Promoting the nation's National Green Hydrogen Mission will be his primary task. Additionally, the government had allocated Rs 19,744 crore to establish an electrolyser manufacturing capacity for the production of green hydrogen
Pralhad Joshi, a staunch RSS supporter and long-time BJP worker, has been appointed New & Renewable Energy Minister, succeeding RK Singh, who lost the election in the Arrah constituency.
Joshi is a five-term member of parliament from Dharwad, a stronghold of the saffron party in Karnataka.
Promoting the nation's National Green Hydrogen Mission will be his primary task. Additionally, the government had allocated Rs 19,744 crore to establish an electrolyser manufacturing capacity for the production of green hydrogen. The mission also offers incentives for ammonia and green hydrogen production.
In addition, Joshi must guarantee the annual addition of 50 GW of renewable energy capacity in order to meet the ultimate goal of 500 GW of electricity generated without the use of fossil fuels by 2030.
India has set a high bar for renewable energy in order to meet its ambitious goal of net zero emissions by 2070.
Joshi is reportedly close to both Amit Shah, the leader of the BJP, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In the previous Cabinet, or Modi 2.0, he was responsible for the portfolios of Parliamentary Affairs, Mines, and Coal.
As Parliamentary Affairs Minister, he was instrumental in the operation of both Houses and the passage of numerous critical bills of national importance during the 17th Lok Sabha.
According to a senior BJP leader, he led a number of initiatives and policy changes that helped the coal and mining industry "unlock its true potential" and move towards self-sufficiency.
Joshi, who was also the president of the Bharatiya Janata Party in Karnataka, gained notoriety as "Rastradwaja Horata Samiti Sanchalak" in the early 1990s after the party spearheaded the "Save Kashmir Movement" and organised a protest to raise the tricolour at Idgah Maidan in Hubballi, which resulted in a serious disruption of law and order.
He defeated Vinod Assoti of the Congress in the just concluded Lok Sabha elections, winning the Dharwad Lok Sabha seat by a margin of 97,324 votes.
A brilliant political tactician, Joshi had also represented the party in numerous states, including Uttarakhand, Telangana, and Rajasthan, as an election observer or election in-charge.
This will be Joshi's second stint as a minister in his lengthy political career spanning decades.
Joshi was a member of several committees in the 16th Lok Sabha, including the Business Advisory Committee, the Committee on Ethics, and the Standing Committee on Petroleum and Natural Gas.