Ram Shankar Katheria (born 21 September 1964), is an Indian politician and former Chairman of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes. He is a member of the 17th Lok Sabha of India representing Etawah constituency of Uttar Pradesh. He represented the Agra constituency of Uttar Pradesh previously. He is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party.[2] He was a Minister of State in the Human Resource Development Ministry till 6 July 2016.[3]
Katheria was born in Nagriya Sarawa village, Etawah, Uttar Pradesh on 21 September 1964 to Sone Lal and Shanti Devi.[2] He spent his early years at the local Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) unit, which also facilitated his education. He holds PhD from Kanpur University.[4] He worked as a pracharak of the RSS in Agra for 13 years.[5]
Before joining politics, he was a Professor of Hindi at the Agra University where he has taught Dalit Chetna (Dalit upliftment) and wrote several books on the subject.[2][5]
On 17 February 2001, he married Mridula Katheri, with whom he has two sons and one daughter.[2][6]
Katheria was appointed as a National General-Secretary of the BJP in August 2014 and, in October, he was made in charge of the Chhattisgarh and Punjab states.[5] However, in his November cabinet expansion, Narendra Modi inducted Katheria as a Minister of State in the Human Resource Development Ministry,[3] where he served till 6 July 2016.[7]
Katheria has been charged with forging two of his degree mark-sheets (for BA and MA) allegedly to secure a job at the Agra University. The case is being heard in an Agra court. Katheria has also listed 20 other pending cases against him in his election affidavit.[9]
Katheria has written four books.[4]
