Ashwini Vaishnaw (born 18 July 1970) is an Indian politician of the Bharatiya Janata Party and a former civil servant and businessman. He has been Union Minister for Railways and for Electronics and Information Technology since July 2021, and since June 2024 he has also held Information and Broadcasting. He is a member of the Rajya Sabha from Odisha.
Quick Facts
| Full name | Ashwini Vaishnaw |
| Born | 18 July 1970, Jeevand Kallan, Pali district, Rajasthan, India |
| Age | 56 |
| Party | Bharatiya Janata Party |
| Offices | Minister of Railways; Minister of Electronics and Information Technology (2021–present); Minister of Information and Broadcasting (2024–present) |
| Parliament | Rajya Sabha, Odisha (since 2019) |
| Education | M.B.M. Engineering College, Jodhpur (B.E.); IIT Kanpur (M.Tech.); Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania (MBA) |
| Earlier career | Indian Administrative Service, Odisha cadre (1994 batch) |
| Spouse | Sunita Vaishnaw |
| Children | 2 |
Early Life
Vaishnaw was born in a village in Pali district, and his family later settled in Jodhpur. He won a gold medal in electronics and communication engineering at Jodhpur and took a master’s at IIT Kanpur before joining the Indian Administrative Service in 1994.
Career
Posted to Odisha, he was district collector of Balasore when the super cyclone of October 1999 struck the coast, and was praised for early warnings and evacuation that limited deaths in his district. He later served as collector of Cuttack. In 2003 he was appointed to the office of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and stayed on as Vajpayee’s private secretary after the 2004 election.
He left for the Wharton School in 2008 and resigned from the service. After his MBA he held senior posts at GE Transportation and Siemens in India and then set up automotive component units in Gujarat.
He was elected to the Rajya Sabha from Odisha in 2019 as a BJP candidate with the support of the state’s then ruling Biju Janata Dal. Narendra Modi brought him straight into the cabinet in July 2021. As Railways Minister he has overseen the spread of Vande Bharat trains, the rebuilding of stations and the Kavach anti-collision system; the three-train collision near Balasore in June 2023, which killed nearly 300 people, was the worst rail accident in decades. In technology he piloted the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, and leads the India Semiconductor Mission, under which chip assembly and fabrication plants are being built in Gujarat and Assam.
Personal Life
He is married to Sunita Vaishnaw, and they have a son and a daughter.
Frequently Asked Questions
When and where was Ashwini Vaishnaw born?
Ashwini Vaishnaw was born on 18 July 1970 in Jeevand Kallan, Pali district, Rajasthan, India and is 56 years old.
Featured image: Ashwini Vaishnaw takes charge as Union Minister for Railways, New Delhi, 7 July 2021. Photo by Ministry of Railways, licensed under Government Open Data License – India, via Wikimedia Commons.
