C. P. Joshi

C. P. Joshi
C. P. Joshi in 2010
Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways
Incumbent
Assumed office January 19, 2011
Preceded by	Kamal Nath
Constituency	Bhilwara
Minister of Panchayati Raj
In office May 22, 2009 - January 18, 2011
Preceded by	Mani Shankar Aiyar
Succeeded by	Vilasrao Deshmukh
Constituency	Bhilwara
Union Minister for Rural Develeopment
In office May 22, 2009 - January 18, 2011
Preceded by	Raghuvansh Prasad Singh
Succeeded by	Vilasrao Deshmukh
Constituency	Bhilwara
Personal details
Born	29 July 1950 (1950-07-29) Nathdwara, Rajastan, India
Political party	INC
Profession	Professor of Psychology
Religion	Atheist

C. P. Joshi (born 29 July 1950) is an Indian Politician and Member of Parliament of India from Bhilwara in the 15th Lok Sabha. He was one of the first 19 members of India's new cabinet sworn in on May 22, 2009, despite being a first-time member of the Lok Sabha and he has taken the office of Minister of Rural Development. He is a member of the Indian National Congress.

Educational background

Joshi completed his Primary and Higher Secondary education at his birthplace Nathdwara, Rajastan. He finished his graduation from M. B. College Udaipur with a B.A. in Law, and completed his Masters in Physics. He also completed his Masters and Ph.D. degrees in Psychology. He began his academic career as a lecturer at the M. B. College, Udaipur. Before entering full time politics, Joshi was a Professor of Psychology at Udaipur's Mohanlal Sukhadia University, with a specialisation in Intelligence Quotient (IQ).

Political career

Mohan Lal Sukhadia, founder of modern Mewar, recognised Joshi's social commitments and encouraged him to actively participate in politics. Thereafter he was

• Elected as Student's Union President for Mohanlal Sukhadia University in 1973.
• Elected MLA from Nathdwara Assembly (1980 and 1985, 1998 and 2003).
• He worked very hard for Nathadwara and addressed various issues like Lack of Education, Roads, Animal food.
• In 1998 he got the honour to become the Cabinet Minister for the state handling key portfolios like Panchayti Raj, Education, Rural Development, Public Health Engineering, Policy Planning, and Information Technology. He gave a new direction to the significant departments of Abhiyantrik Yojna, Panchayti Raj and Education and made his distinguished presence in these fields.
• In 2003, as an opposition MLA, he was appointed President of the Rajasthan Pradesh Congress Committee. In a few months he brought the state unit together to win the 2008 assembly elections, only to lose his own seat. He was second one in the Indian election history to lose an assembly election by one vote. Surprisingly, his mother, wife, and driver didn't turn up to vote on the polling day. The first candidate to lose from one vote was A. R. Krishnamurthy against R. Dhruvanarayana at the Santhemarahalli constituency of Karnataka during 2004 assembly elections. R. Dhruvanarayana is currently the Member of Parliament in 15th Lok Sabha from Chamarajanagar constituency, who defeated the same opponent A. R. Krishnamurthy in the 15th Lok Sabha elections.

External links

• C P Joshi

Political offices
Preceded by Kamal Nath	Minister of Road Transport and Highways January 19, 2011	Incumbent
Preceded by Raghuvansh Prasad Singh	Minister of Rural Development May 22, 2009 - January 18, 2011	Succeeded by Vilasrao Deshmukh
Preceded by Mani Shankar Aiyar	Minister of Panchayati Raj May 22, 2009 - January 18, 2011	Succeeded by Vilasrao Deshmukh