Ramesh Pokhriyal "Nishank" (born 15 July 1959), is an Indian politician from

Bhartiya Janta 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. BJP emerged out from Syama Prasad Mukherjee's ...

. He served as the Human Resource Development Minister in the Union Government of India starting from 31 May 2019. The name of his ministry was changed to Education Ministry in July 2020, following the ministry's name change, his title was changed to

Minister of Education An education minister (sometimes minister of education) is a position in the governments of some countries responsible for dealing with educational matters. Where known, the government department, ministry, or agency that develops policy and deli ...

. He represented the

Haridwar Haridwar (; ; formerly Mayapuri) is a city and municipal corporation in the Haridwar district of Uttarakhand, India. With a population of 228,832 in 2011, it is the second-largest city in the state and the largest in the district. The city is s ...

Parliamentary constituency of

Uttarakhand Uttarakhand (, ), also known as Uttaranchal ( ; List of renamed places in India, the official name until 2007), is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. The state is bordered by Himachal Pradesh to the n ...

in the 17th

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, also known as the House of the People, is the lower house of Parliament of India which is Bicameralism, bicameral, where the upper house is Rajya Sabha. Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha, Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by a ...

. BJP did not make him the candidate for 2024 General Elections. He was the 5th Chief Minister of Uttarakhand from 2009 to 2011, due to corruption allegations he was asked to resign from his post by the BJP Central Leadership.

Personal life

Pokhriyal was born in Pinani village, Pauri Garhwal,

to Paramanand Pokhriyal and Vishambhari Devi. He received an M.A. degree from Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal University. Pokhriyal married Kusum Kanta Pokhriyal on 7 May 1985, with whom he has three daughters. One of their daughters, Aarushi Nishank is a classical dancer, actress, producer and model. His wife died on 11 November 2012 in Dehradun at the age of 50.

Political career

Pokhriyal started his career as a teacher in

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS,, ) is an Indian right-wing politics, right-wing, Hindutva, Hindu nationalist volunteer paramilitary organisation. It is the progenitor and leader of a large body of organisations called the Sangh Parivar ( ...

-affiliated Saraswati Shishu Mandir. He was first elected to public office in the erstwhile undivided

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh ( ; UP) is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. With over 241 million inhabitants, it is the List of states and union territories of India by population, most populated state in In ...

as a member of the

Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly The Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly, also known as Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Sabha, is the lower house of Bicameralism, bicameral legislature of the Indian state Uttar Pradesh. There are 403 seats in the house. Member of the Legislative Assembl ...

from Karnaprayag constituency in

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

, defeating a five-time Congress MLA. He was re-elected in

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

and

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

from the same constituency. In 1997 he was appointed to the position of Uttaranchal development minister. He contested

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

election from Thalisain and lost, but in

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

election won the seat. He was also Uttarakhand's chief minister (from 2009 to 2011). In

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

election he changed his seat to Doiwala and Won. In

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

and

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

election he won and represented as

MP and the chairman of the Assurance Committee. He was the member of the Legislative Assembly of Uttar Pradesh for three consecutive terms from 1991 to 2002 and member of the Legislative Assembly of Uttarakhand from 2007 to 2014 for two consecutive terms. On 30 May 2019, he was sworn in as Minister of Human Resource Development in the 2nd Modi Government. Following the ministry's name change to the

Ministry of Education (India) The Ministry of Education (MoE) is a ministry of the Government of India, responsible for the implementation of the National Policy on Education. The ministry, headed by Sanya Shresth, is further divided into two departments: the Department ...

in July 2020, he served under the title of Minister of Education.

Literary career

Pokhriyal has written novels, stories and poems. He has authored more than 100 books in

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

, some of which have been translated to English as well as other Indian languages. Most of his books were published by two private publishers – Vani Prakashan and Diamond Books, and many were published between 2009 and 2011, when he was chief minister of Uttarakhand. One of his works was adapted into the Garhwali film ''Major Nirala'', which was produced by his daughter Aarushi Nishank and released in 2018. He is honoured by Hindi Writers Guild, Canada in 2021 and was conferred with the "Sahitya Gaurav Samman".

References

External links

*
Official biographical sketch in Parliament of India website
, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Pokhriyal, Ramesh People from Pauri Garhwal district Chief ministers from Bharatiya Janata Party Chief ministers of Uttarakhand 1959 births Living people Uttar Pradesh MLAs 1991–1993 Uttar Pradesh MLAs 1993–1996 Uttar Pradesh MLAs 1997–2002 Uttarakhand MLAs 2007–2012 India MPs 2014–2019 Lok Sabha members from Uttarakhand Bharatiya Janata Party politicians from Uttarakhand Uttarakhand politicians Narendra Modi ministry Ministers of education of India Union ministers from Uttarakhand India MPs 2019–2024 Finance ministers of Uttarakhand Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal University alumni