Change at the Helm

Javadekar born on January 30, 1951, and a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party, was elected to the Rajya Sabha as a Member of Parliament from Maharashtra in 2008, and again from Madhya Pradesh in 2014.

Following the victory of the Bharatiya Janata Party in the 2014 General Election, he was appointed Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Environment, Forests, and Climate Change by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He was also appointed as a Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs. He led the Indian delegation to the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference. Javadekar is also an official spokesperson of the BJP.

He is married to Dr. Prachee Javadekar and has two sons. A University of Pune alumnus, Javadekar has also served as member of the Press Council Standing Committee on Human Resources and Development, Public Accounts Committee, Consultative Committee for Ministry of Power, Committee on Subordinate Legislation, Standing Committee on Defense, and the Committee on Waqf.

In the previous government, he initially served as Minister of State with independent charge in the Ministry of Environment and Forests for two years. He was made the HRD Minister in 2016. For a while, he was also the Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs and Information and Broadcasting. His most significant tenure was as environment minister, where he paved the way for numerous green clearances and led negotiations on climate change that concluded with the Paris Agreement.