Priyanca Radhakrishnan (41) years of Indian origin has made history by being the first Indian Minister in New Zealand. Priyanka is appointed Minister for Community and voluntary sector, Minister for Diversity, Inclusion and Ethnic communities, Minister for Youth and Associate Minister for Social Development and Employment for Prime Minister Jacinda Arden, on Monday (November 2). Since 2017, she has been a Member of Parliament ( MP) representing the New Zealand Labor Party.
For her father, Radhakrishnan, an IIT-Kanpur alumnus from North Paravur in the Ernakulam district in Kerala, it was a “proud moment.”
On Friday, 6 November Radhakrishnan is all set to be sworn in.
Image Source – Oneindia
Personal Life And Education
Priyanka Radhakrishnan was born in 1979, in Chennai, to Paravoor Madavanaparambu Raman Radhakrishnan and Usha Radhakrishnan, and is based in the district of Ernakulam in Kerala. The New Indian Express states that her great-grandfather was a prominent figure in the progressive left-wing politics of Kerala and played a key role in the founding of the state.
Priyanka attended the Singapore school for her elementary education. Consequently, she went on to earn her master’s degree from Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, in development studies. In the university Massey University Students Association, she has been elected International Students’ Officer. In 2010 in Hammer Springs, Radhakrishnan married an IT expert in Christchurch. She is living with her husband and two rescue dogs in Auckland at the present.
Introduction into politics
Radhakrishnan spent her life supporting the cause of domestic violence survivors and abused migrant workers. She joined the Labor Party of New Zealand in 2006, serving also as a policy adviser to the former Labor MP and Auckland’s current Mayor Phil Goff. She was subsequently elected to the Labor Party in 2017 as a Member of Parliament. In addition, in 2019, she has been appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary to Jenny Salesa, Minister for Ethnic Communities. Work on these positions and areas by Radhakrishnan has helped pave the way for its current political achievements.
Prime Minister Ardern said, announcing the names of the new ministers: “I am delighted to welcome a new talent, with a background in the areas in which they will function and represent the New Zealand that elected us on 17 October.”
I’m playing to people’s strengths within this lineup, “she said.”
“This is a merit-based cabinet and executive, but it also happens to be extraordinarily diverse,” Ardern said, days after her center-left Labour Party won a landslide victory in the general election in the nation.
Priyanka Radhakrishnan is also an active member of the Select Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defense and Trade and Deputy Chair of the Select Committee on Social Services and the Community. Radhakrishnan, a staunch supporter of animal welfare causes, has done substantial work to guarantee dog-friendly spaces.
