Priyanca Radhakrishnan, a New Zealand minister, was raised to Cabinet rank as part of Labour Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s Cabinet reshuffle on Monday(13-06-2022), as per The Times of India.
Along with the portfolios of minister for the community and voluntary sector, diversity, inclusion and ethnic communities, and youth, which she has been handling since November 2020, the Indian-origin member of Parliament from Maungakiekie, Auckland, was also given an additional portfolio of associate minister for workplace relations and safety.
Radhakrishnan, who was born in Chennai and moved to New Zealand as an international student, credits her supportive parents for allowing her to extend her eyes despite the hardships that come with being a young immigrant in a new country. In an interview with the Times of India last year, she said, “There have been problems, but there have also been tremendous chances.”
She is proud of her Indian ancestry, believing that it has influenced her in a variety of ways. “I grew up in a home where social justice principles and the need of treating everyone with natural dignity, regardless of who they are or where they come from, were instilled in my parents and grandparents. That has influenced my political views more than anything else”.
Radhakrishnan has worked in the Indian Kiwi community for a number of years and joined the New Zealand Labour Party in 2006. She finds New Zealand’s South Asian population to be active, diversified, and robust, with members contributing to nearly every sector.
She is overseeing an ambitious work project on what social cohesion means for New Zealand and how it may be accomplished as Minister for Diversity, Inclusion, and Ethnic Communities. In 2021, Radhakrishnan was awarded the Pravasi Samman by the Indian government.
