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Bio-Data
Pravind Kumar Jugnauth
Former Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Finance and Economic Development
Born :
25th of December 1961
Education :
Royal College Curepipe
Studied Law at Buckingham University (UK) and obtained an LLB (Hons)
Barrister-at-Law, Lincoln's Inn, London (UK)
Studied at Council of Legal Education, London UK)
Studied at Aix-en-Provence University (France) and obtained a DESU (Degré d'Etudes Supérieures d'Université
Honorary Graduation: Honoured as Doctor. Honoris Causa by the University of Buckingham in February 2005.
Family Life :
Pravind Jugnauth married Kobita Ramdanee in 1992 and is the father of three daughters: Sonika, Sonali and Sara.
Posts held :
Officially joined the MSM in 1990
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Councillor for the Municipality of Vacoas/Phoenix from October 1996 to September 2000
Nominated Deputy Leader of the MSM in October 1999 and Leader in April 2003
Elected member of the National Assembly for Constituency No. 11 (Rose-Belle/Vieux Grand Port) in Sept. 2000
Held the office of Minister of Agriculture, Food Technology & Natural Resources from September 2000 to September 2003.
Held the office of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance and Economic Development from 30th of September 2003 to 29th April 2005.
Achievements
As Minister of Agriculture, Pravind Jugnauth demonstrated his vision and farsightedness. He courageously presented the Sugar Sector Strategic Plan 2001- 2005 and manned the reform process in the Sugar Sector to ensure its the long-term viability and competitiveness. Despite an aggressive and hostile campaign led by the then opposition, he forged ahead with determination and conviction. He initiated the process to convert the sugar industry relying almost exclusively on the production of sugar into a fully diversified sugar cane industry with emphasis on the production of ethanol, agricultural rhum, special sugars, other high value added products and electricity generation from bagasse. Thanks to these reforms, the sugar sector has been able to bring down its production costs significantly and better face the challenges stemming from the reduction in the guaranteed sugar price under the Sugar Protocol with the European Union.
While working on the reforms in the Sugar Sector, Pravind Jugnauth succeeded in negotiating a very advantageous package for workers under the Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS). Some 8000 workers who opted for voluntary retirement received cash compensation exceeding Rs 2.5 billion rupees and some 825 arpents of land worth Rs 3 billion.
Pravind Jugnauth also manned ambitious reforms in the agricultural non-sugar sector placing non-sugar agriculture on the path of modernisation and sophistication. He encouraged hydroponics and other modern methods of production while at the same time setting the stage for Mauritius to emerge as a centre of excellence for agricultural biotechnology research and sophisticated expertise in this field. Actions were initiated to set up a National Agricultural Biotechnology Institute and Food Technology Laboratory in Mauritius .
Pravind Jugnauth launched the Small Planters Welfare Fund and thus made a long-time dream of the planting community come true. The fund caters for the welfare of planters and their families and provides crop insurance schemes designed to financially support planters whose crops are affected by unfavourable weather conditions.
On the international scene, Pravind Jugnauth demonstrated his negotiating capabilities and skills when, in his capacity as spokesman for the ACP Sugar Group, he commanded respect. He succeeded, amongst others, in convincing the European Union to postpone the reform of its sugar regime from 2001 to 2006 and making the EU Commission and WTO recognise the importance of preferential and differential treatment for small vulnerable countries like Mauritius .
As Minister of Finance, Pravind Jugnauth cared for the masses through numerous measures, including the reduction in taxes on thousands of commodities. He even increased subsidies on basic commodities to ease the burden of price increases on the people. He treated trade unionists with consideration and gave salary compensations well above inflation rates in two successive years.
History will retain that Pravind Jugnauth, as an MSM Minister of Finance, launched the ambitious project to make of Mauritius a Duty Free Island . This project would have changed the socio-economic destiny of the country. It remains high on the agenda of the MSM Leader for the future.