Ravi Shankar Prasad (born 30 August 1954)[citation needed] is an Indian politician and lawyer, from the Bharatiya Janata Party.

[2] His term as Union Minister was marked with the repeal of 1500 archaic laws, handling of litigation over the purchase of Rafale fighter planes, and digitization of 15000 trial courts.

On the other hand, his tenure also saw controversy over the proposed National Judicial Appointments Commission, constant friction between the judiciary and the executive, and rows with social media platforms Twitter and Facebook over local rules.

[4][5] His father Thakur Prasad was a senior advocate at the Patna High Court and one of the leading founders of the Jan Sangh, the predecessor of the Bharatiya Janata Party.

[5][8] Prasad began his political career as a student leader under the leadership of Jayaprakash Narayan in the 1970s, organising protests against Indira Gandhi's government.

[2] With the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance's victory in the 2014 general election,[11] Prasad rose to become part of the Narendra Modi Cabinet.

However, in 2015, the Supreme Court of India struck it down, arguing that the Law Minister's presence in the Appointments Commission would cripple judicial independence.

Prasad defended the executive in this faceoff with the judiciary by rolling out statistics showing an increased number of judges being appointed in the year 2016.

[13] Following this landmark verdict, the NDA government tabled The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill in the Lok Sabha in December 2017, seeking to introduce a 3-year jail term for offenders.

While the original bill lapsed due to lack of support in the Rajya Sabha, it was passed by both Houses of Parliament on reintroduction in 2019, becoming an Act after receiving Presidential assent on 1 August 2019.

[14][15][16] As Minister for Electronics and Information Technology, Prasad spearheaded the NDA government's flagship Digital India programme.

As Minister for Communications and IT, Prasad had denied Facebook permission for its Free Basics platform in India in 2016, saying it provided access to only a host of websites and services, while excluding the broader internet from its purview.