Ashwini Kumar Choubey


Ashwini Kumar Choubey is Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare and a member of the 17th Lok Sabha. He is an Indian politician belonging to the Bharatiya Janata Party. He is a member of the 16th Lok Sabha representing Buxar and a former health minister of Bihar. He had represented the Bihar legislative assembly from Bhagalpur before contesting for the 16th Lok Sabha election.
On 3 September 2017, he took in charge of office as Minister of State for Health in Narendra Modi's Government.
Choubey is a veteran politician from state of Bihar and elected to the Bihar Legislative Assembly for five consecutive terms. He was accredited to have built 11,000 toilets for minority and Below Poverty Line families under Swachh Bharat Mission. A slogan "Ghar-ghar Me ho Shouchalaya ka Nirman, Tabhi hoga Ladli Bitiya ka kanyadaan" given by him was a hit in Bihar and people from all caste and religion availed government provided subsidy to build toilets in their respective home.
Chaubey has been associated with BJP for almost five decades and was earlier associated with Jansangh. In his earlier stint, he was the health minister in the Nitish Kumar cabinet in 2012.
He authored a book "Kedarnath Trasadi" based on the 2013 deluge in Uttarakhand where he got stranded with his family. He and his family managed to take shelter in the Kedarnath temple and was airlifted by a state government helicopter.

Career

In May 2019, Choubey became the Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare.
Portfolio Held - NDA I and NDA II are Urban Development, PHED and Health care.
Member of Parliamentary Committee on Estimates, Standing Committee on Energy and the Environment, Consultative Committee on Health and Family Welfare and Central Silk Board.

Controversies

In June 2019, Children in Bihar's Muzaffarpur and adjoining districts have been plagued with Acute Encephalitis Syndrome which has resulted in loss of lives. In order to address the growing concern, Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan called for a media briefing. There were reports that MoS Health and Family Welfare, Ashwini Kumar Choubey was sleeping during the same.
On being questioned by the media, he said 'Main manan chintan bhi karta hoon na, main so nahi raha tha'. In September 2019, Ashwini Choubey said that Cow Urine should be used in medicines and treatment of cancer, for which he was severely criticized for lack of scientific temper. He also said the former prime minister Morarji Desai used to consume cow urine as it cures various diseases.