Sh. Gajendra Singh Shekhawat

Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat has served as the 13th Minister of Culture and the 11th Minister of Tourism since 2024. He is a Member of Parliament from the Bharatiya Janata Party, representing Jodhpur in the Lok Sabha.

Born in Jaisalmer, Rajasthan, he is the son of Shankar Singh Shekhawat, a senior government officer in the water works department whose assignments took the family across the state. He holds a Master of Arts and a Master of Philosophy from Jai Narain Vyas University, Jodhpur.

Before entering electoral politics, he held positions in a number of forums and organisations. He was co-convener of the Swadeshi Jagaran Manch, the economic wing of the Sangh Parivar, and General Secretary of the Seema Jan Kalyan Samiti, an organisation dedicated to strengthening national security by developing border towns and villages. In that role he was instrumental in building a second line of defence composed of civilians living near Rajasthan’s border areas, and in furthering civil defence by establishing 40 schools and four hostels along the India–Pakistan border. In October 2024, he launched the first coal gallery at the National Science Centre in New Delhi.