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Early life and education

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{{distinguish|text=[[Rajiv Chandrasekaran]], an Indian-American journalist }}
{{short description|Indian politician}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2019}}
{{Use Indian English|date=September 2019}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Rajeev Chandrasekhar
| image = Rajeev Chandrasekhar.jpg
| image_size =
| caption =
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1964|05|31|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Ahmedabad]], [[Gujarat]], India
| nationality = [[India]]n
| death_date =
| death_place =
| office = [[Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha]]
| term_start = 23 April 2006
| term_end =
| constituency = [[Karnataka]]
| office2 = National Spokesperson of [[Bharatiya Janata Party|BJP]],<br />
Vice Chairman, VIF Centre for Economic Studies
| 1blankname2 = State
| 1namedata2 = [[Kerala]]
| term_start2 = 26 September 2016
| term_end2 =
| spouse = Anju Chandrasekhar
| children = 2
| party = [[Bharatiya Janata Party]]
| alma_mater = {{ubl|[[Manipal Institute of Technology]]|[[Illinois Institute of Technology]]}}
}}
'''Rajeev Chandrasekhar''' (born 31 May 1964) is an Indian politician and entrepreneur, and a [[Member of Parliament]] in the upper house ([[Rajya Sabha]]) of the [[Parliament of India|Indian Parliament]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://caravanmagazine.in/reportage/rajeev-chandrasekhar-mission-secure-power-media-and-politics|title=Rajeev Chandrasekhar's mission to secure power in media and politics|last1=Dev|first1=Atul|last2=Saxena|first2=Nikita|date=1 December 2017|website=[[The Caravan]]|language=en|url-access=subscription|access-date=2019-12-30}}</ref> He is a member of [[Bharatiya Janata Party]] (BJP) as of 2018 and also the National Spokesperson of BJP and was vice-chairman of the [[Kerala]] wing of the BJP-led coalition [[National Democratic Alliance (India)|National Democratic Alliance]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://scroll.in/article/846434/its-all-about-market-share-arnab-goswamis-funder-rajeev-chandrasekhar-on-republic-tv-and-more|title='It's all about market share': Arnab Goswami's funder Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Republic TV and more}}</ref> He represents the [[States and union territories of India|state]] of [[Karnataka]].

Presently Chandrasekhar serves as Member of Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance, Member of [[Public Accounts Committee (India)|Public Accounts Committee (PAC)]], Member of the Joint Committee on [[Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019|Data Protection Bill, 2019]] and Member of the Consultative Committee on [[Ministry of External Affairs (India)|MoE]] & [[Ministry of Communications (India)|IT, Ministry of Communications]], Member of the [[Indian Council of World Affairs|Indian Council for World Affairs]].

Chandrasekhar served as a member of the Parliament, Standing Committee on Defence, Consultative Committee on Finance, the Central Advisory Committee for the [[National Cadet Corps (India)|National Cadet Corps]], Co-Chairman of District Development Coordination & Monitoring Committee, Bangalore Urban District. He served as member Rajya Sabha Select Committees for the [[Goods and Services Tax (India)|GST]]<ref>{{cite web|title=Rajya Sabha Select Committee on GST Bill|url=http://www.prsindia.org/parliamentary-committees/rajya-sabha-select-committee-on-gst-bill-3883}}</ref> and Real Estate bills etc<ref>{{cite web|title=Rajya Sabha Select Committee on Real Estate Bill|url=http://www.prsindia.org/parliamentary-committees/rajya-sabha-select-committee-on-real-estate-bill-3884}}</ref>

Chandrasekhar is the founder and Advisor to the Board of [[Jupiter Capital Private Limited|Jupiter Capital Pvt. Ltd]]

==Early life and education==
Rajeev was born to Malayali parents in [[Ahmedabad, Gujarat]]. His father M. K. Chandrasekhar was an [[Air commodore (India)|Air Commodore]] of the [[Indian Air Force]].

He studied in various schools across India, and studied electrical engineering at [[Manipal Institute of Technology]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://manipal.edu/mit/news/mit-news-list/rajeev-suri.html | title=Distinguished Manipal Alumni
}}</ref> He completed Masters in [[Computer Science]] in 1988 from [[Illinois Institute of Technology]], Chicago.{{citation needed|date=May 2018}} He then attended the six-week Advanced Management Program at [[Harvard Business School]].{{citation needed|date=May 2018}}

==Career==
===Entrepreneur===
In 1994, Chandrasekhar founded [[BPL Mobile]]. In July 2005, he sold his 64 percent stake in BPL Communications to [[Essar Group]] for US$1.1 billion.

Chandrasekhar founded Jupiter Capital in 2005, with an initial investment of US$100 million, and currently has investments and managed assets of over US$800 million in technology, media, hospitality, and entertainment.

In April 2013, Chandrasekhar was awarded an [[honorary doctorate]] by [[Visvesvaraya Technological University]], [[Belgaum]], for his work as an entrepreneur.{{citation needed|date=March 2020}}

=== Social and Cultural Activities, Literary, Artistic and Scientific Accomplishments and other Special Interests ===

Founder and Managing Trustee, RC Foundation which is mainly focussed on programmes aimed at primary education for children from economically weaker sections; Founder, (i) [https://www.flagsofhonour.in/ Flags of Honour Foundation] which assists families of Armed Forces Martyrs across the country and (ii) [https://www.namma-bengaluru.org/ Namma Bengaluru Foundation], an organisation working towards making Bengaluru a model city and aims to be the voice of the people in the area of governance reforms and citizen participation; has been at the forefront of raising finances and resources for important causes like support for Tsunami affected people, Kargil war and defence personnel, training of tribals in Kalahandi region of Odisha and rehabilitation of children impacted by the tragic burning of school in Kumbakonam in Tamil Nadu; interested in technology and in public-private partnerships for the development of the country’s infrastructure, government finances, governance and national security

===Politics===
Currently, he is the [https://newsable.asianetnews.com/gallery/india/bjp-announces-new-national-office-bearers-rajeev-chandrasekhar-appointed-as-national-spokesperson-dnm-qh9k4z National Spokesperson] of [[Bharatiya Janata Party|BJP]].

In Parliament vocal advocate on Governance, Technology and Economics. As a first-term MP, he was the first one to raise corruption like [[2G spectrum case|2G Scam]] in parliament and is outspoken MP on issues that concern Governance.
Rajeev focuses on Reforms in Economy and Governance, Technology, and Internet, Issues related to youth, and issues concerning national security and sustainable city governance of Bangalore,

====Member of Parliament====
Rajeev Chandrasekhar was an Independent member of Rajya Sabha representing Karnataka from April 2006 to April 2018. In April 2018, he was re-elected to the Rajya Sabha from Karnataka for a third six-year term as a BJP member. He has advocated for governance reforms, institution building, [[Internet censorship|Internet freedom]], national security, welfare of the Armed Forces Personnel and sustainable city building of Bangalore and Karnataka.

==Positions held==
*1999 - 2002 Member, Advisory Committee, Ministry of Information Technology, Government of India Chairman, Infrastructure Task Force, Government of Karnataka
*1999 - 2003 Member, Prime Minister’s Council on Trade and Development
*Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha
*Member of Standing Committee on Defence
*Member of Consultative Committee on Finance
*Member of the Central Advisory Committee for the National Cadet Corps
*Co-Chairman of District Development Coordination & Monitoring Committee, Bangalore Urban District.
*Founder and Advisor to the Board, Jupiter Capital Pvt. Ltd.
*Founder and Principal Donor – Flags of Honour Foundation
*Founder and Trustee, Namma Bengaluru Foundation
*Founder and Managing Trustee – RC Foundation (RCF)

==Personal life==
Rajeev is married to Anju Chandrasekhar and resides in [[Koramangala]], [[Bengaluru]]. They have a son, Ved, and a daughter Devika.<ref>https://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/people/person.asp?personId=13399159&privcapId=882639</ref>

==Honours, awards and international recognition==
*Honoured by Army’s Western Command GOC-in Commendation for his work for the Armed Forces and Veterans.
*[[India Today]] magazine ranked him #41st in India's 50 Most powerful people of 2017 list.<ref>{{cite news|title=India's 50 powerful people|url=http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/india-today-top-50-powerful-indians-mukesh-ambani-ratan-tata-kumar-mangalam-birla-gautam-adani-anand-mahindra-srk-amitabh-bacchan/1/928939.html|publisher=[[India Today]]|date=14 April 2017}}</ref>
{| class="wikitable" style="font-size:90%;"
|-
! Year !! Name !! Awarding organization !! Ref.
|-
| 2007
| IIT Global Service Award.
| [[Illinois Institute of Technology]], Chicago.
|<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.iit.edu/events/mass_email/2007/meriit_awards/ |title=2007 Alumni Award winners|publisher=[[Illinois Institute of Technology]] |access-date=16 June 2016}}</ref>
|}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{Cite book|author=Sanghvi, Vir|date=2012|title=Men of Steel|publisher=Roli Books Private Limited|isbn=9788174368256}}
* {{Cite book|author=Denyer, Simon|date=2012|title=Rogue Elephant: Harnessing the Power of India's Unruly Democracy|publisher=A&C Black|isbn=9781408849767}}

==External links==
*{{Official website|http://www.rajeev.in}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20080616111022/http://164.100.24.167:8080/members/website/Mainweb.asp?mpcode=2010 Profile] on [[Rajya Sabha]] website
*[https://twitter.com/rajeev_mp Twitter handle]
{{authority control}}

{{Bharatiya Janata Party}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chandrasekhar, Rajeev}}
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Indian billionaires]]
[[Category:Indian computer scientists]]
[[Category:Engineers from Karnataka]]
[[Category:Malayali people]]
[[Category:Politicians from Bangalore]]
[[Category:Rajya Sabha members from Karnataka]]
[[Category:Illinois Institute of Technology alumni]]
[[Category:1964 births]]
[[Category:Bharatiya Janata Party politicians from Karnataka]]
[[Category:Rajya Sabha members from the Bharatiya Janata Party]]
[[Category:Hudson Institute]]

Rajeev Chandrasekhar - Revision history

AtenaLabsCBDReviews at 15:13, 22 March 2026

125.99.229.158 at 20:30, 10 January 2022

116.68.85.150: /* Early life and education */