Arjun Ram Meghwal

Arjun Ram Meghwal (born 20 December 1954) is an Indian politician belonging to the Bharatiya Janata Party and former party Chief Whip in 16th Lok Sabha. Currently, he is Union Minister of State in Ministry of Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation and Parliamentary Affairs in Government of India.He has been elected to the 15th and 16th Lok Sabhas (terms of the lower house of the Parliament of India) from Bikaner constituency, in 2009 and 2014. He was awarded the Best Parliamentarian Award in 2013. Mr. 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 attention of people on several occasions be it cycling to the parliament or cycling for the oath taking ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan. However later he was restricted from using bicycle due to security concerns. On 08-Aug-2020 he was tested positive for COVID-19.

He was born in a Meghwal family to Lakhu Ram Meghwal and Hira Devi in a small village of Kishmidesar in Bikaner, Rajasthan. He is an Master of Arts in Pol. Science, LLB and MBA from Dungar College in Bikaner and University of Philippines in Philippines. He was also an IAS Officer in Rajasthan Cadre and seen as the face of Schedule caste in Rajasthan.

He is married Pana Devi and is blessed with 2 sons and 2 daughters. He is a good player of Badminton and is a Farmer and Educationist by profession. His cousin Madan Gopal Meghwal is also a politician from Indian National Congress.

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 (OSD) to the Mr. Harishankar Bhabda, then Deputy Chief Minister of Rajasthan. While working as OSD to Dy. CM, he was also having charge of 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 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.

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 the Member of Parliament in Lok Sabha. In 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 Parliamentary Affairs and Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises.