Sriprakash Jaiswal

Sriprakash Jaiswal (born 25 September 1944), also written Shriprakash or Sri Prakash, is an Indian politician. He served as a member of Parliament for the Indian National Congress and as Minister of State for Home Affairs. He also held ministry of coal for three years, 2011–2014.

Early life
He completed his education in BNSD Inter College. He married Maya Rani on 28 April 1967. He has two sons and one daughter.

Career
His first political assignment was serving Kanpur city as its mayor in 1989.

He won the 1999 Lok Sabha election and was reelected in 2004 and 2009. He served as Minister of State for Home Affairs in 2004.

He was elevated to Minister Of State (Independent Charge) in 2009 holding dual charges of Coal and Statistics And Programme Implementation. In 2014 Lok Sabha elections he lost his seat.

Overseas engagements
In Aug 2009, when Indian students were being attacked in Australia, Jaiswal had visited Melbourne, Australia to meet with International students from India. Jaiswal had visited temples, hospitals, and travelled in trains and public transport in Melbourne to meet victims, and interact with Indian students in Australia, to get a better understanding of the situation.

Jaiswal had also visited the Victorian Parliament, and had meetings with then Victorian opposition leader Ted Baillieu, and ministerial adviser Mr. Nitin Gupta to raise concerns about Indian students being attacked in Melbourne, Australia.

Earlier when Victorian opposition leader Ted Baillieu, and ministerial adviser Mr. Nitin Gupta had visited Delhi, India in July 2009, Jaiswal had met with them to get updates about the ground situation. He still decided to personally visit Melbourne, Australia next month to see the ground situation with his own eyes.

Controversies
Jaiswal mostly stayed out of the political spats and media. However, he came into limelight when the Indian coal allocation scam erupted via a leaked Report of Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) in August 2012. He was not the Coal Minister at the time of the crime, but was criticised by the opposition. Jaiswal, however, maintained that the Coal Allocation Process was proper and that the report was disputable. He defended then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Another controversy arose while Jaiswal was attending a cultural event in Kanpur he made sexist remarks, saying 'A new victory and a new marriage have their own importance. But as times passes, the memories of a victory go old and as time passes, a wife gets old, the same charm is not there'. He later apologized. His remarks received nationwide criticism and a petition was filed against him in the Court by Women's Organizations.