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{{Use Indian English|date=December 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2015}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Prem Das Rai
| image = Prem Das Rai.jpg
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1954|7|31|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Darjeeling]], [[West Bengal]], [[India]]<ref name="loksabha">{{cite web | url=http://164.100.47.132/LssNew/Members/Biography.aspx?mpsno=4347 | title=Fifteenth Lok Sabha Members Bioprofile — Rai, Shri Prem Das | publisher=[[Lok Sabha]] | accessdate=7 November 2012 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180520060629/http://164.100.47.132/LssNew/Members/Biography.aspx?mpsno=4347 | archive-date=20 May 2018 | url-status=dead }}</ref>
| residence = [[Gangtok]]
| office1 = [[Member of Parliament (India)|Member of Parliament]]<br />[[Sikkim (Lok Sabha constituency)|Sikkim]]
| term_start1 = 25 May 2009
| term_end1 = 23 May 2019
| predecessor1 = [[Nakul Das Rai]]
| successor1 = [[Indra Hang Subba]]
| office2 = [[Spokesperson]]<br />[[Sikkim Democratic Front]]
| alma_mater = [[Wynberg Allen School]]<br />[[IIT Kanpur]]<br />[[IIM Ahmedabad]]
| term =
| predecessor =
| successor =
| term_start =
| nationality = [[India]]n
| party = [[Sikkim Democratic Front]]
| spouse = Jean Rai
| children = Juneli Rai, Nitin Das Rai
| father = [[Chandra Das Rai]] | website =
| footnotes =
| date =
| year =
| source =
| signature =
}}
'''Prem Das Rai''' (born 31 July 1954) is an Indian politician from the [[Sikkim Democratic Front]] (SDF) party.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/india-china-standoff-why-is-sikkims-merger-with-india-being-questioned-by-china-4745142/|title=Why is Sikkim's merger with India being questioned by China?}}</ref> Rai was a Member of Parliament ([[Lok Sabha]]) from the [[Sikkim (Lok Sabha constituency)|Sikkim constituency]] of [[Sikkim]], India, first elected in [[2009 Indian general election|2009 election]] and re-elected in 2014 after serving his first term in 2009-2014. In 2019 Lok Sabha election he did not get the ticket from SDF.

He has the distinction of being the first Member of Parliament with both [[Indian Institutes of Technology]] and [[Indian Institutes of Management]] degrees. In 2002, he was awarded the prestigious and selective Eisenhower Fellowship (USA) for his contribution to Sikkim's economic and industrial growth.<ref name="DH">{{cite news|url=http://www.deccanherald.com/content/6885/sikkim-member-parliament-alumnus-iit.html|title=Sikkim Member of Parliament is an alumnus of IIT, IIM|last=Borpujari|first=Utpal|year=2009|newspaper=Deccan Herald|accessdate=26 April 2012}}</ref>

He is married to Jean Chun Ping Rai. They have two children, both who work in Singapore. Rai is widely travelled, having visited over 40 countries.

==Early life and education==
Rai did his schooling at [[Wynberg Allen School]], [[Mussoorie]], then in Uttar Pradesh, on a Government of India scholarship. He did his [[chemical engineering]] from [[IIT, Kanpur]] in 1976 and his Post-Graduate Diploma in Management (MBA), in 1978, from [[IIM, Ahmedabad]].<ref name="ToI">{{cite news | last = Bhattacharya | first = Amit | title = In a first, an IIT-IIMer as MP | date = 2 June 2009 | url = http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2009-06-02/india/28191839_1_iits-and-iims-iit-kanpur-jee | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20121024005943/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2009-06-02/india/28191839_1_iits-and-iims-iit-kanpur-jee | url-status = dead | archive-date = 24 October 2012 | newspaper = [[The Times of India]] | accessdate = 26 April 2012}}</ref>

== Career ==
After starting his career with the Bank of America in Kolkata, he returned in 1979 to serve Sikkim in various capacities such as the Managing Director of Sikkim Flour Mills Limited (1979 – 1985), Managing Director of the Sikkim Milk Union (1983–85), Chairman of Sikkim Industrial Development and Investment Corporation Limited (SIDICO) & Sikkim Scheduled Tribes and All Other Backward Classes Financial Development Corporation (SABCCO, 1999 – 2004), Founding Chairman of the Ecotourism and Conservation Society of Sikkim (ECOSS) (2001-2009), and CEO (Northeast India) of BASIX (2008), India's eminent micro-finance and livelihood promotion institution.

During the period 1985-2006, Mr. Rai was also a prolific entrepreneur. He is credited with bringing the first computers into Sikkim, and set up an email service in the region which was used a Bulletin Board Service between Gangtok and Kolkata before Internet services were widely available in the region. Along with his father, he edited the popular weekly, the Gangtok Times, for a decade between 1994 and 2004.

His political career began in 1993-94, when he joined the Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF) Party after the Party was founded by his political mentor, Shri Pawan Chamling. Rai joined the SDF in its formative years. He served as the party's General Secretary and has worked at all its various structural levels. He has helped with SDF's manifesto and vision, and continues to work for the party and for the prosperity of the Sikkimese people.

He also served as the Secretary General and later as President of the Akhil Kirat Rai Sangh (AKRS), and Chaired the Other Backwards Classes Association. Most recently, he served as the Deputy Chairman of the State Planning Commission of the Government of Sikkim. He is also in the mentor panel of [[Vision India Foundation]] a New Delhi based think tank which works on public leadership amongst youth.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://visionindiafoundation.com/aboutus/team/|title=Team|date=19 December 2014}}</ref>

== Current national and state roles ==
Rai is currently a Member of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Subordinate Legislation, and the Parliamentary Consultative Committee on Tribal Affairs & DoNER Ministry. He is also the Secretary General of the North-East MPs’ Forum, Member of the Governing Council of Centre for Environmental Health, Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI) and Integrated Mountain Initiative (IMI), and Member of the Advisory Council of Population Foundation of India (PFI). He heads the Parliamentary Committee on Population & Development.

Rai serves as chair for the Steering Committee on Anti-Drugs under the Department of Social Justice & Women Empowerment, Government of Sikkim, which has spawned a unique program in Government Schools called [http://www.saathi-sikkim.org/ SAATHI]. He is Co-Chair of the Steering Committee of Educational Quality Improvement Program (EQUIP), under the Human Resource Development Department, Government of Sikkim.

Until recently, Mr. Rai served as the Deputy Chairman of the State Planning Commission of the Government of Sikkim, and was a former General Secretary of the Sikkim Democratic Front Party. Currently, he also serves as the editor of the Political & Economic Journal of Sikkim, and as SDF Spokesperson, commenting primarily on National issues.

== Awards and accolades ==
Rai has undertaken leadership courses at Yale, Oxford, Harvard and Princeton Universities on invitation. He has also lectured in Universities and Institutions in Tokyo, Japan, sponsored by the [https://www.spf.org/e/event/article_9080.html Sasakawa Foundation], and has attended the United Nations General Assembly and Security Council working sessions. He was awarded the [https://www.efworld.org/meet-our-fellows/mr-p-d-rai Eisenhower Fellowship] in 2000 for distinguished contribution to the economic and industrial growth of Sikkim.

In 2012, he was awarded with Distinguished Alumnus of IIM Ahmedabad, and is also a Distinguished Alumnus of IIT Kanpur.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{16th LS members from Northeast states |state=expanded}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rai, Prem Das}}
[[Category:1954 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur alumni]]
[[Category:Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad alumni]]
[[Category:Nepali Indians]]
[[Category:People from Gangtok]]
[[Category:People from Darjeeling]]
[[Category:Sikkim Democratic Front politicians]]
[[Category:Lok Sabha members from Sikkim]]
[[Category:15th Lok Sabha members]]
[[Category:16th Lok Sabha members]]

Prem Das Rai - Revision history

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