A five-time parliamentarian Prahlad Singh Patel has been appointed as the Minister of State (Independent Charge) for The Ministry of Tourism and culture, Government of India.He also served as a Minister of State for coal in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government. He takes over from Alphons Kannanthanam. He defeated his nearest competitor Pratap Singh of Congress with a margin of 3,53,411.
Patel holds BSc, LLB, MA (Philosophy) degrees. He was also a member of Executive Council of VV Giri National Labour Institute and member of the Consultative Committee in the Ministry of Labour and Employment.He started his political journey in 1980 as the president of the Jabalpur University Students’ Union. He subsequently held powerful positions in the BJP’s youth wing in the state.
Patel, a strict vegetarian and a deeply religious man, is among the few politicians who have done the ‘Narmada Parikrama’, a walk along the banks of the river, considered sacred.
Addressing a press conference on Sunday Patel said tourism industry had a huge potential to generate jobs for youths.Tourism policies would be studied and various possibilities explored to create jobs in this sector.
He said the work on the wildlife, Buddhist, eco and heritage circuits was expected to complete soon.
The Union government had sanctioned four projects under ‘Swadesh Darshan Scheme’ for Madhya Pradesh between 2015 and 2018.
“Work is also in progress for ‘Omkareshwar development project’ under the Prasad Scheme. For development of Amarkantak, the place of the origin of the Narmada river, the tourism ministry had granted an approval under Prasad Scheme in October 2018. The approval from the Madhya Pradesh government is awaited,” Patel added.
