Arjun Ram Meghwal (born 20 December 1953) is an Indian politician and the current Minister of State for

Parliamentary Affairs ''Parliamentary Affairs'' is a British peer-reviewed quarterly academic journal. Founded in 1947, it focuses on the government and politics of the United Kingdom, and also covers parliamentary systems across the world. It is published by the Oxf ...

& Culture in the

Second Modi ministry The Second Ministry of Narendra Modi is the Council of Ministers headed by Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi that was formed after the 2019 general election which was held in seven phases in 2019. The results of the election were announc ...

. A member of the

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major List of political parties in India, Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the List of ruling p ...

, Meghwal formerly served as

Chief Whip The Chief Whip is a political leader whose task is to enforce the whipping system, which aims to ensure that legislators who are members of a political party attend and vote on legislation as the party leadership prescribes. United Kingdom ...

and Minister of State for Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises. He was first elected to the

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, constitutionally the House of the People, is the lower house of India's bicameral Parliament, with the upper house being the Rajya Sabha. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by an adult universal suffrage and a first-pas ...

in 2009 representing the Bikaner constituency,

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern s ...

. He was awarded the Best Parliamentarian in 2013. Meghwal doesn't use the car provided by the Government in commuting for work. Instead, he uses his push-bike as a local transport mode. Because of this habit of cycling, Meghwal has caught the attention of people on several occasions be it cycling to the parliament or cycling for the oath-taking ceremony at

Rashtrapati Bhavan The Rashtrapati Bhavan (, rāsh-truh-puh-ti bha-vun; ; originally Viceroy's House and later Government House) is the official residence of the President of India at the western end of Rajpath, Raisina Hill, New Delhi, India. Rashtrapati Bh ...

. However, later he was restricted from using a bicycle due to security concerns.

Early life

He was born to Lakhu Ram Meghwal and Hira Devi in a small village of Kishmidesar in

Bikaner Bikaner () is a city in the northwest of the state of Rajasthan, India. It is located northwest of the state capital, Jaipur. Bikaner city is the administrative headquarters of Bikaner District and Bikaner division. Formerly the capital ...

. He is a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. ...

in Pol. Science,

LLB Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...

and

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accoun ...

from Dungar College in

and

University of Philippines The University of the Philippines (UP; fil, Pamantasan ng Pilipinas Unibersidad ng Pilipinas) is a state university system in the Philippines. It is the country's national university, as mandated by Republic Act No. 9500 (UP Charter of 2008 ...

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

. He was also an

IAS IAS may refer to: Science * Institute for Advanced Study, in Princeton, New Jersey, United States * Image Analysis & Stereology, the official journal of the International Society for Stereology & Image Analysis. * Iowa Archeological Society, Uni ...

Officer in Rajasthan Cadre and seen as the face of Schedule caste in

. He is married Pana Devi and is blessed with 2 sons and 2 daughters. He is a good player of

Badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racket (sports equipment), racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net (device), net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per s ...

and is a

Farmer A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, raising living organisms for food or raw materials. The term usually applies to people who do some combination of raising field crops, orchards, vineyards, poultry, or other livestock. A farmer mig ...

and

Educationist Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty. Var ...

by profession. His cousin Madan Gopal Meghwal is also a politician from

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British ...

Career

After completing graduation in Law in the year 1977 and post-graduation in Arts in the year 1979 as a regular student, In 1982, he qualified the RAS Exams and got elected for the Rajasthan Udhyog Seva. He was appointed as Assistant Director in the Jila Udhyog Kendra and worked as the General Manager of Jila Udhyog Kendra of Jhunjhnu, Dhaulpur, Rajsamvad, Jaipur, Alwar & Shriganganagar districts of Rajasthan. In the year 1994, he was appointed as the

Officer on Special Duty Officer on Special Duty (abbreviated as OSD), or Special Duties Officer, is an officer level in the civil services in Brunei Darussalam, Malaysia and the Indian subcontinent. Brunei Darussalam Special Duties Officer (Pegawai Tugas-Tugas Khas) is an ...

to Mr.

Hari Shankar Bhabhra Hari Shankar Bhabhra (born 6 August 1928) is a former speaker of the Rajasthan legislative assembly. He attained the office of the Speaker from 16 March 1990 to 5 October 1994 (two times). He won the state legislative elections in 1985, 1990, ...

, then Deputy Chief Minister of Rajasthan. While working as OSD to Deputy Chief Minister of Rajasthan was also having charge of the General Manager of Jila Udhyog Kendra, Jaipur. In the same year, he was elected as the State President for Rajasthan Udhyog Seva Parisad. Then, he was appointed as Additional Collector (Development) in Barmer. Later on, he won the election of General Secretary for Dr. Ambedkar Memorial Welfare Society, Rajasthan. He was promoted as IAS officer of the 1999 batch in Rajasthan cadre & worked on many administrative posts like Deputy Secretary, Technical Education; Special Secretary, Higher Education; Managing Director, Rajasthan Laghu Udhyog Nigam Limited; Additional Commissioner; Commercial Tax Department; District Collector and District Magistrate, Churu. He took voluntary retirement from the Indian Administrative Service in order to join politics.

Political life

In the year 2009, he got elected as the Member of Parliament representing the Bhartiya Janata Party from Bikaner Constituency. On 2 June 2009, took oath as a Member of Parliament in Lok Sabha. In the general election 2014, he got re-elected from the Bikaner Constituency for 16th Lok Sabha. During his 2nd term as an MP, he was Chief Whip of Bhartiya Janta Party in Lok Sabha. Speaker of Lok Sabha also nominated him as the Chairman of House Committee, Lok Sabha. In May 2019, Meghwal became Minister of State for

and Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Meghwal, Arjun Ram Bharatiya Janata Party politicians from Rajasthan Living people 1954 births India MPs 2009–2014 People from Bikaner Lok Sabha members from Rajasthan India MPs 2014–2019 Narendra Modi ministry Indian Administrative Service officers India MPs 2019–present Dalit leaders Dalit politicians