'220 airports by 2025'

Jyotiraditya Scindia, the Minister of Civil Aviation is articulate and suave. He holds the position his father also held from 1991 to 1993. He is a Member of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha representing Madhya Pradesh. Scindia served as the Minister of State for Telecommunications, Posts and IT in 2009 as the Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, and then, in 2012 as Minister of Power (Independent Charge).

Due to differences with the INC leadership, Scindia quit the Congress party on 10 March 2020. He joined the BJP the next day. Other MLAs loyal to him also resigned. This led to the 2020 Madhya Pradesh political crisis which in turn resulted in the resignation of Kamal Nath as Chief Minister. Shivraj Singh Chouhan was sworn in as Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh on 23 March 2020. On 19 June 2020, Scindia was elected a BJP Rajya Sabha MP from Madhya Pradesh. On 7 July 2021, Scindia was appointed as the Minister of Civil Aviation in the second Modi Government after a cabinet reshuffle in July 2021. In February 2022, Scindia was appointed PM Modi's special envoy to Romania to oversee the evacuation of Indian nationals in Ukraine resulting from the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. Anjali Bhatia talked to Jyotiraditya Scindia to know more about his plans. Excerpts: 

Q: It has been more than one and half years since you assumed charge of the Aviation ministry. How do you see your tenure in terms of your achievements?

A: Well there have been many. The one thing we are really proud of course is bringing our children back from Ukraine which was indeed a daunting task but with Prime Minister's Modi direction, we were able to accomplish that.

There have been many. In July 2021, only 12 states and union territories were charging a low VAT of 1-4 per cent on the fuel, while the rest were taxing it at a steep 20-30 per cent. On our request, another 17 states reduced the VAT on ATF to join the ranks of the other 12 states. Today, 29 states tax fuel at 1-4 per cent.