New Zealand’s first-ever Indian-origin minister

Priyanca Radhakrishnan, a first-generation immigrant, has become New Zealand’s first-ever Indian-origin minister after Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern inducted five new ministers into her executive. Radhakrishnan was born in Chennai but her family is from Paravur in Kerala. She went to school in Singapore before moving to New Zealand to further her education. The new minister for diversity, inclusion and ethnic communities comes from an illustrious family in Kerala. Her Left-leaning great-grandfather C R Krishna Pillai, a doctor, had played a major role in shaping the literary and cultural sensibilities of the state.