New Zealand just inducted its first Indian-origin minister!3 min read
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Guess what? New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern recently inducted five ministers to her cabinet and Priyanca Radhakrishnan, a woman of indian origin, is one of them! This makes her New Zealand’s first-ever Indian-origin minister. As part of Ardern’s cabinet, Radhakrishna will hold some very crucial and interesting roles.
She will be sworn in (when someone is sworn in, they make a formal promise to be honest or loyal, either in a court of law or when starting a new official job) as the Minister for Diversity, Inclusion and Ethnic Communities, as well as the Minister for the Community and Voluntary Sector, and Associate Minister for Social Development and Employment. What this really means is that she will be working on making New Zealand a more tolerant, diverse and developed nation.
The 41-year-old was born in Kerala’s Ernakulam district. She went on to study in Singapore and then in New Zealand for her Master’s degree. She did a lot of work after her studies for women and sections of society whose voices aren’t heard as much, as well as for Indians living in Auckland, New Zealand.
Let’s take a look at some other prominent people of Indian origin in politics abroad:
1. Kamala Harris: Kamala Devi Harris, born in October 1964, is the Vice Presidential candidate for the US 2020 elections.
2. Leo Varadkar: Ireland’s youngest Prime Minister (from 2017-2020) was born in 1979 in Dublin. The 38-year-old politician’s father, Ashok Varadkar, is a doctor who was born in Mumbai and moved to England in the 1960s.
3. Rishi Sunak: Born in1980, Rishi is the Chancellor of the Exchequer of Great Britain.
4. Harjit Singh Sajjan: Defence Minister (Canada) Sajjan, born in 1970, is the current Minister of National Defence. He is the first Sikh to become Minister of Defence.
5. Kamla Persad-Bissessar: Born in1952 in a Hindu family, Persad-Bissessar was the first woman Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago (2010-15).
