C. R. Chaudhary

Chaudhary was born in a traditional Marwari Family on 1 March 1948 in Dhandhalas, Nagaur, Rajasthan to Late Shri. R.L Chaudhary and Smt. Gavri Devi. He married Smt. Mala Chaudhary on 1 May 1958. He pursued his education at the University of Rajasthan in Jaipur and received a Master of Arts Degree in Geography.[2][3]

After completing his education, Chaudhary started his professional career as a college lecturer in 1971. He had an enriching experience of teaching in Govt. College Sirohi, Dausa and Ajmer from 1971–1977.[2][3]

Chaudhary was selected in the prestigious Rajasthan Administrative Service in 1978 and he left his job as a Lecturer to pursue the career of an administrator. During his tenure in Rajasthan Government he served as S.D.M, Additional Collector & Additional Magistrate at various location in the state. In recognition of his persistent and committed effort towards corruption free government and good governance he was awarded Merit Certificate in 1988 by the Government of Rajasthan in state level function of 15 August by Chief Minister of Rajasthan.

Later, he worked as Head of Department & Director in Lotteries, Government of Rajasthan from 1996-1997; Head of department and Executive Director Rajasthan State Road Transport Corporation from 2000 to 2011; and Head of department and Director in Agricultural Marketing from 2001 to 2002. Upon his promotion as an Indian Administrative Service (I.A.S) officer, he was nominated as member of Rajasthan Public Service Commission (R.P.S.C) in 2002. He served as member in RPSC till 2006. In 2006 he was made chairman of RPSC and served the commission till 2010.[2]

Chaudhary was elected to the 16th Lok Sabha of Indian Parliament as a Member of Parliament (MP) from Nagaur Constituency, Rajasthan. As a member of parliament he served as Member of the following committees:

(i) Committee on Subordinate Legislation

Oath Taking Ceremony of CR Chaudhary

(ii) Standing Committee on Human Resource development

(iii) Consultative Committee, Ministry of Road Transport and Highway & Shipping.[3][2]

As a parliamentarian he had attendance record of 97%, participated in 133 debates, and asked 322 questions. He was one of the foremost of all the parliamentarians in terms of these performance parameters.[4]

Chaudhary became Minister of State in the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution on 12 July 2016. In his tenure during Rabi Marketing season (RMS) 2018–19, a quantity of 347 Lakh MT of wheat was procured which is highest in five years and in Kharif Marketing Season 2016-17 a record quantity of 381.06 Lakh MT of paddy was procured. A total of 83.41% of Ration cards have been Aadhar Seeded to weed out fake and duplicate ration cards.[5] To bring in transparency in food storage and management Online Procurement Management System (OPMS) was developed by Food Corporation of India (FCI) which was used for procurement in the KMS 2016–17. So far 17 out of 19 major procuring States have fully implemented OPMS. To bring all operations of FCI Gowdowns online and to check leakage and automate operations at depot level, a "Depot Online System" has been launched in 530 depot in FCI and 156 depot in Central Warehousing Corporation. (CWC).[5]

To modernize 31 years old Consumer protection act 1986, Consumer Protection Bill was introduced in parliament on 05.01.2018. The bill provides for settling up of an executive agency to be called central Consumer Protection Agency (CCPA) which will look into unfair trade practices, misleading advertisements etc., provision for mediation as an alternate dispute resolution mechanism to facilitate quick disposal of consumer disputes.[5]

For effective and quick redress of consumer grievance, the National Consumer Helpline (NCH) has been strengthened. Earlier complaints used to be 11,000 to 12,000 per month while currently NCH handles nearly 40,000 consumer grievance per month. A new portal INGRAM under National Consumer Helpline was launched during September 2016 for providing a common portal for various stakeholder in Consumer Grievance Redress Mechanism. A new Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) Act, 2016 has also been brought into force with effect from 12 October 2017.[5]

In September 2017 Chaudhary was given additional charge of Minister of State, Commerce and Industry. While he was in office the Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) of India increased from $152 Billion in year 2010-2014 to 218 Billion in 2014- Feb 2018. 25 Sectors covering 100 areas of FDI policy has undergone reforms. The process of granting FDI approval has been erased with dissolution of FIPB. During his tenure India rank improved from 142 to 100 on world Banks Doing Business Assessment. In a boost to Make in India Campaign of Government of India A jump of 15 places was seen by India in Global Innovation Index. While in Logistic Performance index a Jump of 19 places was seen. On global competitiveness index a jump of 32 places was seen.[6]

Chaudhary describes himself as a compassionate and sensitive person with deep conviction of providing benefit of governance to the last person.[7] He is vegetarian by diet, religious by faith and a strong believer of symbiotic relation between art of spiritualism and science of governance. He has been associated with girl child education and has served as Honorary Chairman of Veer Teja Mahila Shikshan & Shoudh Sansthan Marwar Mundwa. In these institutions girls are provided education from class VI to B.Ed at a very affordable cost. Very poor and orphaned girls are provided free education.[2]

CR Chaudhary with Minister of Consumer Affair Food and Public Distribution Mr Ramvilas Paswan.

The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi inaugurating and laying the foundation stone of several major highway projects, at Udaipur, in Rajasthan

His favorite pastime include reading, writing, travelling, yoga and Sports. He played volleyball at school, college and university level.[2]

Chaudhary or CR Sahab as he is affectionately called in his constituency Nagaur, has made committed effort for bringing developmental works to Nagaur.

• Social Media Analytics of Chhotu Ram Chaudhary