Praful Patel is the minister of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises. He was elected form the Bhandra Gondia constituency. He belongs to the Nationalist Congress Party.
Early life of Praful Manoharbhai Patel
Praful Patel was born on February 17th in Kolkata. He is the son of a well known Congressman Late Manoharbhai Patel. He studied at Campion School, Mumbai and then graduated in commerce from Sydenham College of Mumbai.
Career of Praful Patel
He was elected as a member of the Lok Sabha in 1991 at the age of 34. He was then elected three times consecutively to the 10th, 11th, and 12th Lok Sabha. Thereafter in April 2000 he was chosen to Rajya Sabha and again re elected in April 2006. Currently he is a member of the 15th Lok Sabha
He has been member of several Parliamentary Committees which include Finance, Civil aviation, Environment and Forests, Foreign Affairs to name a few. He was the Chairman of the Indo-Uk Parliamentary Forum and Founder Member of the Indo-Us Parliamentary Forum.
Praful Patel was inducted into the Union Cabinet in May, 2004 as Minister of State for Civil Aviation with Independent Charge. He held the Civil Aviation up to 19 January 2011. He was elevated to the rank of Cabinet Minister in the Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises on 20 January 2011.
Awards received by Praful Patel
He was awarded the CAPA (Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation) Aviation Minister in the Asia Pacific Region who has contributed the most to the progress of aviation. He was also awarded the Economic Times Reformer of the year Award in 2007. He has been also conferred a Doctorate by the Leeds Metropolitan University for his contribution towards economic reforms.
Other Activities of Praful Patel
He heads the group known as the "Ceejay Group". The family runs the `Gondia Education Society` in the Gondia district of Maharashtra. The Society imparts education to 80,000 students in all disciplines ranging from Arts, Commerce, Engineering, Law, Pharmacy, Information Technology and Computer Science.
He is also the president of All India Football Federation and member of the Executive of the Asian Football Confederation. He is an active member of Young Presidents` Organization (YPO) and various other social organizations.