Shri Ram Naik was the Cabinet Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas in the Government led by Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee from October 1999 to May 2004. After creation of a separate Ministry for Petroleum & Natural Gas in 1963, he has been the longest serving Minister in this Ministry. In the earlier Cabinet, he was Minister of State for Railways (Independent Charge), Home Affairs, Planning & Programme Implementation and Parliamentary Affairs, a record number of Ministries indeed at one time !

When Shri Naik took over as a Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas in October 1999, the waiting list of LPG for domestic cooking purposes was 1 crore 10 lakh. During his tenure he not only liquidated the waiting list but also gave 3 crore 50 lakh new connections against 3 crore 37 lakh connections in previous 40 years. He also introduced 5 kg cylinders to cater to the needs of families in lower income group in hilly regions as well as urban slums. He planned many programmes to overcome dependence
on import of crude oil and also started their implementation. Important among them was production of ethanol as a by-product in sugar factories, which would be blended with petrol to be used as transport fuel. The Petroleum Ministry also allotted Petrol Pumps and LPG Distributorships to widows/dependents of Defence Personnel who laid down their lives in Kargil war. Brave women and men of those security personnel who lost their lives in protecting Parliament House from attack by infiltrators in December 2001 were also awarded Petrol Pumps for their supreme
sacrifice.

Shri Ram Naik is known as a friend of commuters. He started organising suburban commuters by founding 'Goregaon Pravasi Sangh' in 1964. A commuter activist turned into Minister of State for Railways in 1998, he got established the Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation for providing better facilities to 65 lakh commuters who travel in the world's most overcrowded suburban trains in Mumbai. He was instrumental in starting 'Special Ladies Local Trains' in Mumbai for the first time in the world. Extension of suburban section of Western Railway upto Dahanu, 12 coach rakes, computerized reservation centres at various places, quadruplicating of railway lines from Borivli to Virar and 6 tracks of railway line from
Kurla to Kalyan are a few of the important works in the city for which Shri Naik was instrumental. The innovative idea of inviting commuters' suggestions for naming new trains is a brain-child of Shri Naik. He
organised Commuters' Conferences in 2005 and 2007 to highlight the problems of commuters. He was also instrumental in providing relief to commuters affected in bomb-blasts of suburban trains on 11th July 2006. To protest against the insensitive approach of the Railways for the commuters' demand for providing Virar locals every five minutes, he led the innovative and totally successful boycott agitation of suburban commuters between Borivli and Virar on 10th December 2007, the world human rights day.

Shri Ram Naik who represented North Mumbai Lok Sabha Constituency from Maharashtra as a BJP MP has a track record of getting elected successively for five times. Earlier he got elected as an MLA for three consecutive terms from Borivli Assembly Constituency, which is a part of his Parliamentary Constituency. In the elections for the 13th Lok Sabha, he secured 5,17,941 votes, which were the highest votes secured by an M.P. in Maharashtra. He created a new record of getting elected successively
eight times from Mumbai. He used to present his Performance Report to the voters as people's representative to uphold the principle of accountability. Morever he would be the only politician who submits his Performance Report to the people even after the defeat.

Shri Ram Naik, a seasoned Parliamentarian was the Chairman of the prestigious Public Accounts Committee in 1995-96. He was the Chief Whip of BJP in the 11th Lok Sabha. He also contributed significantly in the Parliamentary debates as well as in important committees like Joint Parliamentary Committees for Security Scam and Empowerment of Women, Railway Convention Committee. He was also a member of the Chairman's Panel to preside over the Lok Sabha proceedings.

Shri Naik has been instrumental in singing 'Vande Mataram' in the Parliament. He successfully prevailed upon the Government to change the name 'Bombay' in English and 'Bambai' in Hindi to its original Marathi name 'Mumbai'. It is his brain-child, which made available Rs.1 crore annually to each Member of Parliament for need based small development projects in his constituency. This amount was increased to Rs. 2 crore during his tenure as Minister of State for Planning & Programme Implementation. He introduced, in the capacity of a Private Member, a Bill for 'Promotion of Breast Feeding and Ban on Advertisements of Baby Foods'. The Bill was subsequently adopted by the Government and became an Act.

Born on 16th April 1934, at Sangli in Maharashtra, Shri Ram Naik had his early school education in Bhawani Vidyalaya at Atpadi in Sangli District and college education in Pune for B.Com and Mumbai for LL.B. After obtaining Degree in Commerce he started his career in the Accountant General's Office, Mumbai as an Upper Division Clerk. While serving, he secured law degree by joining a night college. In due course he rose to higher posts and also worked as a Company Secretary and Management Consultant till 1969. He has been a R.S.S. Swayamsevak from his childhood and has completed two years' course of R.S.S. training. While in Pune in college days, he was 'Mukhya Shikshak' of Vaidikashram Shakha and in Mumbai, 'Mukhya Shikshak' of Azad Maidan Shakha and also Sidharth Nagar, Goregaon Shakha.

On the organizational wing of the political party, he started as a grass-root worker of the erstwhile Bharatiya Jana Sangh. In 1969, he resigned from the service to work as the Organising Secretary of Mumbai unit of Bharatiya Jana Sangh. He continued to work in that capacity for eight years. He was also President of BJP Mumbai unit for three terms. Presently he is Chairman of All India Disciplinary Committee of BJP and also a Special Invitee of National Executive Committee.

Shri Naik is presently pleading for rehabilitation of project affected persons of Tarapur Atomic Power Project III and IV in Mumbai High Court. The long awited justice is on way. Shri Naik has also written a book 'Saga of Struggle' which narrates the case. The book is translated version of his original Marathi book With Shri Naik's initiative, a petition was submitted to the Rajya Sabha on 5th December 2007 for empowerment and rehabilitation of the leprosy affected families. The Committee on
Petitions have submitted their report to the Rajya Sabha on 24th Octpber 2008. As per parliamentary practice, the Government of India have to implement their recommendations within six months.

Shri Naik, a winner of eight elections, has also won over the serious disease of Cancer in 1994. He now devotes full time for the Party and also the social work stating that in recovery from Cancer, he has got the 'bonus' of his life and that he will utilize it in the Service of the Nation. Shri Naik is a unique personality, known for his awareness and his eye for the details. He is respected for his honesty, wide networking and public contact, as also his remarkable competence.