Pratap Chand is a former Fiji

Fiji

Fiji , officially the Republic of Fiji , is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about northeast of New Zealand's North Island...

an politician of India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

n descent. In the House of Representatives

House of Representatives (Fiji)

The House of Representatives is the lower chamber of Fiji's Parliament. It is the more powerful of the two chambers; it alone has the power to initiate legislation...

 he represented the Nasinu

Nasinu (Indian Communal Constituency, Fiji)

Nasinu Indian Communal is an electoral division of Fiji, one of 19 communal constituencies reserved for Indo-Fijians....

 Indian Communal Constituency from 1999 to 2006. He held the seat, one of 19 reserved for Indo-Fijians, for the Fiji Labour Party

Fiji Labour Party

The Fiji Labour Party is a political party in Fiji, which holds observer status with the Socialist International. Most of its support at present comes from the Indo-Fijian community, although it is officially multiracial and its first leader was an indigenous Fijian, Dr. Timoci Bavadra. It is...

 (FLP) in the general elections

Elections in Fiji

Fiji has held nine general elections for the House of Representatives since becoming independent of the United Kingdom in 1970; there had been numerous elections under colonial rule, but only one with universal suffrage . In this period, Fiji has had three constitutions, and the voting system has...

 of 1999

Fiji election of 1999

General elections were held in Fiji between 8 and 15 May 1999. They were the first election held under the revised Constitution of 1997, which instituted a new electoral system and resulted in Mahendra Chaudhry taking office as Fiji's first Indo-Fijian Prime Minister.-Electoral system:Previously,...

 and 2001

Fiji election of 2001

The Constitution of Fiji was restored by a High Court decision on 15 November 2000, following the failure of the political upheaval in which the government had been deposed and the constitution suspended in May that year. On 1 March 2001, the Appeal Court upheld the decision. An election to...

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Pratap Chand made valuable contribution to education in Fiji. He was a long-time primary and secondary school teacher and a secondary school Principal. He served the Fiji Teachers Union

Fiji Teachers Union

Fiji Teachers Union is a union representing elementary and secondary education teachers in Fiji. It is a member of the Fiji Trades Union Congress, and Education International....

 in a range of positions becoming its General Secretary in 1980, and holding the post until 1999 when he was elected to the House of Representatives. He has served as the Assistant National Secretary and as the National Secretary of the Fiji Trades Union Congress

Fiji Trades Union Congress

The Fiji Trades Union Congress is a trade union organization in Fiji, originally founded in 1952 under the leadership of Pandit Ami Chandra as the Fiji Industrial Workers Congress . As the FIWC the organisation was the third federation in Oceania, after the ACTU and the NZCTU, to join the ICFTU. ...

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After the 1999 election, he was appointed the Minister of Education. He escaped being taken hostage during the 2000 coup because he was on a visit to Australia.

In 2003, Chand was offered the portfolio of Minister of National Reconciliation and Unity, together with 13 other FLP parliamentarians who were offered cabinet positions by the Prime Minister, Laisenis Qarase but the FLP refused to accept this offer.

In early March 2006, Chand announced his decision to retire at the parliamentary election

Fiji election of 2006

The Constitution of Fiji requires general elections for the House of Representatives to be held at least once every five years. The latest election was held on 6-13 May 2006. Acting President Ratu Joni Madraiwiwi issued a proclamation on 2 March, effective from 27 March, dissolving Parliament...

 scheduled for 6-13 May. The Fiji Times

Fiji Times

The Fiji Times is a daily English-language newspaper published in Suva, Fiji. Established in Levuka on 4 September 1869, it is Fiji's oldest newspaper still operating....

 reported on 11 March that his wife was seriously ill in Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

, but party leader Mahendra Chaudhry

Mahendra Chaudhry

Mahendra Pal Chaudhry is a Fijian politician and the leader of the Fiji Labour Party...

 said that it was still possible that Chand would contest the election for the FLP. In the end, he did not.

He has been appointed to the Council of the newly established University of Fiji

University of Fiji

The University of Fiji is a university based in Saweni, Lautoka, Fiji. It was established in December 2004 under academic leadership of the Fiji Institute of Applied Studies and financial sponsorship of the Arya Pratinidhi Sabha of Fiji, a Hindu religious organization dedicated to education...

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