25 Facts About Ravi Shankar Prasad

Ravi Shankar Prasad was born on 30 August 1954 and is an Indian politician and lawyer, from the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Ravi Shankar Prasad was born in a religious Chitraguptvanshi Kayastha family in Patna, Bihar.

Ravi Shankar Prasad became a member of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad in 1969.

Ravi Shankar Prasad participated in the student movement in Bihar led by Jayaprakash Narayan, and was imprisoned during the Emergency.

Ravi Shankar Prasad has been practising at the Patna High Court since 1980.

Ravi Shankar Prasad was designated Senior Advocate at the Patna HC in 1999 and Senior Advocate at the Supreme Court of India in 2000.

Ravi Shankar Prasad was General Secretary of the People's Union for Civil Liberties in Bihar.

Ravi Shankar Prasad defended Lal Krishna Advani in court when the latter was arrested in Bihar during his Rath Yatra in 1990.

Ravi Shankar Prasad was the main lawyer arguing the PIL against former Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad in the fodder scam that led to the jailing of several politicians and officials, including Lalu Prasad.

Ravi Shankar Prasad began his political career as a student leader under the leadership of Jayaprakash Narayan in the 1970s, organising protests against Indira Gandhi's government.

Ravi Shankar Prasad became a Member of the BJP's National Executive Committee in 1995.

Under Atal Bihari Vajpayee's premiership, Ravi Shankar Prasad served as Minister of State in the ministries of Coal, where he was responsible for accelerating the coal and mining reforms; Law and Justice ; and Information and Broadcasting.

Ravi Shankar Prasad was appointed as a national spokesperson of the BJP in March 2006, and was later elevated to the post of its Chief National Spokesperson in 2007.

Ravi Shankar Prasad was re-elected to the Rajya Sabha for a second term in April 2006 and for a third in April 2012.

Ravi Shankar Prasad was appointed as Minister of Law and Justice and Minister for Communications and Information Technology on 27 May 2014.

Ravi Shankar Prasad would go on to serve three terms as Law Minister: 27 May to 9 November 2014; 5 July 2016 to 25 May 2019; and 30 May 2019 to 7 July 2021; a tenure of more than 5 years that was second only to that of Ashoke Sen.

Ravi Shankar Prasad was Minister of Communications and IT till the ministry's bifurcation on 5 July 2016 into a Ministry of Communications and a Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, following which he took charge of the latter.

Ravi Shankar Prasad was on the job till 25 May 2019, and again from 30 May 2019 to 7 July 2021.

Ravi Shankar Prasad defended the executive in this faceoff with the judiciary by rolling out statistics showing an increased number of judges being appointed in the year 2016.

The opposition criticised the bill for attempting to criminalise a civil wrong, with Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad countering the charges.

Ravi Shankar Prasad himself has highlighted the common service centre scheme under Digital India, providing digital delivery of services and creating employment, as the biggest achievement of the government in the digital technology sector.

Ravi Shankar Prasad has pointed out the establishment of business processing and outsourcing units in far-flung areas and the growth of electronic manufacturing units in India as successful government efforts.

In 2018, Ravi Shankar Prasad was placed among the top twenty influential world leaders in digital technology and e-government, with his role in the Digital India programme and support for net neutrality.

Ravi Shankar Prasad claimed that an NSSO report on unemployment was false.

On 3 February 1982, Prasad married Maya Shankar, who is a Historian and Professor of History at Patna University.