Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh
NAME – Shivraj Singh Chouhan
PROFESSION– Politician, Agriculturist
BORN – 5th March 1959 (62 years)
PLACE OF BIRTH – Jait, Sehore District, Madhya Pradesh
FATHER’S NAME – Prem Singh Chouhan
MOTHER’S NAME – Sundar Bai Chouhan
SPOUSE – Sadhna Singh Chouhan
SIBLINGS – 2 younger brothers (Narendra Singh Chouhan and Surjit Singh Chouhan)
CHILDREN – 2 sons (Kartikey Chouhan and Kunal Chouhan)
EDUCATION – Master of Arts (Philosophy) from Barkatullah University
POLITICAL PARTY– Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP)
OFFICIAL WEBSITE– shivrajsinghchouhan.org
Shivraj Singh Chouhan is the 17th and current Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh. He hails from Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP). Shivraj Singh Chouhan has held the same position 4 times. In November 2005 he was elected as the Chief Minister of the state. He registered his 2nd and 3rd victory in the years 2008 and 2013 respectively. He was again elected as the Chief Minister of the state in March 2020 due to the collapse of the Kamal Nath government.
REMARKABLE ACHIEVEMENT- At the young age of 31, Shivraj Singh Chouhan was elected to the state legislative assembly from the Budhni constituency in 1990. He defeated his nearest Congress candidate by over 22,000 votes.
He became one of the youngest members of parliament when Atal Bihari Vajpayee resigned from Vidisha’s parliamentary seat Mr. Chouhan was made the candidate and he won in the year 1991.
AWARDS – Shivraj Singh Chouhan was awarded NDTV Indian of the year- Leader of New India (development). He also received the Suryoday Manavta Seva Sanman award.
BACKGROUND – Shivraj Singh Chouhan was born in a middle-class family of farmers. He is the eldest son of Late Prem Singh Chouhan and Sundar Bai Chouhan. He married to Sadhna Singh Chouhan in the year 1992 and they have two sons.
UPBRINGING & EDUCATION – Shivraj Singh Chouhan is a gold medalist in Master of Arts (Philosophy) from Barkatullah University.
POLITICAL CAREER– Shivraj Singh Chouhan started his career as a member of Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) in the early 70s. He was elected as the President of the Model Higher Secondary School Students’ Union at the age of 16 in the year 1975. He joined Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) as a volunteer during his university days.
He became Pradesh Mantri of ABVP and then Mahamantri. In 1988 he became President of ABVP for Madhya Pradesh. In the year 1990, he was elected to the state legislative assembly from the Budhni constituency. He became one of the youngest members of parliament from Vidisha’s parliamentary in the year 1991.
He was elected to the 11th, 12th, 13th, and 14th Lok Sabha elections from Vidisha in 1996, 1998, 1999, and 2004 respectively. In the year 2005, he was appointed President of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Madhya Pradesh.
In November 2005 he was elected as the Chief Minister of the state. He registered his 2nd and 3rd victory in the years 2008 and 2013 respectively. He was again elected as the Chief Minister of the state in March 2020 due to the collapse of the Kamal Nath government.
MAJOR INITIATIVES TAKEN- Under the leadership of Mr. Chouhan, the state government had bought various remarkable schemes for the agriculture sector due to which the total agricultural output of the state doubled in the last 11 years from 214 lakh metric tonnes in 2004-05 to 423 lakh metric tonnes in 2015-16. The state received Krishi Karman Award for consecutive four years from 2011-12 to 2014-15 from the President of India for the highest food grain output in the country.
Also, for the women empowerment initiatives taking under him are ‘Beti Bachao Abhiyaan’ and ‘Ladli Laxmi Yojana.
POSITION HELD–
1991 to 2004- Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha
1992 to 1994- General-Secretary of Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP), Madhya Pradesh
1997 to 1998- General-Secretary of Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP), Madhya Pradesh
2000 to 2003- National President, Bhartiya Janta Yuva Morcha
2005- President, Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP), Madhya Pradesh
2005 to 2008- Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh
2008 to 2013- Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh
2013 to 2018- Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh
2020 to present- Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh.
CONTROVERSIES- Shivraj Singh Chouhan has been involved in numerous controversies. One of them is The Vyapam scam, which refers to the alleged irregularities in various admission and job recruitment examinations conducted by the Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board, also known as Vyapam. The scam became public for the first time in July 2013. The CBI gave a clean chit to Chouhan.
He and his wife were also involved in the Dumper Scam. His wife was accused of providing a false name and residential address at the time of purchase of the dumpers.
However, during the investigation, no irregularities were identified and the case was therefore closed. He was also accused of alleged corruption in the Public Works Department (PWD) of the state.