Jagat Prakash Nadda took over as India’s Union Cabinet Minister for Health and Family Welfare last Sunday. Known to be quick to smile and hard to provoke, J. P. Nadda has a classic politician’s personality. Twice a minister in earlier BJP-led governments, Nadda has a reputation of being an efficient and dependable administrator. Nadda’s ministry controls health-care expenditures by India’s federal government and, through the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization agency, the ministry controls the registration and regulation of medical devices, pharmaceutical products, cosmetics and nutraceuticals in India.
Although he was born in eastern India (Bihar), he has been a provincial cabinet minister in the northern state of Himachal Pradesh for three terms, and has handled the Forest, Environment, and the Science and Technology ministries there. He established forest police stations in the state to curb poaching and related crimes. He launched community-driven tree planting drives, set up forest ponds and initiated the massive plantation of deodar (cedar) trees to boost the depleting green cover of the Himachal foothills. The 54-year-old, who used to run personality development and time management workshops for party workers, prefers to work behind the scenes. Nadda is a sports enthusiast and has served as President of the Olympic Association, Handball Association, and the Himachal Archery Association.
