Dharmendra Pradhan is an Indian politician who is the Minister for Petroleum & Natural Gas and Steel in the Government of India and son of a former minister of state Debendra Pradhan.
Dharmendra Pradhan was an eminent politician hailing from Orissa. He is the son of former BJP MP Dr. Debendra Pradhan. Leadership qualities were visible in him from his college days. He soon became the A.B.V.P. activist while studying as a higher secondary student in Talcher College, Orissa and next he became the president of student union in Talcher. He did M.A. in Anthropology from Utkal University Bhubaneswar. Mr Dharmendra Pradhan joined Bharatiya Janata Party in 1998 and soon Conferred with Utkalmani Gopabandhu Pratibha Sanman, the best Legislative Award of Orissa Legislative Assembly.He kick started his political career by contesting in 2000 Odisha assembly election from Pallalhara constituency and tasted his first electoral victory. Serving different positions in BJP, He next elected to the 14th Lokasabha. He was also elected rajyasabha twice from Bihar and Madhya Pradesh. Under Narendra Modi govt elected in 2014 ,he served as the minister of State (Independent Charge ) of Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas. Serving under this ministry, he has visited more than 24 countries and attended many summits and participated in many International programmes as an Indian delegate. He was appointed the Minister of petroleum and natural gas for a second term in 2019. He was also made the Minister of Steel.
Pradhan has led to some key decisions in the hydrocarbon sector. Pradhan, supported by the Union Cabinet, has brought in a new Hydrocarbon Exploration & Licensing Policy, which through its uniform licensing for explorations and production of all forms of hydrocarbon, open acreage policy and marketing and pricing freedom will enhance domestic oil & gas production with substantial investment in the sector in India and generate sizable employment. He also led consumer initiatives like PAHAL which is the world’s largest Direct Benefit Transfer Scheme and the Give It Up campaign, that was liberally supported by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, aimed at encouraging affluent citizens to surrender their LPG subsidy for the needy receiving a successful response of 10 million consumers.

Energy transition
Dharmendra Pradhan, as the Petroleum Minister has been driving India’s energy transition balancing India’s energy demand and India’s commitment to climate change mitigation efforts. He has provided to leadership to efforts around making India, a gas-based economy. With around $60 Billion investments lined up in India’s gas infrastructure,[5] Pradhan has been working to expand the city gas distribution network and piped gas network in the country.[6] He has underlined that India is going to chart its own path of energy transition which will balance India’s energy demand and decarbonisation efforts