Who Is Priyanca Radhakrishnan, New Zealand’s First Indian-Origin Minister?

Jacinda Ardern who has been re-elected as the Prime Minister has added Indian-origin Priyanca Radhakrishnan to her cabinet. Radhakrishnan is the first-ever Indian origin minister in the country.

Image (Twitter/ @priyancanzlp)

New Delhi: After Jacinda Ardern was re-elected as Prime Minister added five new ministers to her cabinet, including Indian-origin Priyanca Radhakrishnan. She has been appointed as the Minister for Diversity, Inclusion, and Ethnic Communities along with the Minister for the Community and Voluntary Sector; and Associate Minister for Social Development and Employment. Priyanca Radhakrishnan who has been appointed by Jacinda Arden was elected first as a Member of Parliament belonging to the Labour Party in September 2017 but has been a member of the party since 2006. Around the time, she was working in an NGO for women survivors of domestic violence, and migrant workers who have been exploited. A native of Kerala though she was born in Chennai, Priyanca is the daughter of Paravoor Madavanaparambu Raman Radhakrishnan and Usha, she grew up and studied in Singapore and moved to New Zealand to pursue her master’s degree in development studies from Victoria University of Wellington. She lives in Auckland with her husband. The other members in the cabinet include Grant Robertson as the deputy prime minister who is the first homosexual person in the country to hold the post, AFP reported; Foreign Minister, Nanaia Mahuta, who has a tattoo on her chin, it is a moko kauae, a traditional female tattoo inked by women from the Maori community. Jacinda Ardern had won the elections on October 17 by a landslide. Her response towards mass shooting last year by a white supremacist in Christchurch was the first to get global attention which was followed by her response towards the coronavirus pandemic. Former Health Minister Chris Hipkins has been appointed as the Covid response minister.