Rural Development Panchayati Raj in the Union Ministry.

Dr Joshi is an academician by profession, with two Masters Degrees each in Physics and Psychology, Ph.D in Psychology as well as a qualified lawyer. Having started his career as a lecturer at the M. B. College, Udaipur, he became a Professor of Psychology at the Mohanlal Sukhadia University, Udaipur, Rajasthan.

Dr. Joshi had his first brush with politics in 1973 when he was elected the president of students’ union at the Mohanlal Sukhadia University, the same university where he later became a professor of Psychology. In 1980, Dr. Joshi was elected to the Rajasthan State Legislative Assembly from Nathdwara constituency. He went on to be elected from the same constituency for the next four terms. He became a Minister in Government of Rajasthan and handled portfolios of Panchayati Raj (local government), Education, Rural Development, Public Health Engineering, Planning and Information Technology. Dr. Joshi is also a sports enthusiast and was elected as the President of Rajasthan Cricket Association.

He has been elected to the Lok Sabha in 2009 from Bhilwara constituency in Rajasthan. He headed the Ministry of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj. Since 2011 onwards, Dr. Joshi is the Union Minister of Road Transport Highways.

(Note : Photograph is available at PIB Website i.e. pib.nic.in)

AKS/HK/LK

(Release ID :87921)