Shri Prithviraj Chavan, Minister of State (Independent Charge) Ministry of Science & Technology and Earth Sciences, Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions and Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs.

Mr. Prithviraj Chavan a Minister in the Union Cabinet has been a Member of the Indian Parliament since 1991. As a Member of the Council of Ministers, he attends the Cabinet, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, the Cabinet Committee on Prices, the Cabinet Committee on WTO matters and the Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs. He is also a Member of the Atomic Energy Commission and the Space Commission, the highest policy making bodies in the respective fields. He is also a Member of the Prime Minister's Committee on Infrastructure, Energy Coordination Committee, Trade and Economic Relations Committee and the Committee on Trade and Industry. He was a part of the Prime Ministerial delegation to the United States in July 2005 when the nuclear deal was signed.

Minister Chavan has served on many important Parliamentary Committees in the field of Energy, Science and Technology, Public Finance and International Trade. He has been a founding member of the Indo-US Parliamentary forum. A senior politician of the Indian National Congress Party, he has been the Deputy Chief Whip and Secretary of the Congress Parliamentary Party and an invitee on the Congress Working Committee.

He has graduated with Honors in Mechanical Engineering from Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS), Pilani, India and holds a Masters degree in engineering from the University of California at Berkeley. Minister Chavan has worked in the US Aerospace industry as a research engineer for four years and founded a company in India to develop defense electronic equipment and special purpose computers. He has significantly contributed to research in the field of Indian language computing. He has been a visiting professor at BITS, Pilani and a member of the Council of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT).