Ramesh Pokhriyal is an Indian politician belonging to the Bharatiya Janata Party. He was Chief Minister of Uttarakhand from 2009 to 2011. He is currently a Member of Parliament in the 17th Lok Sabha serving as the Minister of Human Resource Development and represents the Haridwar Parliamentary constituency of Uttarakhand in the Lok Sabha. Recently, he was in news for his claims in Lok Sabha that science is a dwarf in front of astrology and that astrology should be promoted. He has also made claims that ancient India had knowledge about nuclear tests and head transplants. On 30 May, 2019, he was sworn in as a Cabinet minister in the 2nd Modi Government. On 31 May, 2019, he was allocated the Ministry of Human Resource Development suceeding Prakash Javadekar. Pokhriyal was first elected for the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly from Karnaprayag constituency in 1991, and then later in 1993 and 1996 from the same constituency. In 1997 he was appointed for the Uttaranchal Development Minister. He is a representative of Haridwar constituency in the Lok Sabha and a senior member of Bhartiya Janta Party. He was the Member of Legislative Assembly of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand for five consecutive terms from 1991 to 2012. He was elected first time in 1991 from Karnaprayagward for three consecutive terms. Pokhriyal was appointed Cabinet Minister for Uttaranchal Development in Kalyan Singh’s ministry and in 1999 appointed for Cultural Fulfillment and Endowments in Ram Prakash Gupta’s cabinet. In 2000, after creation of Uttarakhand state, he was appointed for twelve departments including finance, revenue, tax and water divisions for the State of Uttarakhand. In 2007, he was appointed minister for Health and Family Welfare, Language and Science departments in Uttarakhand. In 2009, he became the youngest Chief Minister of Uttarakhand. In 2012, he was elected as MLA for Vidhan Sabha from Doiwala, Dehradun constituency. In 2014, he resigned from Doiwala, and elected from Haridwar for Lok Sabha.