C. P. Thakur
Minister of Small Scale Industries
In office 29 January 2003 – 22 May 2004
Prime Minister	Atal Bihari Vajpayee
Preceded by	Vasundhara Raje
Succeeded by	Mahaveer Prasad
Minister of Development of North Eastern Region
In office 29 January 2003 – 22 May 2004
Prime Minister	Atal Bihari Vajpayee
Preceded by	Ministry created
Succeeded by	Paty Ripple Kyndiah
Minister of Health and Family Welfare
In office 27 May 2000 – 1 July 2002
Prime Minister	Atal Bihari Vajpayee
Preceded by	N. T. Shanmugam
Succeeded by	Shatrughan Sinha
Minister of Water Resources
In office 22 November 1999 – 27 May 2000
Prime Minister	Atal Bihari Vajpayee
Preceded by	Pramod Mahajan
Succeeded by	Arjun Charan Sethi
Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha
In office 10 April 2008 – 09 April 2020
Preceded by	Shatrughan Sinha
Succeeded by	Vivek Thakur
Constituency	Bihar
Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha
In office 1998–2004
Preceded by	Ram Kripal Yadav
Succeeded by	Ram Kripal Yadav
Constituency	Patna
In office 1984–1989
Preceded by	Ramavatar Shastri
Succeeded by	Shailendra Nath Shrivastava
Constituency	Patna
Personal details
Born	(1931-12-21) 21 December 1931 (age 92) Dubaha, Bihar and Orissa Province, British India
Political party	BJP
Spouse	Uma Thakur ​ (m. 1957)​
Children	4, including Vivek Thakur
Profession	Politician

Chandreshwar Prasad Thakur (born 3 September 1931). also known as C. P. Thakur, is a former member of Rajya Sabha, a former minister in the Government of India, a physician and a leader of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He was a cabinet minister from 1999 to 2004 in the BJP government.

He is known for his contribution in finding medication for Kala-azar. He proposed the development of AIIMS hospital Patna in central government and got it approved. One Crossing (Chowk) near AIIMS hospital, Patna has been named "Dr C P Thakur Chowk" in honour of his contribution to Bihar and its people.

Early life

Thakur was born on 3 September 1931 in Dubaha village of Muzaffarpur district in Bihar to Radhamohan Thakur and Sharda Thakur a Bhumihar family. He is a physician and had received the degrees of M.B.B.S., M.D., M.R.C.P., F.R.C.P. from Patna Medical College, Patna University, Royal College of Physicians, London and Royal College of Physicians, Edinburgh and Royal College of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, London. Thakur married Uma Thakur on 12 June 1957, with whom he has two sons and two daughters.^[1] Politician Vivek Thakur is his son.^[2]

Career

As a physician, Thakur did extensive research for the treatment of Kala-azar. In 2017, he became the first Indian medical scientist to receive a lifetime achievement award from the World Health Organization.^[3]

He was elected to Lok Sabha from Patna constituency in 1984.

Positions held

He has held the following government positions:

• 1984 Elected to Eighth Lok Sabha
• 1990-91 Chairman, Kala-azar Spot Assessment Committee Government of India
• 1990-93 Member, Advisory Committee on Kala-azar Government of India
• 1991 Member, Expert Kala-azar committee to formulate prevention programme for Kala-azar, Government of India
• 1998 Member, Twelfth Lok Sabha (2nd term)
• 1998-99 Member, Committee on Science and Technology, Environment and Forests; and its Sub-Committee on Ganga Action Plan Member, Consultative Committee for the Ministry of External Affairs
• 1999 Member, Thirteenth Lok Sabha (3rd term)
• 22 Nov 1999-26 May 2000 Union Cabinet Minister, Water Resources
• 27 May 2000 – 30 June 2002 Union Cabinet Minister, Health and Family Welfare
• 29 Jan 2003-May 2004 Union Cabinet Minister, Small Scale Industries, Development of North-Eastern Region
• April 2008 Elected to Rajya Sabha from Bihar
• Aug. 2008 onwards Member, Committee on the Empowerment of Women
• Aug. 2008- May 2009 Member, Committee on Information Technology
• May 2009 onwards Member, Court of the Jawaharlal Nehru University
• Aug. 2009 onwards Member, Committee on Chemicals and Fertilizers Member, Consultative Committee for the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare
• Aug. 2012 onwards Member, Committee on Information Technology
• Aug. 2012 onwards Member, Committee on Empowerment of Women
• Jan. 2016 onwards Chairman, The Scouts/Guides Organisation
• March 2019 He was appointed Chancellor of Central University of South Bihar

Books published

• Dynamics of Development (Editor and Contributor);
• Glimpses of Indian Technology (Co-author);
• World Trade Organization (author);
• Technical Report Series 791 up to 1990 (Geneva) Control of Leishmaniasis (joint author);
• Recent Trends in Leishmania Research (contributor);
• Text Book of Medicine—API Text Book of Medicine (Joint author);
• India Under Atal Bihari Vajpayee, B.J.P. Era .

He has also published more than 100 research papers in medical journals and more than 200 articles in the press.^{[citation needed]}

Awards

• Padma Shri;
• Dr. B. C. Roy National Award, Indian Medical Council
• BKAIKET ORATION Award, Indian Council of Medical Research;
• P.N. Raju Oration Award (ICMR)